| | | | | | | | | |  | | | Jan 27, 2021 | | | | | | | | Good morning
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In the news today:
* Arlene Foster is demanding that Sinn Fein says exactly who attended Monday’s funeral of IRA man Eamonn McCourt, as police probe the event for potential Covid law breaches.
* Stormont Education Committee member, Robbie Butler, MLA, is “ready to go to town” on how the Department of Education and Education Minister, Peter Weir, have managed the transfer of primary seven pupils to grammar schools during the Covid-19 pandemic.
* The government’s quiet amendment of Good Friday Agreement legislation to allow MLAs to pass the NI Protocol without cross community consent is a serious breach of the peace deal, unionists have said.
* Sam McBride: Scenes at another republican funeral put uncomfortable focus on Sinn Fein – but also the PSNI
* A programme of weekly testing of pupils and staff is to be introduced in special schools in Northern Ireland at the start of February.
Stay safe
Michael Cousins
Deputy digital editor
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| | | | | | | Pressure mounts on SF as Foster demands party say who was at IRA man’s funeral | | | | | | | | Arlene Foster is demanding that Sinn Fein says exactly who attended Monday’s funeral of IRA man Eamonn McCourt, as police probe the event for potential Covid law breaches. | | | | | |
|  | | | | | | | | | | ‘I am ready to go to town over the 16,000 pupils who have been let down’ says Robbie Butler | | | | Stormont Education Committee member, Robbie Butler, MLA, is “ready to go to town” on how the Department of Education and Education Minister, Peter Weir, have managed the transfer of primary seven pupils to grammar schools during the Covid-19 pandemic. |
| | | | | | | | | Covid-19 could become ‘much more treatable’ in next 6 to 18 months - according to NHS chief | | | | Covid-19 could become a “much more treatable disease” in the next six to 18 months, the head of the NHS has said. |
| | | | | | | | | Weekly coronavirus testing for special schools announced for NI — both pupils and staff | | | | A programme of weekly testing of pupils and staff is to be introduced in special schools in Northern Ireland at the start of February. |
| | | | | | | | | Green Party says it still backs deal which creates Irish Sea border – but distances itself from how it is harming the environment | | | | The leader of the Green Party has stood over her support for the Northern Ireland Protocol which creates an Irish Sea border – despite evidence that the border is now perversely incentivising environmental destruction. |
| | | | | | | | | Sam McBride: Scenes at another republican funeral put uncomfortable focus on Sinn Fein – but also the PSNI | | | | The crowd at Eamonn McCourt’s funeral has focused uncomfortable attention not just on Sinn Fein, but also on the PSNI. |
| | | | | | | | | Boris Johnson offers ‘deepest condolences’ as Covid death rate passes 100,000 people - his apology in full | | | | Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered his “deepest condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one”, as the Covid-19 death toll surpassed 100,000 people. |
| | | | | | | | | Jonny McCambridge: Finding the courage to write and speak out about depression | | | | It was about seven and a half years ago that I was placed in the psychiatric ward of my local hospital. |
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