Education Minister Paul Givan has announced that an additional 102 pre-school settings across Northern Ireland have been approved to offer full-time pre-school education from September 2026.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has announced the launch of the Support While Waiting Grant Scheme, a £500,000 fund enabling voluntary and community organisations to provide practical and emotional support to people awaiting treatment on Health and Social Care (HSC) waiting lists.
Responding to government plans to delay key mayoral elections, Rachel Millward, Green Party deputy leader, said:
“Labour’s whole devolution agenda has fallen into utter chaos. They’re running scared of the voters and failing to solve the real problems in local government.
“They are failing to inspire voters and can’t delay democracy because they think they won’t like the outcome.
“They’ve seen the Greens rise in the polls and have decided to cancel the voters rather than engage with the issues. People in those areas have the right to vote for mayors the Government has promised them. This weak Labour government is trying to cover up the fact the voters know they are offering no change and are just more of the same.”
The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has welcomed confirmation from NI Water that it will be in a position to advise of the publication date of independent reports into a number of allegations raised by an external contractor after its Board meeting on 18 December 2025.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has announced his department has submitted the Proposal for Application Notice (PAN) in relation to an application for Outline Planning for the Fort George site in Londonderry.