Politics

The rate of Derry and Strabane workers drawing welfare because they were unemployed was close to double the rate for the North as a whole in June, new figures have revealed.

Minister of State for the North, John Penrose, has said action is needed to tackle unregulated activity on Lough Foyle.

Is civility flagging? Whatever grievances may lie behind the turbulence evident in the actions of groups and individuals at sites of contentious bonfires, they cannot justify the indulgent and hostile defiance of environmental good sense or the collateral social, political and financial fallout.

Calls for an all-Ireland register for animal abusers is due to be debated by Derry & Strabane Council this week.

Adjustments have been made to the timing of traffic lights at the Waterside end of Craigavon Bridge.

The illegal dumping of rubbish on rural roads around Creggan has been condemned by a local Councillor.

SDLP Councillor Brian Tierney has called on Derry City and Strabane District Council to welcome the forthcoming referendum on the extension of the right to vote in Presidential elections to Irish citizens living in the North.

SDLP Councillor Rory Farrell has said that local public artworks must be properly maintained “to enhance our tourism offering”.

On today his 50th anniversary the Metropolitan Police have been urged to declassify secret files relating to the death of Sammy Devenny at the earliest opportunity.

The neglect of Derry on both university education and rail links has been blamed for 50 years on sectarian unionism.

A Derry councillor has urged people to abandon capitalism to avert a climate catastrophe that will destroy lives on a far greater scale than the banking collapses of a decade ago.

No-one should be surprised that the conversation about Irish unity is already taking place in homes and workplaces the length and breadth of this island.

The new chair of the SDLP Derry & Strabane District Executive has said she is committed to ensuring the party is fully reconnected to people across the community.

Sinn Féin Group leader on Derry City and Strabane District Council Sandra Duffy is to bring a motion to the monthly council meeting calling on the council were possible to light up council buildings and the Guildhall annually during Foyle Pride week.

Young people in Derry are to lead a Climate Strike protest in the city centre later this week.

An all-party climate emergency working group is to be established in Derry and Strabane to look at further measures that can be taken locally to mitigate against the global climate crisis.

Commenting on the news of the discovery of two bodies in a house in Derry on Sunday morning Sinn Féin Foyleside Councillor Mickey Cooper said the local community was shocked and saddened.

Profile mainly based on discussions with Ivan some years ago. Researched, compiled and written by Fionnbarra O’Dochartaigh B.A. [Hons.], Co-founder, N. Ireland Civil Rights Association, 1967. Exclusive to the “Journal” via rights.civil@gmail.com