Young people on living both sides of Belfast’s oldest peace wall
Caitlin Leng, Irish News, April 9th, 2025
YOUNG people from either side of Belfast’s oldest peace wall have come together to share their personal stories in a new report aimed at bridging the divide between two communities.
The report, titled Peace Walls, was unveiled at Ulster University’s Belfast campus as part of Springboard Opportunities’ ‘Wall2Wall’ programme – an initiative dedicated to bridging the divide between communities on either side of Cupar Way, the site of Belfast’s first peace wall, erected in 1969.
Funded by the International Fund for Ireland’s Personal Youth Development Programme (PYDP), the ‘Wall2Wall’ programme brought together 16 young people from both Catholic and Protestant communities over an 18-month period.
The initiative aimed to foster open dialogue, build connections, and explore the cultural legacy of sectarian division.
Now, the report has shone a light on the journey taken by young people from Shankill and Clonard as they explored the impact of Belfast’s peace walls – a journey that, for many, marked their first meaningful encounter with someone from the other side of the divide.
Speaking to The Irish News, 18-year-old ‘Wall2Wall’ member Caitlin McKissock, from Clonard, said she had ‘no experience’ of interacting with the Protestant community prior to joining ‘Wall2Wall’ in October 2023.
‘I wanted to have the discussions that weren’t happening’
She said: “I joined ‘Wall2Wall’ as I wanted to have the discussions that weren’t happening and be part of a community.
“Being in Wall2Wall has definitely had a big impact on my perspective on life. We are all human at the end of the day.
“The only thing that separates us is our political beliefs, and that is the only thing that really creates conflict. But apart from that – we’re all the same.”
As part of the ‘Wall2Wall’ programme, Caitlin and her peers took part in a series of cross-community events, including social action projects, a family fun day on the peace line, and an overseas trip to Nicosia, Cyprus – designed to explore the parallel divisions between Turkish and Greek communities on the island.
It is this kind of social impact has been praised by independent evaluator Dr Shelley McKeown Jones of Oxford University Innovation Ltd, who described the programme as socially ‘transformational’ and a potential blueprint for future initiatives.
Her external evaluation found that the programme had a positive effect on participants’ perceptions of youth voice and their confidence in driving change within their communities.
Safe spaces
Steph O’Rourke, the executive director of Springboard Opportunities, added: “Young people have had the opportunity to really unpack, understand, analyse what peace walls mean to them. They have also been able to have a voice and be more involved in their community. It has given them a space to feel safe to understand why they think what they think.
“It’s a responsibility that’s on us to ensure that young people are supported to engage in safe spaces around this.
“We are all human at the end of the day. The only thing that separates us is our political beliefs, and that is the only thing that really creates conflict. But apart from that – we’re all the same
“Peace is something that needs to be worked at day in, day out. It’s something that people have to work hard at, and we can’t assume that we’re just going to have peaceful, cohesive communities automatically.”
Dual-language street signs go global including Hebrew
Paul Ainsworth, Irish News, April 9th, 2025
BELFAST City Council’s controversial policy on bilingual street signs has gone international with applications for signage displaying Japanese, Mandarin and Hebrew.
Since the policy was introduced in 2022, making it easier for residents to apply for signs featuring a language other than English, swathes of streets have seen bilingual nameplates with the Irish language erected.
More than 1,600 applications have been made under the policy, which requires only one resident or councillor to trigger a consultation of other residents to gauge the desire for a bilingual nameplate.
The overwhelming majority are for Irish to feature along with English but as of last month there have also been 161 applications for consultations on Ulster Scots.
The details were revealed following an Irish News freedom of information request to the council, which also uncovered surprising applications for other languages.
Two applications for Japanese have been made – one on Kings Road in east Belfast’s Gilnahirk area and the other at Chichester Gardens in the north of the city.
An application for a sign to feature ‘Chinese Mandarin’ has been made for Kilbroney Bend in south Belfast, while applications for ‘Chinese’ were made for North Parade in the Ravenhill area and Severn Street in east Belfast.
Applications for Hebrew have been received for Tates Avenue in south Belfast and nearby Ebor Street in the loyalist Village area.
All non-Irish/Ulster Scots applications have “all initial information provided” to progress to the next stage of the process, except for North Parade, where the ‘Chinese’ application has been closed because the street has been “progressed under a previous application” and a sign with Irish has been erected. An application for an Irish bilingual sign had been made for Ebor Street that was deferred by the council’s People and Communities Committee – which oversees the signage process – while what appears to be another separate application for Irish in the same street has been made.
