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Belfast Telegraph
25-05-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
PSNI at ‘breaking point' amid funding crisis, Police Federation chairman warns
Liam Kelly accused Stormont ministers of serving up 'platitudes and promises' to fix the crisis but failing to deliver tangible action. The chairman of the body representing rank and file officers reiterated his criticism of Stormont for not funding Chief Constable Jon Boutcher's plan to increase PSNI numbers. Last year, Mr Boutcher drew up a recovery plan to increase the service's headcount to 7,000 from about 6,300 officers, requiring £200 million of additional funding over five years. Last week, Mr Kelly used his speech at the Police Federation's annual conference in Co Fermanagh to accuse ministers of 'shredding' that plan. In response, Justice minister Naomi Long said Mr Kelly's comments were 'inaccurate and extremely unhelpful'. She said his narrative only served to 'unsettle and demotivate an already pressurised police service'. Ms Long insisted the recovery plan business case had been approved in value for money terms. She said the 'challenge' remained to identify the funding to implement the plan. On Sunday, Mr Kelly rejected Ms Long's comments, insisting there could be no further delay in moves to bolster officer headcount. 'Our numbers have been going backwards for years, and we've got to the point now where we're in crisis. We're at breaking point and the Chief Constable has asked for funding around that,' he told BBC NI's Sunday Politics programme. 'The reality around it is that Stormont have come back to say that his business case represents value for money, so they can support that aspect of it. 'However, they have said that he has to basically live within his means for now, because the funding is not there. The affordability is the key around this.' He added: 'We need to grow our organisation, and we need to grow our organisation now. And this recovery plan was going to steady the ship. It was going to help us now. And our officers actually see that there is a way out of this crisis that we find ourselves in, and now we're being told by Stormont that the money's not there, so therefore, in my view, that is shredded. 'We've had enough platitudes given to us over a long period of time. We need affirmative action, and we need that action now.' Mr Kelly said Stormont introducing new revenue raising measures to help fund the police service should not be taken off the table. 'This is about our officers having to do more with less, and what we're seeing is our officers are burning out,' he added. 'They have increased workloads. They're making mistakes. Things aren't happening that should be happening, and, ultimately, if our officers don't have the trust and confidence of the public in relation to the police and service that we provide, then we're in a really, really bad place. 'So we need to turn this around, and we need to turn this around very, very quickly.'
Belfast Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Health
- Belfast Telegraph
NI doctor warns of ‘enormous gap' in health services: ‘How much worse does it have to get?'
Dr Clodagh Corrigan, the deputy chair of the British Medical Association in Northern Ireland, warned there is a life expectancy gap of seven years between those who are well off and those who are not when it comes to patients across the region seeking medical help. She also questioned what existing services would need to be sacrificed to fund investment in tackling waiting lists. It comes after Health Minister Mike Nesbitt announced last week that patients waiting longer than two years for an operation will be able to claim back money if they pay for a procedure in the Republic of Ireland. The Department of Health said patients would require prior approval before accessing the scheme. It is part of a £215m plan outlined by the Health Minister to help tackle growing hospital waiting lists. Dr Corrigan has been working in emergency departments for the last 14 years. Speaking on the BBC's Sunday Politics, she said there is an 'enormous gap' in access to services in Northern Ireland where better services are provided to those who 'can afford it'. 'We are in a dire situation and our waiting lists are the worst in the UK,' Dr Corrigan said. 'There is an enormous gap in health access and in poverty in Northern Ireland. 'The average life expectancy for those who are the most well off and those who are the least well off varies by just over seven years. 'If we are in any position where we are providing a better health service and better access to health for those who can afford it, we are going to see that disparity become even greater and people who can't afford to pay for healthcare up front really suffering and with poorer outcomes.' Mr Nesbitt said full details of the investment plan to tackle waiting lists have yet to be outlined and the full range of eligible procedures covered by the cross-border scheme are not yet known. He added that, initially, £10m will be invested in the waiting list reimbursement scheme, which will begin in June 2025. Dr Corrigan questioned what existing services would have to suffer to fund this multi-million-pound investment plan. 'How much worse is the care that we are providing our patients on a day to day basis going to have to get to fund these million-pound savings the minister is looking to invest in the waiting lists?' she questioned. 'We are working within this ever-expanding need and we need more and more to stay afloat. 'With the resources we've got we can't maintain where we currently are, we need more investment and we need to see that leftward shift to primary care. 'Our GP colleagues see one in 10 of our population every week, that is not sustainable, we need that money to be invested well and invested in what's going to make a difference at prevention level.'
