Worried about bleak times for Lisnaskea ahead

Do our readers know anything about this boat?

community infrastructure – they are now a permanent fixture.

The cost-of-living crisis is not over; figures from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation show that the cost of food has risen by 30 per cent in the past three years.

Yet the NI Audit Office confirm that the NI Executive has allocated £0 to child poverty initiatives, as part of its strategy which ran from 2016-2022.

The report also provides a stark view of what child poverty costs the Northern Ireland economy: in the region of £825million- £1billion per year. The estimated cost for public services in £420million – this is due to children who are in poverty requiring more direct intervention from the likes of the NHS to address the symptoms of declining health.

It is hard not to compare the approach to child poverty by the neighbouring government just over the Border.

Long-term investment in tackling child poverty, particularly through the education system, is paying dividends in terms of economic growth. The report recognises the short-sighted nature of policy-making in Northern Ireland where prevention schemes are often the first on the list to be cut, particularly when budgets are tight.

The NI Audit Office states: “Early intervention and reducing the number of poor children who go on to become poor adults could reduce future economic and social costs significantly.”

To achieve long-term policy aims, the NI Executive requires a sustainable funding settlement; however, in the shorter term, there is an urgent need to improve joined-up working between Government

Departments.

The report found that a lack of collaboration actively hampered the effectiveness of the child poverty strategy.

The Child Poverty strategy is to be integrated into an all-encompassing anti-poverty strategy for Northern Ireland.

At the NI Assembly Communities Committee a few weeks ago, the Permanent Secretary, Colum Boyle, outlined that a draft strategy which can be presented to the Minister and the NI Executive is months away, despite a commitment to a strategy being made as part of the St. Andrew’s Agreement in 2006.

One must ask: why aren’t our children a priority?

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Ciara Fitzpatrick

Lecturer,

School of Law,

Ulster University.

Dear Sir,

I am an old age pensioner who has lived in Lisnaskea all my life, and last week was the bleakest in my lifetime.

The last remaining bank closed its doors for good.

That means we have no banks in Lisnaskea, which also means we have no ATMS.

If that is not bad enough, our only remaining hotel closed three years ago. With no banks and no hotel, it

Dear Sir,

I spent my early years in Enniskillen. We lived in Cornagrade – in Erne Drive, to be precise.

At that time, there was no Kilmacormick, and as a young boy, from the back of our house you could look over what was known as the Back Lough.

On one occasion, I saw a boat being hauled into the rushes. This might have been in the late 1950s.

Do you [readers] have any record of this boat?

Yours faithfully,

Robert Crawford,

Muckamore, Co. Antrim.