Ulster Scots applications
Of the Ulster Scots applications, nine are ready to proceed to the resident survey stage, while one was marked as ‘invalid’.
With the 2022 policy, the threshold for a new sign to be confirmed is just 15% of a street’s residents.
Non-responses to the consultation are no longer counted as votes against a bilingual sign, and each application is also subject to an equality assessment.
The previous policy required 33.3% of residents to even trigger the consultation, and 66.6% to agree to the new sign before it was installed.
Unionist members of the council have expressed concern over the impact on community relations caused by applications for bilingual signs with Irish in some areas.
Applications for dual-language street signs in Belfast include Hebrew, Japanese and Mandarin
Amid all the bluster around the Irish language appearing on street signs, the point gets lost that the council’s bilingual policy applies to other languages too.
Signs cost £1,000 each
The DUP has opposed even surveying residents following an application in some areas, with the party’s leader on the council, Sarah Bunting, saying these applications highlight “the numerous absurdities of the current dual language signage policy”, and said the council faces “a huge waste of money, and of staff time”.
However, SDLP councillor Gary McKeown, who sits on the People and Communities Committee, said: “Amid all the bluster around the Irish language appearing on street signs, the point gets lost that the council’s bilingual policy applies to other languages too. This means that residents of a particular street can put in a request for a language to appear alongside English, and it doesn’t have to be Irish.
“We are starting to see examples coming through; each of these will be handled in line with the council’s policy.
“At the heart of this needs to be respect, but unfortunately that has been in short supply from some quarters. Linguistic and cultural diversity in this city is something to be embraced and celebrated, not demonised or ghettoised.”
A Belfast City Council spokesperson said: “All applications for dual language street signs are dealt with in the order they are received and may be subject to a survey of the occupiers of premises in the street if they progress through to this stage.”
It has been reported that the overall cost of approving and erecting a street sign is up to £1,000.
When asked of the costs to ratepayers for surveys to be carried out, the council spokesperson added: “We do not hold costs associated with processing applications or carrying out surveys. We only hold costs relating to the erection of signage on approved streets.”
‘Historic day for Irish language’ - first street signage in Portadown
Allan Preston, Irish News, April 9th, 2025
Activists welcome bilingual installation on Co Armagh town’s Garvaghy Road 18 months after application made by residents
IRISH language activists have welcomed the “historic” installation of a dual-language street sign on Portadown’s Garvaghy Road.
The first ever approved by the unionist-controlled Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Borough Council (ABC), the sign for Woodside Gardens also reads ‘Gairdíní Chois Coille.’
Residents had originally applied for the sign 18 months ago, but had faced opposition from unionist politicians over concerns it would provoke sectarian tensions on the Garvaghy Road.
Posting a picture of the sign with work tools still in the background, the An Dream Dearg campaign group commented: “Lá stairiúil (historic day) in (ABC Council) as the first ever dual-language sign in the council’s history goes up 18 months after the initial application was made.”
Last month, another street near the Garvaghy Road was also approved for a dual-language sign – Churchill Gardens which is named after the British World War II leader Winston Churchill.
A third application for a dual language sign at Woodside Hill has been rejected by the council despite residents voting in favour and officials recommending approval.
Judicial review
The decision is now the subject of a judicial review.
Cuisle Nic Liam, Language Rights Co-ordinator with Conradh na Gaeilge, called the latest development “an important day” for the local Irish language community.
“Dual language signage was officially banned since 1949, and whilst that ban was lifted in 1995, and power given to local councils to facilitate the erection of dual-language street signage, ABC Council refrained from providing any policy to permit residents to apply for signage for a further 25 years,” she said.
“That policy, finally introduced in 2020, has been recently condemned by the Committee of Experts and international oversight bodies for having overwhelmingly restrictive criteria.
“Overcoming all of that are the incredible residents of Woodside Gardens, who have made history in becoming the first street in the council area to succeed in achieving a dual-language street sign.
“Not only did they have to overcome all of those historic and policy hurdles, but faced outrageous political opposition at every possible level.
“Their dual-language sign will act as a beacon of hope for all other communities organising towards linguistic equality in their own streets and towns.”
