While St Patrick’s Day is still 11 sleeps away, it seems some of our political representatives are getting a headstart on the celebrations.
Belfast Lord Mayor Micky Murray has posted a picture of himself on X alongside Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the St Pat’s For All parade in New York.
Alliance representatives may be boycotting official events at the White House over their opposition to President Trump, but that isn’t stopping some celebrating elsewhere across the pond.
The current small sign at the Ruby Murray Village Green
Council appears in no hurry for Ruby Murray
How long does it take to erect a sign? Well, getting it right in Belfast has taken quite some time in one case.
For more than a decade Blackstaff Community Development Association campaigned to have a park in the city named after Ruby Murray.
Murray, who was born on Moltke Street off the Donegall Road, made history in 1955 by having five hit singles in the Top 20 in the same week.
Finally, in November 2023, Ruby Murray Village Green opened in south Belfast. There was one problem, though. The sign welcoming visitors to the park was deemed too small.
A local councillor raised concerns in February last year, but Belfast City Council has only this week returned with new designs for a larger sign that includes additional information on the singer, whose other claim to fame is that her name is Cockney rhyming slang for ‘a curry’.
Who knows when the new one will actually be installed, but it’s not exactly a sign of swift local government action.
One of the designs for a larger sign
A curious site to see amid housing crisis
Speaking of signs, a banner on York Street is advertising the upcoming opening of a massive self-storage facility on an empty plot of land next to the railway line opposite CitySide Retail Park.
It will consist of 432 shipping containers, in which customers can drive up to and store their excess belongings in.
It’s a curious use for the site, given north Belfast is top of the table when it comes to areas here with the highest level of housing need, especially social homes.
Only this week our housing crisis was highlighted in the Stormont Executive’s Programme for Government, which, it is fair to say, has come in for some criticism over its lack of detail and clarity on where the funding is coming from to fulfil all the noble pledges contained within.
Read more
Watch: One of a kind Primark Home store comes to Belfast