Author: Kevin Barry BSc(Hons) MRICS

Current status: The Review of Environmental Governance in Northern Ireland is an independent assessment commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) Minister Andrew Muir. Announced in November 2024, it’s being conducted by a panel chaired by Dr. Viviane Gravey of Queen’s University Belfast, alongside Diane Ruddock and John McCallister. The review […]

Northern Ireland businesses facing tariffs on goods, particularly in the context of post-Brexit trade arrangements and recent U.S. tariff announcements, have access to a reimbursement mechanism under the Windsor Framework. This framework, agreed upon by the UK and EU, governs Northern Ireland’s unique trading position, allowing goods to move tariff-free into both the UK internal […]

Given the worries UK decision-makers are facing on April 8, 2025, here are the top three levers they could pull today to address the most pressing issues—economic uncertainty, fiscal constraints, and geopolitical instability—while maintaining public trust and momentum: These levers hit the sweet spot of urgency and feasibility: stimulus shores up the economy today, trade […]

The transition from 26 councils to 11 “super councils” in Northern Ireland, implemented in April 2015 as part of the Review of Public Administration (RPA), was a significant restructuring of local government aimed at improving efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing local decision-making. Below is an analysis of this shift and an evaluation of whether its […]

The “Funding and Delivery of Public Services: Follow Up” report (HC477) from the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee contains several key points relevant to the building industry: Infrastructure and Housing Crisis Funding Challenges Reform Recommendations Revenue and Investment Potential From a building industry perspective, this report signals both challenges and potential opportunities, with recommendations that could […]

“On March 8, 2025, we had the privilege of capturing the progress of an exciting building project in Glengormley for DEENA Construction Ltd. Using state-of-the-art drone technology, we recorded high-quality video and photographic footage to document the site’s development. This aerial perspective not only highlights the scale and precision of DEENA’s work but also showcases […]

Time for action, where economic growth new priority. Assessing the length of time to obtain planning approval in Northern Ireland involves analyzing key metrics such as processing times for major and local development applications, alongside enforcement case conclusions. Data is drawn from the latest available Northern Ireland Planning Statistics: 2023/24 Annual Statistical Bulletin (covering April […]

Purpose: To construct a bridge between the Ards Peninsula and Lecale close to the towns of Portaferry and Strangford, across The Narrows. {click on image below for NI Roads link}

Analysis of Strangford Lough Crossing Proposal in Light of Recent Policy Documents and Research Summary of How the Pivotal Platform Article Reflects on the Strangford Lough Crossing Scheme The Pivotal Platform article “Delivering on Active Travel: a holistic, place-based approach for more sustainable communities” (April 2, 2025) strongly aligns with the rationale for a Strangford […]

Strategic stalling from unionism (DUP/UUP/TUV) on implementing or embracing the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) is only strengthening the growing inevitability of some form of unification. Unionism is deliberately slowing progress under the GFA as a tactic to block change — then the question becomes: what developments would seriously challenge that strategy […]