The council’s dual language policy requires a petition supported by 33% of residents.
The next stage is a postal survey, requiring at least 66% support from residents on the street, with non-responses counted as an objection.
Ultimately, this is still only a recommendation that councillors can ignore.
For Woodside Gardens, 10 residents voted in favour of the new sign while the owner of a commercial premises was neutral.
Attending a council meeting on the issue last year, the DUP MP Carla Lockhart called the plans for dual language signs territorial and “a concerted effort to cleanse this area of Protestantism”.
Also welcoming the sign was Sinn Féin councillor Paul Duffy, who called it “an historic and hugely positive milestone”.
“The recognition of the Irish language by ABC Council is long overdue, and comes at a time when Gaeilge continues to flourish and go from strength to strength,” he said.
“I want to commend local residents and Irish language activists for making this progressive step forward.”
The council has been contacted for a response.
Our unpublished letter to the Irish News on the language controversy
John Manley’s article (in Irish News, April 1st) has provoked a much needed debate about language signage of Belfast Grand Central Station. It ranges from Eugene Reid’s, ‘let the DUP rage all they want – because, in the end, history will move on without them’ to Gerry Adames more considered response pointing out that the Irish language is wider than ‘nationalist culture’.
Like Gerry Adams, I wish to thank John Manley for raising the issue in a somewhat provocatively written but very useful contribution to Monday’s newspaper.
This is of course a predictable spat but there is always benefit in rehearsing the role of language in our still divided society as it remains in the very front line of the battle of competing identities. In the absence of significant violent conflict (thankfully) for over a quarter century language has become the weapon of choice for rivals on both sides of the divide rather than the bridge it could be.
Eugene Reid may dismiss ‘DUP rage’ but surely it’s time we learnt that rival memories keep score, as Guy Beiner has shown in his groundbreaking book ‘Forgetful Remembrance’. This book should be required reading in every divided society, not least his own divided country.
The reason we propose a Truth Recovery Process based on full disclosure through conditional amnesties and administered under a mediation model rather than in the combative arena of the courts is to facilitate honest and uninhibited debate of the very real hurt and division in our society, North and South. This division has also deeply affected relations with our neighbours in Britain.
Without such a process champions of rival traditions will continue to keep score, using every issue they can to pursue rival political objectives at the expense of the other side and ensure that we never realise the full potential of a society with such a rich but troubled heritage.
Padraig Yeates, Secretary, Truth Recovery Process CLG, Dublin.
Domestic Abuse Report gives hope for change but stats make for grim reading
COMMENT: Allison Morris, Belfast Telegraph, April9th, 2025
While the statistics still make for grim reading the Criminal Justice Inspector's report on the impact of enhanced domestic abuse laws in Northern Ireland does give hope for future change.
There were seven women killed in domestic incidents in 2024.
The median number of days it took last year for a domestic abuse case to reach a court conclusion was 139 days, that is a shocking increase of 28.7% from 108 days in 2022-23. The more serious Crown Court cases increased from 289 days to 403 days.
Factors such as a Covid backlog, shortage of court time and a criminal barrister strike all added to the delays.
In domestic violence cases, justice delayed is often justice denied, with victims and witnesses dropping out due to lengthy and stressful delays.
That is why so much of the CJI report concentrates on improving those outcomes.
Threats made in over third of cases
Of the 2,025 domestic abuse offences recorded by the PSNI between 2022-23 and September 2024, the PSNI applied the Section 8 child aggravator just 33 times — meaning a child was the victim of the abuse.
However, the Section 9 aggravator was applied 700 times — in 34.6% of cases — this is applied when threats are directed at a person under 18 years of age, or if a child was used to facilitate abusive behaviour.
Showing that all too often abusers are using threats to children as part of the coercion of their victim.
The inspector noted that training in THRIVE, Threat, Harm, Risk, Investigation, Vulnerability and Engagement, has been poorly attended and needed to increase if the quality of the assessments was to improve.
The inspector noted that just one face-to-face THRIVE training session was delivered during September 2024, with only eight attendees.
Staffing pressures were reported as the key reason for the low attendance. Detective Superintendent Paul Woods said in response that “thousands of officers and staff have undertaken bespoke training online but numbers for our in-person sessions are not where we want them to be”.
“We want to ensure every investigation and file submission are of the highest quality, we recognise the need to place a firmer focus on child aggravations so they are front and centre in our frontline's considerations”, he added.
