Visualisation of COVID-19 in Northern Ireland
Reading Time: < 1 minute By Aaron McMurray & James Bamford This dashboard has been prepared by the Assembly Research and Information Service (RaISe) to visualise data describing the spread of COVID-19 in Northern Ireland. This dashboard is intended to
Transport trends during the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland
Reading Time: 8 minutes Share on linkedin Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print In March 2020, the lockdown imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a collapse in the use of all
COVID, culture and recovery (part 2 of 2)
Reading Time: 8 minutes To support the Communities Committee’s consideration of recommendations for the culture sector’s recovery in Northern Ireland, this two-part blog post provides an overview of cultural recovery initiatives from other jurisdictions. Part 1 examined the local
COVID-19 and farming – A bitter harvest?
Reading Time: 6 minutes 2020 was already set to be a challenging year for farmers across the UK. Having finally reached an agreed Withdrawal Agreement with the EU, the UK is set to formally leave the EU at
Farmers and mental health
Reading Time: 5 minutes In this Mental Health Awareness Week, which also coincides with this year’s Balmoral Show, this article examines an issue which has received comparatively little attention and on which, so far, not much research has been
What now for direct support to farmers in Northern Ireland post-Brexit?
Reading Time: 5 minutes A key issue within Northern Ireland since the UK’s decision to leave the EU in June 2016 is exactly how this decision will affect local farming?
Addressing the Digital Divide in Northern Ireland
Reading Time: 6 minutes This blog article focuses on key UK Government, Northern Ireland Executive and Departmental initiatives which are currently in place to address the digital divide in Northern Ireland (NI). Following on from the previous blog post
An overview of the Digital Divide in Northern Ireland
Reading Time: 7 minutes This blog article provides a brief overview of the ‘Digital Divide’. Drawing on the Northern Ireland experience, it explores key characteristics of the Digital Divide, as well as the importance of closing this divide, especially
High street regeneration: What can we learn from other cities?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Data recently released by the footfall-counter Springboard highlights how the number of shoppers in the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) town centres was down by a third (32.7%) when compared to April 2019, despite the easing of
Every child deserves a real chance in life: A renewed government focus on solving educational underachievement in Northern Ireland?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Young people have faced unprecedented changes to their childhoods and futures due to COVID-19. A significant part of this disruption has been to their education. While schools and education staff adapted admirably to online learning,
COVID-19 and school shutdowns: Examining the after-effects
Reading Time: 7 minutes In an effort to minimise the spread of the virus SARS-CoV-2 (which causes the disease COVID-19), schools in Northern Ireland closed their doors to normal school life on 23 March 2020. Approximately 450 schools remained
Free periods? Period poverty, its impact on education, and policy responses to the issue
Reading Time: 7 minutes Period poverty is a topical issue, globally and within the United Kingdom (UK). Recently, there has been some concern about the relationship between period poverty and school attendance. In addition, the reduction of taxation on
Who runs Northern Ireland? Taking stock of gender and power in Northern Ireland
Reading Time: 4 minutes Please note that more up-to-date statistics on gender representation can be found in the RaISe research paper Who Runs Northern Ireland? A Summary of Statistics Relating to Gender and Power in 2020. The late feminist
EU exit regulations and Northern Ireland
Reading Time: 4 minutes A high profile consequence of the continuing failure to establish an Executive and fully functioning Assembly was the legislative passage this week of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Bill 2018. A
A brief overview of the Northern Ireland Assembly Library
Reading Time: 5 minutes This week is Libraries Week so we thought we would provide an insight into the Northern Ireland Assembly Library, its work and the collection that it manages. The Assembly Library The Library, like the Assembly
The misuse of prescription drugs in Northern Ireland
Reading Time: 7 minutes Earlier this year the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a report on Addiction Services in Northern Ireland (NI), highlighting a steady increase of both alcohol- and drug-specific deaths (Figure 1, below). The use of prescription
Women’s gynaecological health in Northern Ireland
Reading Time: 9 minutes Women’s gynaecological health refers to, menstruation, sexual health, fertility and menopause. Health inequalities experienced by women have long been apparent, often described by campaigners as the ‘gender-health gap’. Evidence has shown that a lack of
Cancer in Northern Ireland: Strategy and beyond
Reading Time: 9 minutes The World Health Organisation recommends that every country should have a cancer strategy regardless of resource constraints. The proposed 10-year Cancer Strategy for Northern Ireland (NI) aims to improve diagnosis, survival and the experience of
An overview of the Digital Divide in Northern Ireland
Reading Time: 7 minutes This blog article provides a brief overview of the ‘Digital Divide’. Drawing on the Northern Ireland experience, it explores key characteristics of the Digital Divide, as well as the importance of closing this divide, especially
Are electric cars a realistic alternative to petrol and diesel in Northern Ireland today?
Reading Time: 9 minutes The UK Government has a vision where almost all cars and vans on UK roads will be electric by 2050. Encouragingly, the market for electric cars is growing year-on-year, though realistically they continue to make
Ready for the journey? Public attitudes to electric and ultra-low emission vehicles
Reading Time: 6 minutes The UK Government is encouraging drivers to buy zero emission battery electric vehicles to accelerate the decarbonisation of transport. It will phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030,
Update – the Gibraltar Protocol
Reading Time: 5 minutes This article updates a previous article on the negotiations around the Gibraltar Protocol. Gibraltar provides an interesting point of comparison with Northern Ireland in terms of arrangements following the UK’s exit from the EU. The
Consent, cross-community support and the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol
Reading Time: 7 minutes John Locke once wrote, ‘we should have a great many fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves’. In
Judicial Review of the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol – Allister (James Hugh) et al’s Application AND In the Matter of the Protocol NI[2021] NIQB 64
Reading Time: 7 minutes The Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol (‘the Protocol’) was the subject of a judicial review challenge at the High Court of Justice in Belfast. The hearing, which stretched over several days, took place in May 2021 and
