Author: Kevin Barry BSc(Hons) MRICS

Casement Park Update January 2026 As we enter 2026 and to communicate clearly, to grassroots GAA followers, what is known about Casement Park and based on the publically available information, as of today, the sources referenced in this Casement Park Status Update are: These three sources provided the factual information on the project status, financial […]

The Missing Link: How Strangford Lough Crossing Unlocks Cross-Border Rail Access January 2026 Ireland’s Dublin-Belfast Enterprise train service has achieved 40% passenger growth since October 2024—a Shared Island success story. Yet 164,200 peninsula residents remain excluded by one barrier: the Strangford Ferry. The Ferry Constraint Operating just 15.25 hours daily (07:30-22:45), the ferry creates an […]

Kellie, thank you for engaging with the Strangford Lough Crossing proposal following the Chronicle coverage, which actually never mentioned SLC. MLA is simply requesting a feasibility study as part of a ‘focused, coherent plan’. I appreciate you sharing your concerns via Facebook response to the article, and I’d like to address each point with the […]

M1/M2 legal enablement; A5 quicksands; a depolitized delivery way forward for remainder of current mandate and into next. The M1 and M2 motorways in Northern Ireland were legally enabled primarily through the Special Roads Act (Northern Ireland) 1963, which provided the statutory authority for designating and constructing “special roads” (the legal term for motorways) restricted […]

True Words: ‘Time to Move from the Politics of Posturing to Problem-Solving’ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Irish News article titled “Time to Move from the Politics of Posturing to Problem-Solving” (21 December 2025) appears to address a critical theme directly relevant to the Strangford Lough Crossing (SLC) campaign: the need for Northern Ireland’s political institutions to […]

Planning applications received by council in Northern Ireland: Changes from 2021/22 to 2024/25 Overall, planning application volumes peaked in 2021/22 (13,600 total received, post-COVID recovery) and have declined steadily since, reaching 9,716 in 2024/25 — a cumulative decrease of ~28.5% over three years. The pattern is broadly similar across councils: most saw significant drops, reflecting […]

Year-on-year planning application volumes in Northern Ireland (financial years, April to March) show a downward trend in recent years, based on official statistics from the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) and NISRA. Recent annual figures for applications received: This indicates a post-2021 peak decline, with volumes dropping over 28% from 2021/22 to 2024/25. Longer-term context suggests […]

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