The causeway coast news 20150918 issue2

From mainstream media headlines being

placed on repeat and the resulting pro‐

paganda overlowing into social media,

the thoughts and feelings of some of the

Causeway Coast and Glens Community

have shited away from pity and empathy

to a drastic stance of fear, suspicion and

judgement. A simple post asking for

items to take to a collection point has

been met with a lurry of activity with

polarizing viewpoints being aired across

our readership. Coleraine SDLP Coun‐

cillor Stephanie Quigley has shown her

hand this week in a headline grabbing

move stating that 'We'll take 50 families',

this bold stance has garnered response

and reactions from all sides of the com‐

munity including a previous political

refugee who has went on record as stat‐

ing that "this community is not ready for

anymore immigrants or refugees because

it is barely able to look ater itself with

it's existing infrastructure and cutbacks."

he view comes from a lengthy experi‐

ence of working with ethnic minorities

who are the exact opposite of what the

headlines scream and shout about. he

reality regarding coming over here and

claiming beneits and taking our jobs ac‐

tually ends up on the inevitable conclu‐

sion of exploitation. here is an air of

racism in the area with graffiti and tar‐

geted attacks on ethnic minorities simply

because of how they look, speak or inter‐

act with the community, do we really

have the ability to "take 50 families"?

Community Split on Syrian Refugee Crisis

out every weekend Issue 002 - 18/09/15

Who is my Neighbour ?

Inside his Week: Community Split on Refugees / Human Trafficking Penalties / Stormont / Fire Safety for Freshers / Simply Scrumptious

Bringing you News from Ballymoney, Coleraine, Limavady and Moyle

2 he Causeway Coast News

Niamh and Amelia Hughes from Portstewart are pictured enjoying Translink’s

recent ‘Happy Metro Saturday’ festivities in Belfast at a special bus stop party.

SIMPLY SCRUMPTIOUS, PORTSTEWART

I'm not a huge fan of pink, but the Musi‐

cal numer 'Truly, scrumptious' was stuck

playing in my head so I decied to give it

a go.I was very pleasantly surprised by

the interior and service that we received.

he hot chocolate was made with the

same eager determination as any Barista

would place in crating a coffee. he

menu is quite limited but there is ample

choice and the bakery was homemade

and cooked to perfection, Coffee was

nice with a fresh strong lavour not too

much but enough to give you a kick to

brave the walk down the promenade to

the car park.

Interior also very good. Staff very

friendly and couldn't have been more

helpful, Exceptionally clean and tidy I

would call in again.

As a special offer from until 19th

September

.Gel extensions or acrylics £10

Full make up £8

Full Tan £5

Eyebrow tint and individual eyelashes

£10

Gel polish on ingers and toes £8

L a d i e s r e m e m b e r t o p m o n

facebook.com to get appointment am

above gingersnips hairdressers coleraine

society street.you couldn't miss out on

these deals ladies.

Divine Beauty N.I Opens

Have a treat on Main street

3he Causeway Coast News

www.chromoz.com

Nearly 1,000 users identiied locally from Ashley Madison data dump by he TIMES newspaper.

According to he Times Newspaper

nearly 1,000 users have been conirmed

in the area as being registered on the

hacked Ashley Madison site data dump.

with 500 in the town of Coleraine, alone!

But before you go getting all best friends

with your nearest geek to name and

shame whoever you could think of per‐

hap your spouses or signiicant others, or

your bosses or colleagues or other people

who you may want to know is "trustwor‐

thy" - here is a bit of technical involve‐

ment but it is possible to search online

for evidence that a person may have

been using the website Ashley Madison.

Some users of that site may have been

hypothetically considering possibly hav‐

ing an extramarital or otherwise illicit

affair, though the mere fact of a person

being registered with the site does not, of

course, indicate any such thing.A valid

point raised by a reader this week: David

Peacock "Does the public not have a

right to a private and family life? Article

8 of the human rights act.I've no idea,

I'm guessing they published a quote or a

set of igures handed to them on a plate?

I'm not a journalist or computer expert..

But trusting the stolen account stats pro‐

vided by hackers, from an adult site that

has been shown to have fake 'bot' ac‐

counts.. Combined with an obvious de‐

sire of 'real' users to remain anonymous

+ a few other motives to use fake start up

emails etc details.. All add up to an un‐

trustworthy story that has little 'news'

merit and has potential to contravene

the HRA.. What next?.. Taking photos of

adults entering bars without partners

and leaving with one, in the off chance

on of them might be married?