Chinks of light
However, there are chinks of light.
Operation Encompass aimed at alerting schools that a child has been a victim of, or witnessed abuse, so extra attention can be paid to them in the wake of an incident, is being rolled out across Northern Ireland.
While issues have occurred with the implementation, real efforts are being made to streamline that and potentially roll it out to private childcare facilities.
The new legislation does allow for increased sentences where there is the aggravating factor of domestic abuse, the report calls for better records to be kept in relation to that to improve public confidence in the criminal justice system.
Northern Ireland has an appalling record when it comes to violence against women and girls, but the CJI recommendations — if fully implemented — could provide better outcomes for victims.
However, domestic abuse cannot be policed away, and there does need to be a wider conversation about the societal attitudes to the issue and the impact of toxic online influences on young men.
Nesbitt : Cross-border health scheme’s return will reduce waiting lists
Jonathan McCambridge, Irish News, April 9th, 2025
A CROSS-BORDER healthcare scheme will be reinstated to help relieve hospital waiting list pressures in Northern Ireland, Mike Nesbitt has said.
The health minister told MLAs he wanted to proceed “at pace” with work on getting the reimbursement scheme up and running.
Before Brexit, the EU’s Cross-Border Health Directive was used to reimburse patients in Northern Ireland who were diagnosed with a clinical need and received treatment in another EU member state. This was later replaced by a direct scheme with the Republic, which closed in 2022 due to lack of funding.
Hospital waiting lists in Northern Ireland are the worst in the UK.
Mr Nesbitt was allocated £215 million in the recently agreed 2025/26 budget to attempt to deal with waiting list pressures.
During ministerial question time Sinn Féin MLA Orlaithi Flynn asked him if he had given any consideration to reintroducing a cross-border scheme. He replied: “I most certainly have, yes.
“There is £215 million broken into three pots of money – £85m for red flag cancer and urgent, then £80m which is to stop the waiting lists growing any larger effectively.
“That is £165m of the £215m. That is coming out of my budget. It is being ring-fenced by the executive.
“Tackling waiting lists is an executive priority. I have no difficulty with that because I agree with it.
“And then I am getting another £50m in June monitoring if I can provide the right plan and I accept I need to be able to justify that spend.”
Cocktail of measures needed
Mr Nesbitt said a “cocktail” of measures would be needed to tackle the crisis.
He said: “There will be work that will be carried out by the health and social care trusts within the HSC system. Secondly, we will have to look to independent providers. Thirdly, we will look to reinstate a crossborder scheme.
“And we will be doing all that at pace and I will be meeting officials in the coming days to look at an options paper they are preparing for me in that regard.”
Mr Nesbitt reminded MLAs that through the scheme patients would have to pay for their treatments in advance and then be reimbursed by his department.
He said: “There is an equity issue that I am concerned about and that I want to see what might be done, with no guarantees, to try and mitigate the fact that there might be those who actually can’t afford or can’t find the means to find the money for the up-front payment.
“We want to proceed at pace.
The cross-border scheme, I am being told, if we start next week, it could be another six to eight weeks before we are putting it in place where we start the machinery rocking.
“That is getting well into this financial year and, like people who are on a waiting list, I am pretty impatient to get this done.”
Ms Flynn, a member of the Health Committee, said the minister should explore all options to ensure patients get the care they need.
She said: “This scheme previously enabled many patients on long waiting lists to access vital procedures – particularly knee and hip operations – which not only reduced waiting times but significantly improved quality of life for those individuals. Given the proven success of the Cross-Border Healthcare Directive, I am pleased that the minister is taking steps to reinstate it.”
SDLP health spokesman Colin McGrath said: “From the day and hour this scheme ended the SDLP has been campaigning for its return and I welcome the commitment from the minister.
“We also share concerns that under the previous scheme patients had to pay up-front for their treatment and were then reimbursed. Any new scheme must address this imbalance. It’s welcome that the minister is focusing on a solution that can quickly help people on both sides of the border access care.”
PM urged to order Sean Brown public inquiry
Rebecca Black, Irish News, April 9th, 2025
FIRST Minister Michelle O’Neill has urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “do the right thing” and order a public inquiry into the murder of GAA official Sean Brown.
She said Secretary of State Hilary Benn has so far failed to do so, and she has written to Sir Keir to urge him to act.
