Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister has confirmed she will travel to Washington for St Patrick’s Day. Emma Little-Pengelly will be there without First Minister Michelle O’Neill after Sinn Fein announced they would not be attending.
Sinn Féin has announced that they will not be attending St Patrick’s Day celebrations at the White House, in what they call a “principled stance in response to the call for the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza”. The DUP say the decision is “short-sighted and counterproductive”.
The new Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health has been announced as Mike Farrar, a former senior leader at NHS England. He will replace Peter May in April, who is retiring from the Civil Service.
Councillor Aoife Finnegan will replace former Economy Minister Conor Murphy as MLA for Newry and Armagh, after he was elected to the Seanad Éireann last week. She has served as a councillor for Slieve Gullion since 2020.
Finance Minister John O’Dowd has announced an allocation of over £17 million to Stormont departments to help deal with the impacts of Storm Éowyn. The Department for Infrastructure received over £8 million to assist their clean-up operation.
Following Conor Murphy’s successful election to the Seanad, Sinn Féin has announced a reshuffle of their Executive Ministers. Liz Kimmins joins John O’Dowd and Caoimhe Archibald on the frontbench – but all in new departments.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has selected Lord Peter Weir to replace Mervyn Storey on the Board of the Education Authority (EA) after he was appointed Chair in December 2024.
Belfast City Councillor JJ Magee has had the whip restored by Sinn Féin following an investigation by the Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards, their national chairperson Declan Kearney has confirmed.
A former Ulster Unionist Party councillor, who quit the party after he wasn’t chosen to replace Robin Swann at Stormont, despite being endorsed by then party leader Doug Beattie, has joined the DUP.
