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Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) have recently featured in public and political debate about immigration. Specifically, they have become a topic of discussion around accommodation

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Why has Northern Ireland’s growth in renewable energy use stalled? In 2005, only 3% of local electricity came from renewables yet by 2020 it was

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CLAIM: In 2025 almost a quarter of the total electricity usage in Ireland came from data centres.

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ACCURATE

On 7 July, the Irish Times published an article with a headline claiming: “Data centres account for almost a quarter of Irish electricity usage in

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CLAIM: Farmers and food producers are the bedrock of a £7.3bn per year industry that provides the equivalent of 109,000 full-time jobs.

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ACCURATE.

Giving a statement in the Assembly chamber in praise of the Balmoral Show, UUP MLA Robbie Butler claimed: “Farmers and food producers [underpin] what has

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Is Stormont underfunded? If so, how much of that is self-inflicted? What does underfunded, in this context, even mean? It is difficult to understand the

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CLAIM: If Northern Ireland was funded at similar levels to Wales, it would have around an extra £1bn per year to spend. If it received Scottish levels of funding, it would get an extra £3bn per year.

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ACCURATE WITH CONSIDERATION

In comments published in the Belfast Telegraph on 23 April, First Minister Michelle O’Neill claimed: “[Relatively] speaking, when you compare the funding that Scotland achieve

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CLAIM: Northern Ireland’s child poverty rates have fallen from 21% to 16%.

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ACCURATE

During a 26 May debate on local government and the Anti-poverty Strategy, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said:  “We are not complacent about poverty levels, but

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A horrific attack in North Belfast on 8 June has resulted in a charge of attempted murder for a Sudanese national. The incident received international

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CLAIM: Despite Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald suggesting unionism had a hand in stopping redevelopment of the A5 Western Transport Corridor, the project was halted by the Climate Change Act – and all unionist parties support amending the Act.

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ACCURATE

On 26 April in a post on social media, newspaper columnist Newton Emerson said: This claim that redevelopment of the A5 was stopped by the

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CLAIM: People looking to buy homes in the near future could get support to do so from the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland.

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INACCURATE

In recent weeks, messages have been circulating on social media making claims that the Orange Order, and one lodge in the Castlecaulfield area in particular,

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What is renewable energy doing for people in Northern Ireland? What more can it do? How do we make that happen? Recent shocks in the

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CLAIM: Derry/Londonderry has the lowest employment rate and second-lowest proportion of school leavers heading into Higher Education in Northern Ireland.

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ACCURATE/INACCURATE WITH CONSIDERATION.

In a 21 April article for the Belfast Telegraph, journalist and policy expert Paul Gosling claimed that: “Derry has Northern Ireland’s lowest employment rate alongside