Clare Kane brought a female perspective

to the discussion with: "maybe you mis‐

understand the aim of the site, its specii‐

cally for people who want to have affairs,

so if someone is registered on it then

they will almost certainly have a few

questions to answer with their partners.

he bots you mention, the company ad‐

mitted, were 'female' designed to attract

male users and string them along so the

majority of males registered have suspect

intentions to say the least...

As we are seeking to inform all of my

many readers we have now researched

this matter and discussed with our tech‐

nical counterparts and have compiled

some authoritative and genuine advice

for anyone who might be thinking of

"having a wee nosey" for the data leaked

from the site. Here are the points we

would ask you to consider before taking

such a step.

1. Your Computer is pretty much guaranteed to get Infected With A Virus If You go for a snoop.

I know, I know, it's not fair but this is an

unfortunate, but true, fact. Most websites

purporting to have the Ashley Madison

data available for download or search are

in fact fakes set up by cyber criminals.

Simply clicking through to such a site

from a Google search is nearly certain to

set you up for an infection on your com‐

puter with serious malware that wants to

do more than snoop on your facebook

holiday albums.

2. his Poisioned Chalice of Data Could Add Your Name To A List Of Likely Ashley Madison Users

Y'know like a register you really don't

want to part of, Large numbers of un‐

scrupulous companies are offering web‐

pages or sites which they say will allow

you to search safely through the leaked

Ashley Madison data. But they them‐

selves are waiting to hack you for all they

can get and will log your details as you

use their service, and put these details on

a list, which of course can then in turn

appear on the internet and so the cycle

continues.

his would then ultimately end up with

curious people looking for these 'lists' for

naming and shaming and will see you on

that list and simply assume you were

checking whether your details were on

Ashley Madison. Even if a search service

appears to take no personal details from

you, it will almost certainly will be. his

will inevitably reveal you to the world as

a guilty Ashley Madison user even if you

had never even heard of the website be‐

fore the recent media irestorm.

3. he Mere Fact hat Someone's Details Are In he Ashley Madison Data Means Absolutely Nothing At All

he fact of the matter is that the vast ma‐

jority of people whose details were held

by Ashley Madison had absolutely no in‐

tention whatever of having any sort of il‐

licit affair. Many proiles were created us‐

ing people's details - for instance their

names, photographs nude and/or

dressed, email addresses etc - without

their knowledge by other persons for a

huge variety of reasons.

hese things are easily harvested from

the internet. Even where someone's

credit card details are found in the Ash‐

ley Madison data, in almost all cases

those card numbers will have been stolen

by criminals - perhaps by hacking a

completely legitimate online store or

other website - and used fraudulently

without the owner's knowledge.

Even where this has not occurred and

someone appears to have really regis‐

tered with the site of their own volition,

again this means nothing. Most Ashley

Madison users were motivated by inno‐

cent curiosity: and in many cases they

may have had no interest in having an

affair but instead bona-ide work reasons

to be registered with the site.

his is especially true of journalists, the

vast majority of whom were registered

with the site in order to do essential re‐

search into prospective articles on web

security.

It's important to be aware that such in‐

vestigative news articles oten take a long

time to prepare, not just a case of copy

and paste.

To Love, Honour and Deny?


Photo Credit:Steve Lav: www.lickr.com/photos/stevelav/3338838252/

Claire Sugden MLA

https://www.facebook.com/ClaireSug‐

denMLA

On Monday 14th September 2015, I suc‐

cessfully tabled a Matter of the Day con‐

cerning the future of the NI political Insti‐

tutions.

"Mr Speaker,hank you for the opportu‐

nity to speak on this matter.

