£650,000 Fund To Provide Food And Heating Vouchers

Belfast City Council has backed a Sinn Féin proposal to provide £650,000 fund to provide food and heating vouchers to support thousands of families across the city.

Welcoming the approval of the fund, Sinn Féin Councillor Ciaran Beattie said: "Sinn Féin proposed that council provide £650k to fund food and heating vouchers to support thousands of struggling families across Belfast, thankfully this received support today.

"This means that partnership groups will be able to get support to people who need help through what is going to be a very tough winter particularly as food and energy costs continue to soar.

"In recent weeks, a series of energy companies have announced huge price hikes, and Power NI just announced today a further huge increase of over 21%.

"This money will come from the £1.2 million made available by Sinn Féin Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey to help support councils providing food and support for families in financial hardship."

Alliance Call For 'Boris Bridge' Money To Be Used For NI Infrastructure Projects

Infrastructure projects across Northern Ireland could benefit from the money Boris Johnson intended to use for a bridge to Scotland.

A government report by Sir Peter Hendry said that the so-called "Boris bridge" would be "impossible to justify".

Alliance Infrastructure spokesperson Andrew Muir said that the money intended for the "vanity project" could now be used for much-needed transport projects in Northern Ireland instead.

Mr Muir said: "The decision to pull the plug on this vanity project is not a surprise, as it was always more about politics than reality.

"The discussion of this bridge was the classic example of headline-grabbing politics to distract from the general incompetence of the UK Government. It has been a waste of time, effort and money from the beginning.

"With the billions originally being earmarked to pay for the project, that money could be much better used to deliver a number of much-needed infrastructure projects across Northern Ireland, some of which are now cited in the final report. We should see funding channelled to devolved institutions to enable improvement of the rail and bus network across the entire region, a high-speed rail link between Belfast and Dublin, and any number of road safety works carried out, including both the A75 and A77 for those travelling to and from Scotland.

"This should not be yet another report full of false promises and resulting in yet more power grabs by the UK Government over the heads of locally-elected politicians. Alliance’s Green New Deal calls for investment in a green recovery from the pandemic. This is now an opportunity to provide the finances to kickstart that."

Police Appeal For Information After Teenager Knocked Unconscious In Bangor

Police in Bangor have issued an appeal for information after a teenager was the victim of an assault.

According to police, the teenager was knocked unconscious when he was struck on the head by an object as he walked through Castle Park at about 1.30pm On Thursday.

Police have said that they want to talk to three men, said to be aged in their 40s, and reportedly in the area at the time of the incident.

Anyone with any information about the incident is urged to contact police.