Garrett Hargan

From the start of this myself and others have been forcefully told, 'nothing to see here'.

Slurs thrown around, people branded 'sectarian'.

There is definitely something to see here.

This letter is said to have come after a June meeting at Parliament Buildings between Ministers Givan and Lyons, Foyle MLA Gary Middleton & the school principal.

Another twist in this story that sparks a whole new set of serious questions.

Department makes new claim that Paul Givan 'wrote to school to pause £710k pitch plan' The Department of Education has said Minister Paul Givan wrote to Lisneal College to inform the Londonderry school that plans for a new state-of-the-art pitch were “on hold due to budget pressures” — ...

NEW:

No mention of this last week during two grilling sessions in front of the Assembly & Education Committee.

Now, the Education Department says Givan wrote to Lisneal College to say its £710k pitch plan was on hold - but EA approved it anyway.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/educati...

MLAs have once again questioned the prioritisation methods used by the department/EA.

If schools with serious concerns over roofs, black mould and heating are placed behind a pitch upgrade to Northern Ireland Football League standard - then something is rotten in the system.

Children forced out of NI school building over concerns about ‘roof’s structural integrity’ Pupils in a Derry primary school have had to move out of their building due to concerns over the structural integrity of its roof.

Pupils forced out of school building due to fears over 'structural integrity' of roof

Without question, an 'unavoidable work'.

EA claims Lisneal's pitch deemed serious risk/unavoidable work in 2019 - yet children played on it continuously for 6 years.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/norther...

Minutes show they discussed the pitch and broken floodlights, previously installed by EA.

Action to be taken was:

Contact Lisneal School when Your School Your Club issues call for applications for 2024.

Stormont committee writes to communities department to seek clarity on its role in Lisneal funding A Stormont committee has agreed to write to the Department for Communities seeking clarity on its role in the decision to allocate £710K for a state-of-the-art pitch upgrade at Lisneal College in Derr...

A Stormont committee has agreed to write to the Department for Communities seeking clarity on its role in the decision to allocate £710K for a state-of-the-art pitch upgrade at Lisneal College in Derry.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/norther...

Another MLA pointed to the “bluster and belligerence” of Mr Givan when he came before the Assembly on Monday where he and party colleagues branded everyone-and-their-dog “sectarian” for having the audacity to question whether due process was adhered to in this funding allocation.

She went on to outline anger expressed by four principals who spoke of the need for urgent repairs to roofs and heating systems.

Education Minister Paul Givan still has questions to answer over equality after Lisneal football pitch row

'Why are our children not important?' - Sinn Fein MLA Cathy Mason said at yesterday's committee meeting, relaying a message from school principals.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/comm...

Altnagelvin's ED is the oldest in NI.

When built it was designed to cater for 40,000 patients annually, the numbers are almost doubled that now.

But it appears that improvements are years away and will be subject to a budget being available.

Councillors call for new facilities at A&E that 'has one toilet between 100 sick patients' Councillors in Derry and Strabane have called for new facilities at Altnagelvin Hospital’s A&E department, which only has “one toilet between upwards of 100 sick patients”.

Councillors in Derry and Strabane have called for new facilities at Altnagelvin Hospital’s A&E department, which only has “one toilet between upwards of 100 sick patients”.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/norther...

Get this shared people 🙂

They had all the time in the world to get a short statement together, they must've all sat down and discussed it.

And still they put a line in saying a pitch was not being used that everyone knows has been used steady.

What else are they hiding?

The DUP has been slinging mud all day and questioning others.

The Education Dept changed its website since this morning as it showed major works are those in excess of £500k - now no figure.

EA has retracted a blatant falsehood about the pitch being out of action for 6 years.

Red-faced education chiefs make U-turn over false Lisneal College pitch claim The Education Authority (EA) has admitted to releasing a statement falsely claiming that a school pitch which was deemed a health and safety risk has not been operational since 2019.

Red-faced education chiefs make U-turn over false Lisneal College pitch claim

The Education Authority has admitted to releasing a statement falsely claiming that a school pitch which was deemed a health and safety risk has not been operational since 2019.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/educati...

Fair play to @garretthargan.bsky.social for uncovering scandals like this, but sadly they’re par for the course in this place.

What’s most frustrating is they’re rarely greeted with more than shoulder shrugging.

All Stormont parties ought to be ashamed at the complete lack of delivery for Derry and the wider NW.

It should be a stain on all of their records but some will wear it as a badge of honour.

Never mind equality, Stormont isn't delivering the bare minimum for Derry city!

That should not be acceptable to any Derry person.

Don't let me hear any Derry person mention Casement.

That is a luxury project for Belfast.

Derry can't even get the basics for health, education and the economy.

Funding has to come from the likes of EU peace funding, the Irish Government or a once in a lifetime bespoke City Deal.

To summarize, it appears that taxpaying citizens in Derry are in fact second class citizens as far as Stormont is concerned.

You'll struggle to think of major multi-million-pound capital projects that Stormont has funded here.

ARTS:

Belfast gets around 80% of that fund too.

Meaning Derry as the second city is left lagging behind and unable to host any big events on an annual basis, except for the Halloween festival.

CIVIL SERVICE:

12,093 NICS jobs in Belfast.
82% of all civil service jobs in the east.
1,477 NICS jobs in Derry city.

When decentralising, instead of moving them to Derry city, jobs were moved to a village in Ballykelly which will have little economic impact there.

INVEST NI/ECONOMY:

Without a university it is difficult to attract business.

But even so small towns across NI are consistently getting more from Invest NI.

Nine constituency areas got more financial assistance and total investment than Derry city in the past five years.

Expansion at Magee has barely moved forward in the past 10-20 years and now requires £700m to reach the modest figure of 10k students.

Derry remains the only city of its size on these islands without a sizeable university (at least 20k students).

FURTHER EDUCATION:

Small towns got much more for further education colleges than Derry has for its uni from Stormont.

For Eg DUP Ministers gave Coleraine and Ballymena £120m for new colleges and the same dept gave Derry just £18m over 10 years in capital funding for Magee.

HIGHER EDUCATION:

Derry City has been campaigning for a university for 60 years.

Today 83% of uni students are in Belfast.
A percentage not seen in any other capital city.

In the past 10 years, 95% of higher education spend went into Belfast - close to £1billion.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION:

No major funding for a school in Derry city for at least 10 years as around £500m was splurged across NI from the same pot.

HEALTH:

Altnagelvin has the oldest Emergency Department in NI.

EDs are an essential cog in any hospital.

Yet it has been waiting years for an upgrade while hundreds of millions are spent on massive health projects in Belfast.

Recap of funding decisions impacting Derry to prove this is no anomaly.

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE:

It's the area most in need of sewerage infrastructure to allow 5,300 properties to proceed.

Nowhere else comes close to that figure across NI.

Development is hamstrung.

How can one rule be formulated when that might mean schools in the east miss out on funding... But when schools in Derry city miss out, that is absolutely fine by the department?

It's a complete contradiction.