She said Mr Brown’s family had “waited far too long for truth, justice and accountability”.
The 61-year-old, who was the chairman of Bellaghy Wolfe Tone’s GAA club in Co Derry, was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997.
Last week, three judges at the Court of Appeal in Belfast said the government’s failure to order a public inquiry into the killing was unlawful.
Lady Chief Justice Siobhán Keegan said the court would give Mr Benn four weeks to “reflect upon the judgment” before another hearing.
The UK government has said it will “carefully consider” the judgment.
Last week outside court, Mr Brown’s elderly widow Bridie said that she should not have to go to London to pursue the case further with the Supreme Court.
It was the 58th time the 87-yearold had attended a court hearing as part of her long battle to secure answers about her husband’s death.
‘Horrific, retraumatising’
Speaking to reporters at Parliament Buildings in Belfast yesterday, Ms O’Neill said she felt the treatment of the Brown family has been “horrible, horrific, retraumatising”.
“When you see Mrs Brown herself go to court at each turn to try to get what is right and proper, a public inquiry for her husband. I think it is absolutely disgraceful and a shame on the British government that they are putting this woman through this time and time again,” she said.
“Five judges have told the British government to do the right thing and call a public inquiry. Five times the British government have ignored that. That cannot continue.
“Mrs Brown’s words were very clear, very emotional in calling on Keir Starmer to do the right thing, she was also clear in saying don’t make her go to London, this is an 87-year-old woman, she shouldn’t have to keep campaigning in the way she is.
“There needs to be a full public inquiry, this is about the Brown family and their quest for truth and justice.
“This is why I felt it important to speak directly to Keir Starmer. Hilary Benn has ignored and pleas from the family so it is now time for Keir Starmer to have the opportunity to do the right thing by the Brown family,” she added.
Last year, a coroner halted an inquest into the Brown killing, expressing concern that his ability to examine the case had been “compromised” by the extent of confidential state material being excluded from the proceedings on national security grounds.
Preliminary inquest proceedings had already heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents.
It had also been alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning.
Coroner Mr Justice Kinney called on the government to establish a public inquiry into the loyalist murder.
Mr Benn decided against holding an inquiry, arguing that the case could instead be dealt with by a new Troubles investigatory body, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.
Mr Brown’s widow challenged Mr Benn’s decision not to order a public inquiry and High Court judge Mr Justice Humphreys found in her favour in December and ordered the government to establish one.
The government then appealed against that decision to the Court of Appeal, leading to last week’s judgment.
Dublin accused of ‘wasting seven years’ in Real IRA murder inquest
Rebecca Black, Irish News, April 9th, 2024
THE Irish government has been accused of “wasting” more than seven years in an inquest into the death of a dissident republican.
Kieran Doherty (31) was found dead on Braehead Road in Derry close to the Irish border on February 24, 2010. He had been kidnapped, stripped, bound and shot.
He was reported to have been involved with the Real IRA, which admitted responsibility for his murder.
Preliminary hearings have taken place ahead of a full inquest into his death, however those involved are waiting for information from gardaí and the Chief State Solicitor’s Office (CSSO).
A hearing yesterday morning was told a letter dated April 7 had been received from the CSSO which “sets out a procedure” under the 2019 International Co-operation Act around a request for witness evidence.
Ian Skelt KC, counsel to Coroner Brian Sherrard, described it as a “matter of concern”.
“It is not witnesses that you are seeking but material, and there has been quite a long history of your office corresponding and interacting with the CSSO, seeking material, and it may be something of a surprise that we’ve received this letter, framed as it is, as a request for witness evidence without specifically referring to material, and there had been ongoing correspondence about the supply of material,” he said.
Hard to progress inquest without Garda information
Mr Sherrard said it will be very difficult for the inquest to proceed without first knowing what material, if anything, gardaí may hold concerning Mr Doherty and the circumstances around his death.
Stephen Toal KC, acting for the Doherty family, said they feel they are back to square one with the last seven and a half years having been wasted.
He said the coroner’s office “cannot be faulted”, having first contacted the southern authorities about the case in 2017, and having “done everything to bring it to this point”.
“However, seven and a half years have now been wasted and after all that time the Irish state is still silent on what information they hold,” he told the hearing.
“It’s unfortunate to say this, but it is either incompetence or it is deliberate and it follows a familiar pattern to all of us who deal with cases in this area.”
