North/South: Mixed progress
Friday, April 15th, 2011Building cross-border roads and drawing down EU funding have been two of the North/South Ministerial Council’s recent successes. But progress on parliamentary and consultative forums has been much slower. Meadhbh Monahan reports. Established under the Good Friday Agreement, the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) is the “lead institution” in developing North/South co-operation and bringing together Ministers from Northern Ireland and the Republic. Since the Agreement was signed on 10 April 1998, the NSMC has held 11 plenary meetings, which are led by the First and deputy First...[full story]
Planning: Draft Regional Development Strategy
Friday, March 11th, 2011agendaNi considers what the next 14 years could hold for Northern Ireland, according to the draft Regional Development Strategy. Released in January, the draft Regional Development Strategy maps out how Northern Ireland is expected to change up to 2025. It follows on from a 10-year review of the first ‘Shaping our Future’ strategy, which was published in 2001 and amended in 2008. This had been the British Isles’ first spatial strategy. “Place, where things are and where things happen, can be often overlooked in decision making but it matters to people,” it states. The final...[full story]
North/South: An island economy
Thursday, March 10th, 2011Border counties have been neglected and improvements in rail infrastructure would simplify business between North and South, according to a new analysis. Following the Good Friday Agreement there was “a degree of optimism that peace would bring prosperity that was similar to that of the newly liberalised states of central and eastern Europe when they were released from the constraining shackles of Communism in 1989,” according to economists John Bradley and Michael Best. The pair are currently researching ‘the post-Belfast Agreement border region economy’, and updated the sixth...[full story]
Infrastructure: NI Water investigations
Friday, January 28th, 2011agendaNi reviews a tumultuous year for Northern Ireland Water which faces two investigations into the water crisis and a third into its procurement procedures. Northern Ireland Water (NIW), which refers to itself on its website as the “trusted and reliable provider of Northern Ireland’s most essential public service” is currently facing an inquiry by the Utility Regulator following the crisis which left 60,000 homes with little or no water over Christmas and the New Year. Simultaneously, the Department for Regional Development is undergoing an inquiry by two independent investigators...[full story]
Infrastructure: Infrastructure overview
Monday, December 6th, 2010The key numbers on Northern Ireland’s capital funding as the Investment Strategy is reviewed. Over £3.3 billion investment has been delivered since the start of the Investment Strategy, according to figures from the Strategic Investment Board. The strategy’s final outturn for 2008-2009 and provisional outturn for 2009-2010 add up to £3,318,575 million. The target for 2008-2011 was £5,940 million, although the end result is likely to be lower due to reduced capital receipts. Capital investment, under ISNI2, has accompanied devolution so far and presented the Executive with tangible...[full story]
Infrastructure: Health priorities
Monday, December 6th, 2010Progress is evident on priority projects, but future capital spending depends on the forthcoming Budget. The Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland, which predicted that £2,575 million would be available for health infrastructure from 2011 to 2018 “has now been superseded by the new budget which is currently being finalised,” a health department spokesman told agendaNi. Since the release of ISNI in 2008, the DHSSPS has been the only department that has not released a delivery plan. Because of the current financial situation “it would be meaningless to provide details of what...[full story]
Infrastructure: Investing in education
Monday, December 6th, 2010New facilities for learning have gone ahead at colleges, universities and libraries but progress has been held up by reduced capital receipts. Detailed information for schools was unavailable. The Investment Strategy’s skills pillar covers education in its widest sense, broken down into three funding categories: • Schools and youth services (from the Department of Education); • Further and higher education (from the Department for Employment and Learning); and • Libraries (from the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure). Post-primary schools were to receive 77.4 per cent of...[full story]
