🚨 NEW: Emma Little-Pengelly says she did not know of any of Jeffrey Donaldson's inappropriate behaviour "Up until his arrest, I didn't see anything that would have given me any rise for concern in terms of him being a sexual offender, of him being a paedophile" [@utvnews]

The DUP has commissioned Jim Gamble's iNEQE safeguarding group to conduct an independent report into Jeffrey Donaldson's time as a member of the party Full statement 👇️

🚨 NEW: Keith Ratcliffe to stand in Newry and Armagh for Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) #AE27 @TUVonline

The Assembly has now entered summer recess. The next plenary session will be on Monday 7 September 2026.

🚨 NEW: Catherine Nelson and John O'Dowd to stand in Upper Bann for Sinn Féin #AE27 @sinnfeinireland

🚨 NEW: Sinn Féin are calling for Assembly Speaker Edwin Poots to stand down from his position 'pending the full disclosure of all issues and any knowledge of the inappropriate behaviour of Jeffrey Donaldson within the DUP'

🚨 NEW: Sinn Fein's Lagan Valley #AE27 candidate Declan Lynch says his family and party activists were the target of 'sectarian abuse' in Lisburn during an election canvass on Saturday morning 👇️

🚨 NEW: Ciarán O’Connor to stand in East Antrim for Sinn Féin #AE27 @sinnfeinireland

🚨 NEW: Sinead Ennis, Cathy Mason and Michael Rice to stand in South Down for Sinn Féin #AE27 @sinnfeinireland

🚨 NEW: Caoimhe Archibald and Kathleen McGurk to stand in East Londonderry for Sinn Fein #AE27 @sinnfeinireland

🚨 NEW: Liz Kimmins, Aoife Finnegan and Cathal Boylan to stand in Newry and Armagh for Sinn Féin #AE27 @sinnfeinireland

🚨 NEW: Ciara Ferguson, Christopher Jackson and Sandra Duffy to stand in Foyle for Sinn Féin #AE27 @sinnfeinireland

The former chairman of the NI Conservatives has joined the Ulster Unionist Party. Matthew Robinson has previously stood for election to the Assembly in North Down.

🚨 NEW: Declan Lynch to stand in Lagan Valley for Sinn Féin #AE27 @sinnfeinireland

🚨 NEW: Allister Kyle to stand in East Londonderry for Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) #AE27 @TUVonline

🚨 NEW: Joint statement from Michelle O'Neill, Gavin Robinson, Naomi Long, Jon Burrows & Claira Hanna following attempted murder in North Belfast "There is no place in our society for this kind of brutality. Our immediate thoughts are with the victim and his family"

Sinn Féin has announced Chloe Devine as their new councillor for the Lurgan DEA on @abcb_council She is replacing Sorchá McGeown, who is stepping down due to family commitments nielects.com/news/sinn-fe...

New mayors appointed with Sinn Féin and DUP leading most NI councils nielects.com/news/new-may...

The new mayors/chairs of all the councils for 2026/27 have now been announced. You can use our interactive map to see the mayor and deputy mayor for your council 👇 nielects.com/council/mayo...

🚨 NEW: Sinn Féin announce six proposals for Stormont reform - Allow other parties to nominate FM/dFM if the two largest parties refuse - Remove the cross-community vote to elect a Speaker to stop this blocking Assembly formation - More transparency around decisions made by Speaker 1/2 👇

Following the resignation of Doug Beattie (who will sit as an Independent), the Ulster Unionist Party now has 8 MLAs - the same number as the SDLP. This will not affect their position in the Executive, as the d'Hondt allocations are based on the results in the last election.

🚨 NEW: Doug Beattie has quit the Ulster Unionist Party He describes a “toxic atmosphere” under Jon Burrows, saying it has been “allowed to flourish” He will sit as an independent MLA for the remainder of the term Full letter 👇 nielects.com/news/doug-be...

🚨 NEW: Patsy McGlone MLA (Mid Ulster, SDLP) will not contest the Assembly election next year. He is retiring after holding the seat since 2003. [@irish_news]

Who is the new mayor in your area for 2026/27? 🙋 Check out our new map to see if the mayor or deputy mayor has been announced for your council 👇 nielects.com/council/mayo...

🚨 NEW: Timothy Gaston and Kirk Wilson to stand in North Antrim for Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) #AE27 @tuvonline nielects.com/news/tuv-ann...