I will begin by saying how privileged I

feel to stand here and represent East

Londonderry in the Northern Ireland

Assembly. While we now ind ourselves

in exceptional circumstances I will con‐

tinue to do the job I was entrusted with,

while I can. 100 000 constituents expect

me to represent them in this House.his

House is cards is falling Mr Speaker. he

only good that will come out of this is if

the jokers at the top coming crashing

down too and do not get up again. I am

concerned because we have so much to

lose. Not just the message that Northern

Ireland has failed, but the prospect of be‐

ing governed by people who don't know

us; understandably are fed up with us

and won't ight for the people or sell our

country for the potential it has like we

can.Events that unfolded on hursday

make me very sad.My constituent, Mr

Watton and I know he won't mind me

saying his name, has been waiting for a

disabled parking bay for over six

months. Mr Watton is very ill, it takes

him all strength to walk several feet and

he is certainly entitled to this space. He

is entitled to a public service that will

make his life a little bit easier while he

focuses his strength on his day to day

struggles. He won't get his disabled park‐

ing bay, because the Minister and then

the Committee need to sign it off. he

irst one doesn't exist.Mr Watton is only

a small piece of the puzzle of Northern

Ireland. he bigger picture is ruined,

however, when one piece is missing. he

collapse of our institutions are being felt

from the people up while politics is be‐

ing played badly from the top down.he

events that have unfolded since the death

of Mr McGuigan are really quite unbe‐

lievable. A lot of big decisions have been

made on 'what if?'. It goes further in my

belief that many who sit in this House

are not it for the job. Yes, I appreciate

you were given a mandate, but I really

don't think the people expected this

nonsense when they trusted you with

their vote.My interpretation of what is

really happening here is delection and

election. Mr Speaker there are people

bleeding this country dry and the cur‐

rent events are providing a very conve‐

nient smoke screen. I see it in my own

constituency. Our drug problem is oten

hidden by the contentious issues. But Mr

Speaker these people will be caught and I

look forward to the day, because the peo‐

ple of Northern Ireland deserve better

and I trust they will realise this come

next election.Whether in a month or

May next year we have an election. Mr

Speaker there is nothing wrong with

electioneering. But electioneering should

begin the day ater you are elected to

earn the Mandate you were given, not in

panic to get one over on your

competitor. As an Independent, I proba‐

bly have more than most to lose in an

early election, but it's not about me, it's

about the people I represent. If losing my

seat and never speaking a word in this

Chamber again means that we will move

forward positively, then by all means,

bring it on.But it won't. I believe that

Northern Ireland will only truly move on

when those people involved in the Trou‐

bles are no longer in politics. For the

good of the people you claim to repre‐

sent, move on, step aside if you will and

encourage, young politicians like Gary

Middleton, Steven Agnew, Chris Lyttle,

Claire Hanna, Megan Fearon, Sandra

Overend and me to be the future so that

Northern Ireland and these institutions

have a chance.hank you Mr Speaker."

Is Stormont just a House of Cards full of Jokers?


PUBLIC NOTICE

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough

Council invites applications from com‐

munity and voluntary organisations for

the following Community Grant Pro‐

grammes:

BUILDING A UNITED COMMUNITY

FUND

he fund replaces previous Good Rela‐

tions Grants Programmes that were sup‐

ported by the four Legacy Councils and

has been designed to support, promote

and develop Good Relations projects

within the Causeway Coast and Glens

Borough Council area. For details, con‐

tact Causeway Coast and Glens Borough

Council's Ballycastle Office on (028)

2076 2225 or email lisa.harris@cause‐

waycoastandglens.gov.uk.

SOCIAL INCLUSION FUND

he fund is open to community organi‐

sations who provide community activi‐

ties and services for local communities

within the Causeway Coast and Glens

Borough Council area. For details, con‐

tact Causeway Coast and Glens Borough

Council's Coleraine Office on (028) 7034

7032 or emailzara.curry@causewaycoas‐

tandglens.gov.uk

Both funds open on Wednesday 12th

August 2015. he deadline for submis‐

sions is 21st September 2015 at 4pm.

Organisations interested in submitting

an application are invited to a Grants In‐

formation Roadshow, where Council

staff will be available to answer queries at

Ballymoney Town Hall on hursday

27th August from 7.00pm.

Application Forms and Guidance Notes

for both funds are also available on the

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough

Council website

FREE DANDER BALL, MEAL and HEALTH CHECK Part of Positive Ageing

month, October. Open to men aged 50+ from Neighbourhood Renewal Areas of

Coleraine. Wed 14th October, 2pm, at SCORE. Take a dander down.

he Angel Of Hope Memorial Garden

which has been recently opened in Col‐

eraine has been badly vandalised and is

becoming a 'hot spot' for under age

drinking and was also used by a Bridal

Party for wedding photos that has let

many visibly upset. Andrea McAleese

one the founders of the project has been

inundated on social media with reports

ranging from doing no harm to doing no

good."Hi it has been brought to my at‐

tention that the garden was used at the

weekend by a bridal party taking pho‐

tographs . he garden is private and

owned and managed by the Angel of

hope Company and committee the gar‐

den is not allowed to be used for adver‐

tising or wedding photos without the

prior consent of the above named . he

bridal party where sitting on top of the

raised planter which is a memorial for

babies this is not acceptable and worse

for a parent who may have been visiting

their child's memorial"

No respect given to Sacred Garden

Funding Deadline For Local Groups 21st September 2015


We just want to say a MASSIVE thanks to everyone for helping us celebrate our

wedding day. We had so much fun but we couldn't have done it without the love

and help from everyone. We had the Perfect day and full of memories we'll never

forget. We are so lucky to have family and friends like we do. hank you and see

you all soon! Love Mr and Mrs Kelly.

