Latest news with #PaulDoherty
BBC News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Graffiti painted onto NIHE van being treated as racist hate crime
Police are treating graffiti on what is believed to be a Northern Ireland Housing Executive van as a racially-motivated hate van was targeted in the Bearnagh Drive area of west Belfast on Monday at some point between 00:00 BST and 08: lord mayor of Belfast Paul Doherty, who is a councillor from the area, condemned the graffiti calling it "disgraceful" and said it "has no place in our society".The police said enquiries are ongoing and they have appealed for witnesses. 'Disgusting xenophobic slurs' Doherty said: "This vile act does not reflect the people of this community. A community built on respect, diversity and solidarity. No family should have to walk past that kind of hatred - but sadly many have, and it has deeply impacted them.""Those responsible should be ashamed. We stand united against racism in all its forms," he MP for the area, Paul Maskey, described the graffiti as "disgusting xenophobic slurs, designed to spread fear and hatred"."Those involved do not speak for the vast majority of west Belfast. Andersonstown is a welcoming community — one which I am proud to be part of and represent."Our resolve is steadfast. Racism will not win."The graffiti displays the letters News NI understands that this stands for Republicans Against Antifa who have been previously described as a "fringe fascist group" by the west Belfast assembly member Gerry Carroll after threatening graffiti appeared about him in March graffiti also includes a word which is derogatory to those who are not McCrum from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said: "There is no place in our society for this type of intimidating behaviour and we will continue to engage with local representatives and partner agencies around community safety."
Belfast Telegraph
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
Politicians condemn those behind van covered in racist graffiti in west Belfast
The van was daubed with racist graffiti in the Bearnagh Drive area. A company logo on the side suggests the van belongs to Equans, a long-time contractor for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. SDLP West Belfast councillor Paul Doherty described the attack as 'disgraceful'. 'The racist graffiti daubed on a Housing Executive vehicle in Bearnagh Drive today was disgraceful and has no place in our society,' he said. "This vile act does not reflect the people of this community. A community built on respect, diversity and solidarity. No family should have to walk past that kind of hatred.' Mr Doherty said he reported the incident to the PSNI. 'I've flagged this with the police and hope the vehicle can be removed by Housing Executive staff as soon as possible. Those responsible should be ashamed. We stand united against racism in all its forms.' Sinn Féin's Paul Maskey also condemned the graffiti. The West Belfast MP said: 'Overnight in Andersontown, a company van was sprayed with disgusting xenophobic slurs, designed to spread fear and hatred. 'Our activists were in the area today speaking to local residents and the vehicle owner, all of whom are outraged. 'We have reported this to PSNI and I would urge anyone with information to please bring it forward. Watch: Thousands flock to Scarva for annual Royal Black Preceptory parades 'Those involved do not speak for the vast majority of west Belfast. Andersonstown is a welcoming community — one which I am proud to be part of and represent. 'Our resolve is steadfast. Racism will not win.' The PSNI have been contacted for comment. Equans says on its website that it has been 'providing repairs, maintenance, heating and refurbishment services to more than 45,000 homes across the region' for more than two decades. 'The Northern Ireland team has also recently been awarded funding by the NI Sustainable Energy Programme to provide full heating and housing solutions to low income households, helping them become safe, comfortable, and energy efficient,' the website adds.
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Western Trust: £4m lost from missed appointments
More than 18,000 outpatient appointments were wasted in the Western Trust last year due to patients not turning up for their appointment last year, the trust has missed appointment costs the trust £220 which equates to £4m lost to the health and social care budget, the trust attending outpatient appointments across the Western Trust area receive a text or an automated call, reminding them of their outpatient appointment three days prior to their a statement, the trust asked "for the public's cooperation in reducing non-attendance for hospital outpatient appointments so that valuable resources and staff time is not wasted". 'Every missed appointment is a lost opportunity' From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 the total number of patients who did not attend their outpatient appointment was 18, Director of Surgery, Paediatrics and Women's Health Paul Doherty said: "We understand that there are many genuine reasons why people are not able to make an appointment however, as these figures show every missed appointment is a lost opportunity for someone else to be seen."He added that if patients let the hospital know if they won't be able to attend, this will have a "significant impact on already overstretched health service".To help reduce non-attendance, the trust has in place a system for booking outpatient appointments, where patients are given a choice of dates and times and they can select one that best suits trust also offer the ConnectWest App which allows for online messaging which includes out of hours communication with the booking team.