🚨 NEW: Doug Beattie will be reselected by his local association to stand in #AE27 after the party HQ asked them to revisit their decision They will now stand two candidates in Upper Bann [@beltel]

The road to the 2027 Assembly Election starts here! 🗳️ Our dedicated election hub is now live. We've launched the candidate tracker - names will be added as they are confirmed. Stay ahead of the news 👇 nielects.com/election/ae27/

🚨 NEW: UUP HQ may have to decide whether North Down MLA Alan Chambers is selected for election in 2027 The local association may not be able to set a date to select a candidate [@news_letter]

UUP: Doug Beattie will not be selected as Upper Bann candidate for next election nielects.com/news/uup-dou...

🚨 NEW: Doug Beattie will not be selected as the UUP’s candidate in Upper Bann for the next Assembly election. His local association will nominate Cllr Kyle Savage. Beattie is expected to stand as an independent or for another party. [@BBCNewsNI]

🚨 NEW: Mary Lou McDonald says Sinn Féin will not be 'goaded' into collapsing Stormont [@irish_news]

🚨 NEW: Taoiseach Micheál Martin will join Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly at Grand Central Station this morning to sign a €700m contract for a new fleet of Enterprise trains.

A row that has broken out between the DUP and Sinn Féin over the funding of the place-names project has resulted in Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald saying she will fund the project. nielects.com/news/economy...

🚨 NEW: Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has apologised after footage from Bloody Sunday was used in a social media clip criticising a proposed bill on Northern Ireland legacy issues. [@independent]

🚨 NEW: John O’Dowd commits to introducing Jade’s Law equivalent in NI The legislation will automatically remove the parental responsibility of anyone convicted of the murder or voluntary manslaughter of a person with whom they share parental responsibility nielects.com/news/john-od...

🚨 NEW: Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins says over 10,000 road defects have been repaired in eight weeks Full statement 👇

🚨 NEW: The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference will be held today (Thursday) at Hillsborough Castle. A number of ministers from both the UK and Irish governments will be attending. NIO press release👇

The growth deal is set to provide a new Centre for Food and Drug Discovery at Ulster University's Coleraine campus, a Foodovation and Skills Centre at NWRC in Limavady and a regeneration project in Dungiven. nielects.com/news/129m-gr...

🚨 NEW: Statement from First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly after the overnight attack on Dunmurry Police Station.

🚨 NEW: The deputy lord mayor of Belfast, Cllr Paul Doherty, has left the SDLP following 'an unacceptable level of intimidation' after a council vote on the erection of a Bobby Sands statue in Twinbrook that did not have planning permission

🚨 NEW: Kellie Armstrong (Alliance, Strangford) will not stand in next year's Assembly election. She is the third MLA to announce they will not seek re-election.

🚨 NEW: Northern Ireland Assembly Voting Intention SF: 24% (-1) DUP: 18% (-1) UUP: 13% (=) TUV: 11% (=) AP: 11% (=) SDLP: 11% (=) GRN: 5% (+1) AON: 3% (+1) PBP: 2% (+1) IND/OTH: 2% (-1) Changes with January 2026 Via @LucidTalk @BelTel

🚨 NEW: Moira Doherty has been appointed as the Permanent Secretary at The Executive Office. Permanent Secretaries are the principal advisers to Ministers for all departmental activities.

DUP councillor Julie Middleton has officially signed the Roll of Members to sit as an MLA for Foyle in the Assembly. She replaces her husband Gary Middleton after he resigned last week. nielects.com/news/dup-cll...

🚨 NEW: Gary Middleton MLA (DUP, Foyle) is stepping down from Stormont after opening up about ongoing mental health challenges. His wife, Councillor Julie Middleton, is the favourite to replace him in the Assembly. [@beltel]

🚨 NEW: Róisín Mulgrew, former Sinn Fein councillor in Newry, Mourne and Down, has joined Aontú. [@ArmaghI]

West Tyrone MLA Maolíosa McHugh will not be standing in the 2027 Assembly election He is the second Sinn Fein MLA to announce they will not be standing for re-election nielects.com/news/sinn-fe...

🚨 NEW: The Chancellor has announced a £17 million funding package for households affected by the increase in the price of home heating oil. The Executive will decide how to allocate the money to households.

🚨 NEW: AS Levels are being scrapped in favour of a new modular A Level with three units of assessment taken over two years The Education Minister says this will "reduce unnecessary exams, give back precious teaching time, and focus on what truly matters for future success"

First Minister Michelle O’Neill is facing criticism for refusing to attend security briefings held by the UK Government on the conflict in the Middle East nielects.com/news/2026/03...