Latest Fact Checks

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Economy

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Education

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Do far more young people in Northern Ireland have no qualifications, compared with peers in England?

23 November 2022

CLAIM: Based on figures from 2015, an average of 6.3% of young people across the nine regions of England had no qualifications - compared with 10.4% of those in NI.

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ACCURATE WITH CONSIDERATION

This statistic is accurate, based on analysis from a recent research paper. However, its use lacks some context – in particular, about NI’s “brain drain”.

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Elections

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Peace

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Topics

Has the Executive been in a state of collapse for 40% of its existence?

8 November 2022

CLAIM: There have been several recent claims that, since it was first established a year and a half after the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland’s devolved institutions have not been functioning for 40% of the time.

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ACCURATE

FactCheckNI has counted the days of existence and days of dysfunction. The Executive has been utterly collapsed for around 37.8% of that time. However, that

Articles

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Health

Does Northern Ireland support abortion?

3 November 2022

CLAIM: DUP MP Carla Lockhart claimed “Northern Ireland does not support abortion, it never has. It still doesn’t.”

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INACCURATE WITH CONSIDERATION

In recent years, several opinion polls have asked for NI’s views on abortion The public is broadly in favour of abortion rights when there are

Articles

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Elections

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Peace

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Topics

Did the 2006 St Andrews Agreement effectively give the DUP and Sinn Féin a veto over the formation of an Executive?

26 October 2022

CLAIM: Irish Times columnist Stephen Collins claimed that the 2006 St Andrews Agreement modified the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in such a way that it has effectively handed both the DUP and Sinn Féin veto powers over the formation of an Executive at Stormont.

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INACCURATE

The 2006 St Andrews Agreement made significant changes to the rules for nominating a First and deputy First Minister and, thus, forming an Executive. However,

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Economy

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Health

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Topics

Does the UK have more food banks than McDonald’s?

24 October 2022

CLAIM: There are more food banks across the UK than McDonald’s restaurants

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ACCURATE

Finding out the exact number of food banks in the UK is difficult.  However, even by low estimates, there are far more food banks than

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Economy

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Topics

Will £400m of unspent public funds be wiped out by a budget deficit?

24 September 2022

CLAIM: A £400m pot left unallocated by Stormont is going to be used to cover ongoing spending by departments.

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INACCURATE WITH CONSIDERATION

Northern Ireland currently has around £270m in unallocated public money As things stand, this money will not be used to cover existing shortfalls – or