Ciara Ní

🚨𝐍𝐄𝐖🚨 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗔𝗙𝗖 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝘂𝗹 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁’𝘀 ‘𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝘂𝘇𝘇𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴’ 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱-𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 A Stormont department did not keep records of calls and in-person meetings linked to the controversial proposed allocation of funds to a football club. A Freedom of Information (FoI) expert says the lack of records is “strange and puzzling” and raises “disconcerting questions” about whether “officials are consistently failing to record matters adequately”. It follows revelations that Education Minister Paul Givan wanted to allocate £30,000 to a Co Armagh football team, Richhill AFC. (𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑅𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝐴𝐹𝐶 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐸𝐴. 𝐹𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒).

𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭-𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 — 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 An exchange on here yesterday shows what parties mean when they talk about regional equality. It appears to mean they're happy for MLAs in the impacted area, in this case Derry/NW to champion that cause because it may play well with the local electorate. Ask a party leader in Belfast to fully endorse that call for equality: crickets. That seems to align with the position of universities themselves. They're happy for Magee to be expanded, so long as it doesn't impact on Belfast in any way. 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒! You don't say, we need more investment outside London, but London won't be weakened in any way. Let's be clear here, you cannot be serious about regional equality — or equality at all — if you also believe it's okay for Belfast to have 84% of the North's Higher Education student population. Because Belfast having that number of students is the central reason for regional equality. Invest NI, the economy department, economic experts, would acknowledge that businesses are all drawn to Belfast because they want to set up next to universities. 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 84% 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒔 𝑩𝒆𝒍𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆. Parties talk about responsible government. They talk about having to make tough decisions in health about where some services should be based. Tell me ... What's different when it comes to applying that logic to higher education? I'll answer that. There is no difference and if someone claims there is, it exposes them and their party as hypocrits. 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙗𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙜𝙨 84% 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝'𝙨 𝙃𝙀 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 (Map with student numbers is a year or two out of date but the percentage of students in each city will be basically unchanged).