Getty Images Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is to ask the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to examine the hidden costs parents may be charged by childcare providers. The Conservative government introduced 30 hours of free childcare for most working parents of three and four-year-olds in England for 38 weeks a year, and Labour extended eligibility to parents of children as young as nine months old. But ministers are concerned that families are still facing costs to secure places through demands for non-refundable deposits.
Councillor Fionnán Fitzgerald asked for an update on improved safety measures at Knockaderry National School in Farranfore. He said there had been an issue there for a 'long number of years' with children crossing at a busy junction. Cllr Fitzgerald said that waiting for the construction of bypass to divert traffic away from the junction was 'not good enough' and would be 'too slow'.
For years, the DUP wallowed in gratuitous attacks on the Irish language. Sammy Wilson called it a "leprechaun language". Gregory Campbell said Sinn Féin's entire wish list, which included an Irish language act, would be treated as "toilet paper".