Belfast Telegraph
04-05-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Plan to overhaul Northern Ireland employment law ‘does not go far enough'
Susan Fitzgerald said the Good Jobs Bill was 'far from a revolutionary document' and the implementation of the legislation involves a long transitional period. Last week, Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald said the 'ambitious' proposals in the Bill included tackling zero-hour contracts, improvements to family-related leave and strengthened rights for trade unions. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. The proposals also aimed to enhance protections for agency workers, ensure tips were passed on to staff in full and introduce easier access to flexible working arrangements. Ms Fitzgerald, Unite Ireland regional secretary, said the union is discussing the minister's proposals with union representatives and activists. 'We will be guided by the discussions we have with workers, who will be on the receiving end or otherwise of the proposals,' she told BBC NI's Sunday Politics show. 'I suppose our point is it's far from a revolutionary document, to be fair, where it doesn't go far enough from a trading perspective, or hasn't addressed at all. 'But there's no question that, you just take a sample of some of the items – tips, flexible working opportunities, neonatal leave and pay for pregnant workers, protections against unfair redundancy for pregnant workers, movement on zero hour contracts, movement on fire and rehire – I actually don't know how anyone can disagree with any of those areas. 'I think one of the key things for us now is what are – in some cases mostly just headlines – is getting behind the detail of what we need to see implemented. 'But I have to say an area of concern is – maybe it's an attempt to reassure people – but it's the proposal to have what feels like a long transition period, and presumably that would only commence after the process has gone through Stormont. That's not good enough. 'It's actually unconscionable to say to someone, we know your rights are not currently protected, we know you're not currently being treated with respect, You're currently very vulnerable, but bear with, we don't want to scare the horses.' Suzanne Wylie, chief executive of NI Chamber, said that a 'very complex' set of regulations of codes of practice are being proposed. 'It is, as the minister has said, the biggest overhaul in employment law in decades, and so our businesses across Northern Ireland really need to be prepared for that,' she said. 'There's a lot in these, and this is really about putting right these proposals. There's a lot more to the creation of good jobs than just aspect of employee rights.' Ms Wylie said that similar legislation is going through Westminster, which is estimated to cost businesses some £5 billion. 'If we think about the challenges that businesses here are facing at this point with increases in tax, increases in minimum wage, living wage, etc, AI, that's disrupting how we work our days, the cost of energy, etc. Really, really challenging time for business. 'We really do have to think about how these proposals are going to be implemented, and how that balance will be achieved between ensuring that we have viable businesses that can grow and a growing economy that we can really create good jobs for the future.'
