Brown O'Connor Communications Weekly Look Ahead: Week Commencing 5 April 2021

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Forward Look

  • Lockdown restrictions have been eased in Northern Ireland, with six people from two households now able to meet in a private garden from 1 April. From 12 April, ‘click and collect’ can resume for all non-essential retail, outdoor retail can reopen and all pupils in primary and post-primary schools will return to face-to-face teaching. The next Executive review of restrictions is to take place on 15 April.

  • Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA has announced the Executive’s agreed Budget for 2021/22. Over £430m has been allocated to the health service’s Covid-19 response, £286m to fund the Economic Recovery Action Plan including £145m for the High Street Stimulus Scheme, £230m of additional business rates relief, £81m for the LRSS and CRBSS to continue and £20m for the Jobstart programme.

  • The Northern Ireland Assembly is to return from its Easter Recess on 11 April, while the House of Commons returns on 13 April.

  • The Community Pharmacy vaccination service has been launched with over 300 pharmacies to be involved in the vaccine roll-out. Adults aged 45-49 are now eligible book their Covid-19 vaccination, with over 900,000 vaccines being administered in Northern Ireland to date.

  • A Second Permanent Secretary role is to be created in the Executive Office to oversee running of the Department, a responsibility previously given to the Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service. The new permanent Head of the Civil Service will largely focus on running it as a whole, and the First and deputy First Minister will no longer interview potential candidates for the role.

  • Health Minister Robin Swann MLA has announced that the workforce asymptomatic testing programme is to be extended next week to all private sector employers with more than 50 employees who cannot work from home.

  • Belfast has been chosen as the host site of the One Young World global youth summit in 2023. The summit gathers more than 2,000 young people, politicians and public figures from over 190 countries to promote more responsible and effective leadership.

  • In an open letter to the First and deputy First Minister, over 400 business leaders and owners from across Northern Ireland have called for a timetabled plan for the reopening of the economy.

  • A plan to introduce ‘blended’ working arrangements for civil servants in Northern Ireland is being developed by the Department of Finance and trade unions. 10 Civil Service regional hubs across the region are to open by the end of 2023 as part of the Department’s ‘Connect2’ plan.

  • Economy Minister Diane Dodds MLA has launched the Policy Options Consultation Paper for the new Northern Ireland Energy Strategy. Among the policy options is a new target of generating 70% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. To view: LINK.

  • The UK’s lead Brexit Minister, Lord Frost, has delivered the UK’s ‘road map’ for the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol to the European Commission. Commission Vice President, Maros Sefcovic, is expected to respond to the document next week.

  • Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey MLA has announced that the Fort George site in Derry has been sold to the Western Trust to create a £70m health and care centre.

  • Irish language group, Conradh na Gaeilge, is to legally challenge the Northern Ireland Executive over its failure to introduce an Irish language strategy as set out in the New Decade, New Approach deal.

  • It is understood that Sinn Féin have chosen Jemma Dolan MLA, Colm Gildernew MLA and Aine Murphy, replacing Sean Lynch, as their three candidates in Fermanagh and South Tyrone to run in the Assembly election in May 2022.

  • Mervyn Storey MLA is likely to replace Gordon Dunne MLA as a member of the Economy Committee.

  • Queen’s University Belfast is to hold an online event on Thursday 15 April featuring a conversation between US Consul General, Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau, and University Chancellor, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton. To register: LINK.

Other Stories this week

  • The Assembly was recalled to debate an SDLP motion regarding senior Sinn Féin members’ attendance at the funeral of Bobby Storey and on the PPS’ decision earlier this week. The motion passed unanimously.

  • The SSE Arena in Belfast has opened for the mass administration of the Covid-19 vaccine. It is expected that up to 40,000 weekly vaccinations could take place at the site. Health Minister Robin Swann MLA has received his first Covid-19 vaccination at Ballee Pharmacy in Ballymena.

  • First Minister Arlene Foster MLA and deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill MLA have announced the extension and reopening of the Bereaved Self-Directed Assistant Payments Scheme from 1 April. The scheme will be implemented by the Victims and Survivors Service (VSS).

  • The DUP has launched a consultation on increasing party political participation in Northern Ireland, focusing on gender diversity, opportunities for young people and under-represented groups. To respond: LINK.

  • A High Court class action has been launched in London arguing that the Northern Ireland Protocol infringes on NI citizens’ economic rights. Legal action took by senior Unionist representatives to remove the Northern Ireland Protocol will be next heard in the High Court of Northern Ireland on 13 April.

  • Honorary Prof. Rory Montgomery, former senior Irish diplomat, will deliver a lecture on the Good Friday Agreement and a United Ireland with Queen’s University Belfast on 27 April. To register: LINK.

  • FinTechNI, an independent industry association representing Northern Ireland’s financial technology community, has announced the appointment of Andrew Jenkins and Bo Brustkern to its Board of Directors.

  • Councillors Eamon McCann and Mickey Cooper have stepped down from the Derry City and Strabane District Council.

  • Health Minister Robin Swann MLA has announced £1.3 million in additional funding for Northern Ireland hospices.

Upcoming key political and business events

Consultations