Committee Celebrates Townlands

Where do you call home? Is it Aughadarra? Could it be Ballymaguigan or maybe it’s Clatterknowles? These were just some of the questions on the agenda at the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure major seminar at Parliament Buildings to promote and raise awareness of townland names. Speaking before the event, Committee [...]

Struggles For Newly Qualified Teachers

Teacher recruitment and employment came up again in Enniskillen as one man suggested that newly qualified teachers were forced out of the country to find work because so many retired teachers were ‘subbing’ and keeping young teachers out of jobs. Ex-teacher Tommy Gallagher, SDLP, said there was a problem when teachers took early retirement but [...]

Level Playing Field Needed In Teacher Recruitment

The question of teacher recruitment was raised in Enniskillen. It was implied that the current recruitment process can be unfair to young teachers. Stephen Farry felt it was important that local authorities did have a hand in the recruitment process but it was important to ensure parity in the recruitment process. He said: “The critical [...]

Community Leaders Need To Tackle Racism

One audience member in Enniskillen speculated that as the economy worsens that people’s frustrations will grow and anger will manifest itself in more attacks on migrants and ethnic minorities. Tom Elliott, UUP, said that in such situations, community leaders are needed to influence people’s actions and behaviours on the ground. He didn’t believe that government [...]

Increase In Racist Attacks In Rural Areas Needs Tackled

One person in Enniskillen was concerned that the trend for racist attacks has increased in rural areas. He asked the panel what had been done to safeguard migrant workers and ethnic minorities from these attacks. Tommy Gallagher was aware that violent racist crime was on the increase in places like Fermanagh as all of Northern [...]