New York Times
24-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Five-star Ryder Lyons, top uncommitted QB in Class of 2026, picks BYU over Oregon
Five-star quarterback Ryder Lyons entered Tuesday as the highest-rated uncommitted quarterback prospect in the country. Now, he's heading to BYU. Lyons, a Folsom, Calif. native, made the announcement on the Pat McAfee show in what will go down as one of the biggest recruiting moments in BYU football history. Lyons, ranked No. 19 overall and the No. 5 QB in the 247Sports Composite, had narrowed his choices down to the Cougars and Oregon. He visited Oregon on June 13 and took a final visit to BYU over the weekend. Advertisement 'He's been pretty thorough and he narrowed it down to two schools. It's not like he's pulling a hat out of a bag with 15 schools that are just logos up there,' said Folsom coach Paul Doherty. 'He said no to Ohio State, Ohio State just won the national freaking championship. He's had to do it all that and navigate it, so I guess my best perspective is I'm proud of him for being the kid that he is and staying pretty grounded and being thorough with the process.' Should he sign, Lyons would become BYU's second-highest-rated prospect of the modern recruiting era, behind only five-star quarterback Ben Olson in the Class of 2002. (Olson never played a down at BYU, redshirting and then transferring to UCLA after serving a two-year Mormon mission.) BYU also made a huge splash on the basketball recruiting trail, signing AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 player in the Class of 2025. Lyons threw for 3,011 yards with 46 touchdowns and six interceptions as a junior at Folsom. He also rushed 118 times for 585 yards and 14 more scores. Once considered a prime candidate to stay in-state and play for USC, he now heads to BYU — after he serves a one-year mission. 'I think they're getting a great person,' Doherty said. 'I think he's genuinely a great kid. I think he's committed to what he wants to do. He wants to play quarterback at a high level, he's shown that he's certainly capable and he is a kid that is owning every step of progress that's necessary. He's not a kid that's stuck up or entitled or snobby or gonna blame someone else or pretend he knows something that he doesn't. … He'll ask questions if he doesn't know and he'll work on it, he'll own it.' (Photo of Kalani Sitake: Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)
BBC News
09-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Mobuoy: Calls for public inquiry over one of Europe's largest illegal dumps
Some politicians and environmental activists are calling for a public inquiry after two men were jailed last week for their roles in one of Europe's largest illegal dumps outside Doherty, 67, of Culmore Road, Derry, admitted seven charges between 2007 and 2013 relating to the contaminated Mobuoy dump at Campsie and was sentenced to one year in Gerard Farmer, 56, of Westlake in Derry, pleaded guilty to three charges between 2011 and 2013 and was jailed for 21 judge at Londonderry Crown Court said they had "acted deliberately" and been "entirely motivated by financial gain". BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme has been to the site at Campsie to meet environmental activist, Dean Blackwood. Mr Blackwood, a director at Faughan Anglers and principal planner for the Department of Environment up until 2013, said there was a "bubbling lake of toxic waste and no proper remediation work started"."Not only were big holes allowed to be dug up for this waste to be deposited, they were allowed to be dug outside any regulations," Mr Blackwood dump consists of two parcels of land - the City Industrial Waste (CIW) site and the Campsie Sand and Gravel (CSG) is thought to cover more than 100 acres of land or the size of about 70 football pitches."The failure of the authorities to act in a proper manner really calls into question the effectiveness of our government departments to regulate and protect the environment," Mr Blackwood said."This environmental crime has been described as unprecedented in the UK so you would have expected an unprecedented sentence," he called for a public inquiry. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA Mark H Durkan said the men had "profited to the tune of over £40m by illegal dumping waste right beside our city's main drinking water supply". "It's clear they were only interested in their own profits and cared not one bit about the risk this posed to public health or the surrounding environment," he said the impact was being felt in the area "with the A6 road project being delayed as a result with a knock on effect on the North West's economy"."We are now looking at a bill of up to £700m to clean up this site at a time when the public purse is under significant pressure," he added. He reiterated his party's call for a full public inquiry, adding that progress and investment was needed to make the site Northern Ireland Assembly passed a motion for a public inquiry into illegal waste disposal in March in response to a question from the Green Party in 2020, the then Agriculture and Environment Minister Edwin Poots ruled one out. Alderman Darren Guy, from the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) said the sentencing "is far from adequate"."Like other parties, we would support calls for a full inquiry as we believe that there were more people involved in this crime than the two men now sentenced.""We believe it is much more important to call for the government and the Daera minister to now find the correct solutions and the funding to begin the massive clean-up of the contaminated Mobuoy site." The court was told on Friday that the amount of waste illegally disposed of could potentially have generated £30m for Doherty's company, Campsie Sand & Gravel Farmer's firm, City Industrial Waste Ltd, the potential sum was more than £ lawyers said the case against Doherty and Farmer concerned about 636,000 tonnes of waste including construction and domestic court was told that no pollution has yet been detected in the river, but that ongoing monitoring will be required, at "significant" cost to the public £700m figure for the potential repair bill is contained in 2022/23 accounts from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) which were published in February estimate a cost range of between £17m and £ sentencing on Friday, Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir described the Mobuoy dump scandal as a "sophisticated and deliberate environmental crime of unprecedented scale".He announced plans to launch a public consultation on a draft remediation strategy for the site. Does the sentence meet the gravity of the crime? In a statement to BBC Radio Foyle, NI Water said: "Water undertake sampling and analysis for drinking water quality monitoring with samples taken at the water treatment works, the Service Reservoirs and at customer taps."There have been no water quality breaches in the treated drinking water supplied from Carmoney water treatment works that have been related to the Mobuoy waste site."Financial journalist Paul Gosling told BBC News NI "it is also one of the most dire examples possible of regulatory failure by state bodies in Northern Ireland"."The outcome will be a massive financial burden for Northern Ireland that will be a blight on the capital and revenue budgets of government here for probably decades to come," he added."People will be now asking does the sentence meet the gravity of the crime. The consequences will arguably be more severe for our society than for the perpetrators of the crime."
