Northern Ireland's new finance minister is not a typical politician. A motorcycle enthusiast, he is relaxed, informal and very un-PC. Paul Gosling asks him to map out his plans for the road ahead
A new and more positive relationship needs to be developed between the devolved administrations and the UK government if the Union is to be preserved, leading academics and public officials have been...
A Lords inquiry has issued the latest in a series of official reports calling for the scrapping of the controversial 30-year-old funding mechanism for the UK nations. But replacing it will not be easy
Northern Ireland Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has reiterated his commitment to free personal care for elderly people despite it being ‘currently unaffordable’
Northern Ireland’s Child Support Agency had a gross debt of £82.6m in 2007/08, the Northern Ireland Audit Office’s annual report has revealed. Of this, £35.7m was collectable, a rise from £29.9m the...
A £270m Private Finance Initiative hospital for Enniskillen in Northern Ireland has been signed off following months of difficulties in getting funding finalised
The Irish economy, feted by Alex Salmond, might end up needing IMF support packages and could be evicted from the eurozone. Now there is a concern that the effects will spread to Northern Ireland
Poor planning delayed three major projects within the £3bn Northern Ireland civil service reform programme and led to extra costs, according to the Assembly’s public accounts committee
Prison officers have threatened to take strike action after it emerged that a computer disk containing the details of 5,000 justice staff had been lost by government IT contractor EDS. Justice...
The political parties have fired the opening shots in the Glasgow East by-election, a contest that is crucial for Labour and Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
'A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.' That was Winston Churchill's description of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It could equally well describe Northern Ireland's post-primary...
Northern Ireland's public sector is too big and too well paid, according to Sir David Varney's review of competitiveness in Northern Ireland, carried out on behalf of the Treasury. The review could...
East Belfast MP Peter Robinson is to take over from Ian Paisley as Northern Ireland's first minister when Paisley retires in May. Robinson, Paisley's long-time deputy in the Democratic Unionist Party...