Belfast Telegraph
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
The ‘valuable scrutiny' into what the NI Executive is actually doing remains largely hidden behind the lavish Stormont curtains
Our MLAs are turning up for work after so many years of inaction. The wheels of government, we're led to believe, are in motion. All smiles and photo opportunities. But try to ask The Executive Office what exactly it's doing, well, that's when the smiles disappear and the struggles to actually get to grips with the task in hand become all too clear. A government is not in place to showcase all things bright and beautiful. It is there to make the hard decisions that affect all our everyday lives. And not all of them will be popular. For a year and a few months, the current Stormont Executive has been living in the honeymoon of a partnership rekindled – a partnership where outward appearances seem to be more important than answering the tough questions when those answers are sought. A keeping up of appearances, perhaps a belief behind the Stormont facade that if people are shown how everything is running smoothly then they will believe that to be so. A good old Yellow Pages mentality. 'We don't just help with the nasty things in life like a blocked drain. We're there for the nice things too.' There for the nice things in life they may be, but they are supposed to be there to help with the nasty things too... But try to ask relevant questions on the more contentious issues and you're often met by a wall of silence, and an 'if you can't say anything nice, don't say nothing at all' attitude, as if that will make the ills go away. It's as though those in the house on the hill are happy to sweep everything they don't wish to engage in under the carpet. The Executive Office has 10 dedicated press officers. A major part of that role is answering queries from the media, either through direct responses or by providing information through freedom of information requests. But rather than providing a window for information to flow through, questions to be answered, the 'valuable scrutiny' of what the Executive is actually doing remains largely hidden behind the lavish Stormont curtains. Even our MLAs who seek to question the Office are finding answers tough to come by. Some of the queries naturally need some research before the answers can be provided. It's never going to be an 'ask a question get an immediate answer' situation. Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw is the chair of the Executive Committee at Stormont. It's supposed to be the main scrutiny body for the Executive Office. But they, like the media, do not always get the answers they seek. And how can they scrutinise the workings of the top level of government if they too are ignored when they seek clarity? Speaking on the BBC's Sunday Politics programme earlier this month she said it is 'not acceptable' that responses to questions from the committee are not always being provided and there is 'a real silence on so many fronts'. The silence over so many questions will only add to suspicions that there's something behind all those smiling images that some would rather the watching public would rather not see or hear of — and if it remains behind that wall of silence, we'll all move on and pretend that everything's okay forever. A spokesperson for The Executive Office said: 'Ministers endeavour to ensure all Assembly questions, committee correspondence and media queries are answered within the appropriate timeframe.' At least an answer was forthcoming. Endeavour they might. That doesn't mean they always do. While those asking the questions might not like the answers they receive, they at least deserve the response.
BBC News
13-04-2025
- Health
- BBC News
NI dentists 'will have to shrink NHS element to keep lights on'
Dentists will have to reduce the NHS elements of their practice due to the hike in National Insurance contributions (NICs) this month, the Chair of the Northern Ireland Dental Practice Committee has Ciara Gallagher said patients "will end up doing without, healthcare inequalities will widen, and patients will suffer" as a currently pay a rate of 13.8% on employees' earnings above a threshold of £9,100 a the Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said this rate would increase to 15% in April 2025, and the threshold would be reduced to £5,000. 'Patients will suffer' Figures from 2022 revealed that 90% of dental practices in Northern Ireland were not accepting new adult patients and 88% were not accepting child Gallagher said that the "primary reason" for this is the cost of delivering care surpasses funding provided by the health department."We're now adding another cost to that, and that is going to make practices unviable," she told BBC's Sunday Politics programme."The difficulty that dentists are going to face is they will have to shrink the NHS element of their practices if they are to keep the lights on, and they will have to increase the private element."And that is going to be patients having to do without care, so the effect in dentistry is going to be rapid, and it is going to be even more difficult for patients to access NHS dental care," Dr Gallagher said."And we know the vast majority of people aren't in a position to pay for private care, and therefore they will end up doing without and healthcare inequalities will widen and patients will suffer." In 2024 it was announced that more than £9m was to be invested in dental services in Northern funding was aimed at bolstering support for dental practices and protecting public access to health service dental health minister also confirmed a 6% pay uplift for dentists for the current financial British Dental Association said the money "falls well short of what's needed" and urged further Gallagher told the programme that she has colleagues who work in areas of very high need and have to make the decision of whether or not to close due to financial constraints."At this point in time [they] have said, 'I may as well close the doors and go and work somewhere else'. "And in this particular practice, it's 6000 patients who will end up without care. "So there is a very real risk that practices in high-need areas are going to close."