Mr Toal said there were similar delays and “years wasted” in the inquest into the death of GAA official Sean Brown.
“There seems to be a fault in the system, and recent examples only make that worse. We have the Dublin Monaghan bombings case where the Irish government was asked by the Police Ombudsman to deliver relevant files, and just like this case seven years passed and nothing was done, and those victims had to bring judicial review proceedings down in Dublin to force this issue,” he said.
“We also know that this Irish government have refused to establish a parallel inquiry into the Omagh bomb, and all of those things lead this Doherty family to conclude that this Irish government are simply not making any effort and trying to avoid accountability by whatever means, and that is a matter of grave concern to them.
“As things stand, the Doherty family have now spent 15 years waiting for the truth. At one end you have the British government and MI5 whose role as we all know in this inquest into this death is dealt with in a report by Lord Carlisle, and at the other end we have the Irish government who are being even more obstructive because they’re not even telling us what they possess.
“It’s really really difficult to see how this matter is going to be progressed without genuine engagement from the Irish government and its state agencies.”
Mr Sherrard pointed out the Irish government is not represented in the matter to answer to any criticisms.
Mr Skelt said the coroner can invite representatives from the Irish government and An Garda Síochána to attend and engage.
Mr Toal said he would welcome the Irish government’s attendance, but said the family remains sceptical.
“The simple solution to this is they simply commit to writing what they are going to do to progress this inquest… just tell us what information you have and how long it will take you to provide that to this inquest,” he said.
Mr Sherrard indicated he favoured inviting the Irish government to send a representative to attend a hearing, expressing concern about the “considerable drift” in the case.
“Just as we thought that perhaps we may be able to make some progress, this has rather taken the rug from under my feet,” he added.
“I propose to write again to the Chief State Solicitor’s Office… and to alert them to the fact that a date has been placed for a further preliminary, and to invite them to respond in writing and also to extend an invitation should they wish to defend their position, or to assert their position at the inquest. I will certainly make room for them to be heard in terms of this preliminary step.”
Another preliminary hearing has provisionally been planned to take place on May 7.
Climate role vote shows frostiness in the executive
John Manley, Political Correspondent, Irish News, April 9th, 2025
EXECUTIVE TENSIONS EVIDENT IN VOTE ON CLIMATE CHANGE COMMISSIONER
SIGNS of further tensions have emerged in the Stormont executive with the DUP opposing plans to establish a regional climate commissioner.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill described the party’s decision to vote against the motion she introduced yesterday as “regrettable”. The draft Northern Ireland Climate Commissioner Regulations 2025 were passed by 51 votes to 19, with the DUP and TUV together rejecting the motion.
The DUP claimed the costs of the role, estimated to be £1 million a year, could not be justified in the current financial climate.
Speaking in the Great Hall at Parliament Buildings after the debate, Ms O’Neill argued that there was a cost in “doing nothing”.
“I think that the public can take some comfort that the majority of MLAs elected here understand that climate is a real emergency, understand that as we speak today the Mournes are on fire, Lough Neagh is in crisis, floods are becoming an ever more occurring phenomenon,” she said.
Square World
“It’s regrettable that the DUP have taken this square earth mentality again and voted against the regulations, but they have went through nonetheless and I very much welcome that.”
The first minister said failing to take action would have “real implications” for people.
“The cost of doing nothing will be far, far more than the cost of putting a commissioner in place that can actually hold every department and agency to account in terms of their responsibility around getting us to net zero by 2050,” she said.
Michelle O’Neill said the Mourne fires were a sign of the climate emergency
In the assembly last week, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said she did not believe there was a need for a climate commissioner.
She said then the appointment will be made because it is a “legal duty”, but expressed concern it would cost at least £1 million per year at a time of financial challenge.
“I don’t think that there is a particular need for a climate commissioner at this time, but it is a legal duty that falls to the first minister and myself, and that’s why we are moving forward at this time,” she said.
SDLP MLA Sinéad McLaughlin said the establishment of climate change commissioner was a legal obligation.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill said failing to take action against climate change would have “real implications” for people
“In light of this, I am surprised at the DUPs’ position and they have repeated it at the Executive Office committee, but it is aligned with their continued refusal to accept the reality of the climate emergency farcing the world.
“Once again instead of leading I fear they are following, and they are following the TUV – that’s not leading and that’s not leadership.”
