Brown O’Connor Communications Weekly Look Ahead: Week Commencing 28 March 2022

Forward Look                                

  • The Assembly dissolves on Monday ahead of May’s election.

  • The SDLP Conference takes place today at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy.

  • The State Opening of Parliament will take place on Tuesday 10 May.

  • The Fiscal Commission will recommend partial devolution of fiscal powers to the Executive, including control over income tax rates, when it publishes its final report in May.

  • The Executive will receive an additional £47m through the Barnett formula next year following the Chancellor’s Spring Statement.

  • A five-year reconstruction plan for high streets, which includes reform of business rates and planning policy, has been published by the Executive’s High Street Task Force. To view: LINK

  • The Public Accounts Committee has recommended a commission be established to undertake a strategic review of Northern Ireland’s planning system.

  • Health Minister Robin Swann MLA has published a new 10-year Cancer Strategy. To view: LINK

  • Eight Bills, including the Preservation of Documents (Historical Institutions) Bill, have passed their Final Stages this week and now await Royal Assent.

  • Economy Minister Gordon Lyons MLA has published a new Skills Strategy. To view: LINK

  • The Assembly has voted to extend the Health Minister’s emergency Covid-19 powers by six months until 24 September.

  • The Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011 has been repealed, meaning future General Elections will be called at the request of a Prime Minister and not on a set timetable.

  • Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis MP will brief the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Monday.

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address both Houses of the Oireachtas on Wednesday 6 April.

  • Tánaiste Leo Varadkar TD and NIO Minister Conor Burns MP will address the Retail NI Future High Streets Summit on Wednesday.

  • Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, Colum Eastwood MP, and Doug Beattie MLA will take part in the NI Chamber’s 5 Leaders 5 Days series next week. To view: LINK

Other Stories this week

  • Mark Logan MP has been appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Northern Ireland Minister Conor Burns MP.

  • Economy Minister Gordon Lyons MLA has announced £170m in City Deal funding for innovation projects at Queen’s University Belfast.

  • Seanín Graham has been appointed as Northern Correspondent for the Irish Times.

  • The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference took place in Dublin on Wednesday.

  • Ivana Bacik TD has been appointed as the new Irish Labour Party leader.

  • A Lords Sub-Committee on the Protocol report has stated the EU should go further on pre-legislative consultation with Stormont on new trade rules.

Upcoming key political and business events

  • 30 March, Retail NI Future High Streets Summit, Titanic Belfast

  • 28 March – 5 April, NI Chamber 5 Leaders 5 Days, Europa Hotel

  • 7 April, BelTech 2022

  • 5 May, Northern Ireland Assembly Election

  • 10 May, State Opening of Parliament

  • 26 May, Belfast Telegraph Business Awards, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Belfast

  • 30 June, Irish News Workplace and Employment Awards, Titanic Belfast

Consultations