Northern Ireland faces a "very severe" recession following the coronavirus crisis, Stormont's finance minister has warned. Conor Murphy described the post-pandemic landscape as featuring "major challenges" including the UK's departure from the EU.
Northern Ireland has taken its initial steps out of the Covid-19 lockdown, with the reopening of garden centres, churches for private prayer, and golf courses.
The NI Executive has published a five-stage plan for recovery, but this does not give indicative dates. Mr Murphy said he recognises it is "inevitable we will have damage". "We recognise inevitably businesses will suffer and jobs may go, but we're obviously trying to mitigate against that as best we possibly can," he told the BBC. Latest