@AnnMarieCFoster @MatthewOToole2 CBI seem to be behind this but if you go to the page you get a 404 error
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Boyd Sleator
6.4K posts
Boyd Sleator
@BSleator
All views expressed are my own and do not represent the organisations I work for.
Belfast Katılım Ağustos 2014
1.5K Takip Edilen630 Takipçiler
@MatthewOToole2 I'd love to know more about these "business leaders". Who are they? Which businesses do they represent? Genuinely, if you can shed light on this because details seen hard to find.
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NI is long overdue an overhaul of our workers' rights provisions and it was a promised priority of both the current and previous minister SF ministers. The fact that we still haven't seen a Bill is an indictment of the Executive. It should have been in the Aseembly months ago.
BBC News NI@BBCNewsNI
Northern Ireland business leaders have urged the executive to delay major reforms to workers' rights. bbc.in/3Q0MZcl
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@timcairns @lemons1110 @JulieEGilmour Alcohol licensing has a really interesting history and it’s only really changed slightly since the 1500s in terms of purpose. A new approach is needed but we should remember that licensing of anything should be for public good, not for what has been called a cartel to profit from
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As fun as the idea of a Lidl pub may be, this is just further evidence of the need for licensing reform. I can see no good reason holding up reform. It’s beyond ridiculous at this point.
JPCampbellBiz@JP_Biz
They’re really doing it. Lidl are building a pub to get round NI’s arcane licensing laws which stopped them getting a standard off-licence for one of their shops.
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@lemons1110 @timcairns @JulieEGilmour Many at one point just got extinguished because a pub would stop trading. But then a new one wasn’t available. There are also consumer habits but now they are a very costly asset and you don’t see them just fall out of use, they are sold, and mostly to offies.
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@timcairns @lemons1110 @JulieEGilmour I think people need to understand that the license isn’t just for pubs. It’s also what places like the retro arcade would use, a nightclub, listening bar, tap rooms, cocktail lounge and even our current charity music venues which are stuck with a theatre license.
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@BSleator @lemons1110 @JulieEGilmour People don’t realise about 500 pub licences have gone in 20 years. All we are doing is allowing a massive cartel to control the market. It’s beyond insane at this point. An 1800s system for 2026
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@lemons1110 @timcairns @JulieEGilmour Kosy is not operating a pub license it’s a “club” license. And Rubys is going to Lidl.
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@BSleator @timcairns @JulieEGilmour Kosy social club. Galway drive and Rubys which is on the corner of Comber road and upper newtownards road. Back in the day it was called the Elk.
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@lemons1110 @timcairns @JulieEGilmour Name the pubs please. I don’t dispute there are restaurants and a golf course.
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@BSleator @timcairns @JulieEGilmour There are 2 pubs in Dundonald already. Plus restaurants thar sell alcohol or are BYO and a golf course.
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@TruthGorge @StephenNolan @JP_Biz I guess at the very least people will have a better excuse for coming home with a human sized pet bed and a 1000 piece tool kit.
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Fancy a quick pint after your grocery shop? Lidl has begun building its first ever pub at a site in Northern Ireland
@JP_Biz | @BSleator | Mark McCrory
bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…
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Boyd Sleator retweetledi
Clerical abuse in NI churches is not an ‘historical’ matter. It is a live and present danger.
The First Minister & deputy First Minister received a research report - they commissioned - recommending an inquiry and other safeguarding measures in July 2025.
Still no action.
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@annie_mcginley @mgtruth Has to be a work from home role, I’m not being surrounded by the melters.
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The "sanitary towel" incident at Whitewell Tabernacle alone shows why we can't let any group police themselves.
Using religious slurs to silence whistleblowers is abuse.
We need strict secular oversight and legal safeguarding to protect the vulnerable.
No one is above the law.
BBC News NI@BBCNewsNI
A former safeguarding officer at one of Northern Ireland's biggest churches has said he was called a satanist for raising safeguarding concerns. bbc.in/4mipc3s
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@annie_mcginley @mgtruth It’s a really good point. Maybe safeguarding officers for churches should have an occupational requirement for the person to be an atheist. Can’t scare me with your spawn of the devil nonsense.
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@mgtruth True, but calling whistleblowers "vessels of Satan" weaponises faith to enforce silence.
For a believer, this isn't just an insult—it’s an existential threat to their soul.
This spiritual abuse overrides legal duties, making the fear of God greater than the law in their minds.
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@trevorsdempster @timcairns Aren’t allowed? They don’t operate here because they can’t sell alcohol.
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Boyd Sleator retweetledi
REFORM NOW
Northern Ireland’s licensing system has held back nightlife and culture after dark for too long.
We have written to the government calling for action.
Sign it. Share it. Help build the pressure.
#freethenightni
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
🧵 (1/4)
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@UKHospKate Freedom of religion and belief “is” a fundamental freedom. That’s why it’s strange to celebrate what should be normal in what is meant to be the only secular democracy in the Middle East. And, what about every other human right they breach? Do you speak up about those?
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@BSleator I’m not sure I’m celebrating, nor am I invoking something as a one off - check my feed, I comment generally - I agree freedom of worship should be universal but unfortunately it is not.
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Freedom to worship should be a fundamental right and it is good to see this change of approach
Prime Minister of Israel@IsraeliPM
However, given the holiness of the week leading up to Easter for the world’s Christians, Israel’s security arms are putting together a plan to enable church leaders to worship at the holy site in the coming days.
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@AnnMarieCFoster @timcairns Technically, this is the only thing it does. And, no other license issued to people in NI acts as an asset.
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@timcairns @BSleator A licence also lays out the legal responsibilities the publican owes the public in terms of running the business responsibly in the neighbourhood, for example.
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Good to see @BSleator taking a JR on licensing on Talkback.
Interestingly, in the segment before a contributor said “two pubs can be open next door to each other” not in Belfast!! Hopefully this JR succeeds and licensing is dragged into the 20th century, let alone the modern day.
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@AnnMarieCFoster @timcairns The review gave 3 options. 1. No compensation (justified as the surrender principle was never designed to create an asset) 2. Compensation all holders. 3. A transitional but back scheme. dspace.stir.ac.uk/retrieve/a3d83…
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@timcairns @BSleator It does need modernising, however the value of the licence is a big asset to current publican and I would wonder about how the loss of a piece of paper that is worth tens..perhaps hundreds..of thousands of pounds might be compensated? 1/2
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@FreeTheNightNI now have an open letter for people to sign who want to see reform of alcohol licensing in NI!
Boyd Sleator@BSleator
@timcairns Link to the open letter for people to sign forms.gle/2k2HL8qKT3iaXo…
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@JeffDudgeon @timcairns There were 3 options to address this. One of them being that the license is issued by the state for to sell alcohol responsibly, it is not an asset and was never intended to be, therefore no compensation is needed.
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@BSleator @timcairns Good points but not sufficiently clear on the current highly restrictive system of inherited life-long plus drinks licences. It will be a bit like compensation awarded to slave owners after abolition or Gerry Adams using the ECHR property right article to get his internment compo
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