Economy

Economy

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Health

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Law

CLAIM: At a Northern Ireland Policing Board meeting, the PSNI's Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd said that there was 90% compliance with people wearing face coverings in retail settings.

Rating

UNSUBSTANTIATED

Constable Alan Todd has clarified that this figure was an estimate. This claim is unsubstantiated. On 10 August 2020, the use of face coverings in

Economy

CLAIM: In Belfast, the digital sector employs 26 per cent of the workforce.

Rating

INACCURATE

The newspaper article misinterprets the Tech Nation “Jobs and Skills Report 2020”, which states that for Belfast, from June to August 2020, 26% of job

Economy

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Europe

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Peace

CLAIM: The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement does not forbid the provision of barrier controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

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ACCURATE WITH CONSIDERATION

The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement does not exclude governments’ border measures, but aims for ‘normal security arrangements’. The UK Withdrawal Agreement seeks to minimise physical border

Economy

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Europe

The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement does not forbid the provision of barrier controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Rating

ACCURATE WITH CONSIDERATION

The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement does not exclude governments’ border measures, but aims for ‘normal security arrangements’. The UK Withdrawal Agreement seeks to minimise physical border

Economy

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Health

CLAIM: One in four NI adults ‘now at risk of hunger and malnutrition’

Rating

UNSUBSTANTIATED

This claim is unsubstantiated. The research behind the News Letter headline was conducted across the UK and the results were not broken down by region,

Economy

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Elections

CLAIM: Over 95% of people living in south Belfast own their own home.

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INACCURATE

This claim is inaccurate. The 2011 Census shows that the Belfast South constituency recorded 56.1% of homes being owned outright or owned with a mortgage

Economy

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Elections

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Environment

CLAIM: There are 1.2 billion fewer carrier bags distributed in Northern Ireland since the introduction of the carrier bag levy in 2012.

Rating

ACCURATE

The claim is accurate. Data from annual reports from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) calculates a cumulative reduction of the dispensing

Economy

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Elections

CLAIM: Only 3 out of 12 regions are net contributors to the UK Treasury.

Rating

ACCURATE

This claim is accurate. Data from the ONS showed that only three regions of the UK – London, the southeast and the east of England

Economy

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Education

CLAIM: There are 40,000 third-level students in northwest Ireland, with 7,000 graduates annually ready for employment.

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INACCURATE

Available data shows 9,370 third-level students in northwest Ireland, with approximately 3,300 graduates a year in the region. The Ireland Northwest Trade & Investment mission

Economy

CLAIM: Northern Ireland requires a 660% uplift in government expenditure to be equal to the European Union average of 2.2%

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INACCURATE

This claim is inaccurate. UK government expenditure on cultural services (measured by Eurostat) is just over half of the EU average. Within the UK, public

Economy

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Environment

CLAIM: Thousands of tonnes of slurry are being spread on farmland, all due to exporting pork to China, according to Channel 4 News.

Rating

UNSUBSTANTIATED

The export of 1,450 pigs would represent 1,000 tonnes of slurry (based on an estimate of 957,495 tonnes p.a.). Tonnage figures for pork exports from

Economy

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Health

CLAIM: Food bank in Enniskillen now feeding 1 in 5 people in the town.

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INACCURATE

This claim is inaccurate. A formula by Trussell Trust results in 1,079 delivered food bank parcels representing an estimated 540 unique users. This would represent