Cost of Living: special body to look at ways of dealing with crisis in NI
An emergency group is set to meet in a bid to tackle the cost of living crisis in Northern Ireland.
Stormont Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey said she is re-establishing the collective of community and voluntary organisations - first convened during the Covid pandemic.
She made the announcement during a visit to the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) in Belfast.
"Since the election I have been out visiting communities right across the north in both urban and rural settings," she said.
"I have spoken to women's organisations, I have spoken to rural organisations, I have spoken to the independent advice sector and indeed many families, and the over-arching message is one of struggle, of financial worries for families and for individuals in terms of the cost-of-living crisis that we now find ourselves in, and indeed, that crisis is actually deepening with the announcements that we have seen from Airtricity and others today and over the last few days."
Ms Hargey said the emergency leadership group allows the community and voluntary sector to work with the department in interventions on the ground.
"I think the same urgency (as during Covid) needs to be applied to the crisis that we now find ourselves in around the cost of living and the same energy and attention needs to be taken to that," she said.
The group includes NICVA, Children's Commissioner Koulla Yiasouma and older people's commissioner Eddie Lynch.