Poppy Madsen is determined to catch Mr Robin, but in the meantime here's some

one from one of her gardening jobs. A bit random, but Poppy does like frogs

Introducing: Mr & Mrs Kelly


Human trafficking and practices such as

slavery and forced labour - so-called

"modern slavery" - are life shattering

crimes that degrade and dehumanise in‐

nocent men, women and children. To

traffickers, victims are not seen in terms

of their humanity, but only in terms of

what proit they can bring as commodi‐

ties. Tackling these offences and the peo‐

ple who perpetrate them is a priority for

me and for my Department.his strategy

includes a rat of challenging and target‐

ed actions that my Department and its

partners are committed to delivering

during 2015/16.

Partnership is a key thread running

through this strategy. We cannot do this

alone. I greatly value the eagerness of our

strategic partners, both statutory and

non-statutory, to work collaboratively in

a joined-up and effective manner. It is

only through working together that we

will be able to bring these crimes out of

Justice Minister, David Ford, has pub‐

lished the irst annual Human Traffick‐

ing and Exploitation Strategy for

Northern Ireland.

Minister Ford said: "Human trafficking

and exploitation are vile crimes which

dehumanise victims. hey have a de‐

structive impact on society in general.

his strategy sets out how my Depart‐

ment intends to work with partners

across Government, law enforcement

and civil society to put an end to modern

slavery and to support victims. he strat‐

egy shows what can be achieved when

we stand together against these evil prac‐

tices. It sends a strong message to traf‐

ickers that Northern Ireland is closed

for business."

A drat version of the strategy, developed

by the Department of Justice (DOJ) was

subject to a 12 week public consultation

and the inal strategy has been amended

to relect a number of suggestions re‐

ceived by respondents to the consulta‐

tion.

he strategy builds on previous Human

Trafficking and Exploitation Action

Plans which have helped to set a clear

strategic direction for the Department of

Justice and its partners. It sets out a chal‐

lenging programme of objectives and ac‐

tions that the Department and its part‐

ners are committed to driving forward

under four strategic priorities: Pursue;

Protect and support; Prevent and; Part‐

nership.

David Ford continued "I believe that this

strategy will facilitate effective investiga‐

tions and prosecutions and will help to

ensure that victims are identiied, pro‐

tected and supported."

Life Sentence for Human Trafficking


Recruitment methods:

he OCTF's strategic proile report

found that the majority of potential vic‐

tims recovered in Northern Ireland were

recruited within their home country.

Around 20 potential victims were re‐

cruited in the United Kingdom or Ire‐

land (either because they were United

Kingdom or Irish nationals, or because

they had previously travelled there of

their own volition).

A number of recruitment methods were

identiied:

• Job advertisements - Around a quarter

(26%) of potential victims indicated that

they had been trafficked ater applying

for what they thought was a legitimate

job.

• Approaches made by individual 're‐

cruiters' - Around 14% of potential vic‐

tims described being approached by in‐

dividuals who promised them work.

• 'Lover boy' - Around 8% of potential

victims described the 'lover boy' ap‐

proach, a recognised method of luring

young girls into sexual exploitation.

• Kidnapped or sold - Around 8% of po‐

tential victims described being kid‐

napped or 'sold' by a family member.

Key vulnerabilities: he strategic proile

report also identiied a range of key fac‐

tors that appear consistently in the case

studies which serve to heighten the vul‐

nerability of the victims.- In several cases

the victim had been orphaned or had

been affected by illness within their fam‐

ily. In these cases, some had been forced

to ind work to support themselves, oth‐

ers had gone to live with family or

friends and had subsequently been

'sold'.- A number of individuals were in

debt in their home country and initially

travelled willingly in the belief that they

were going to be offered legitimate

work.In some cases individuals seeking

work had been targeted outside job cen‐

tres only to ind themselves then com‐

pelled to work against their will.- here

were also a number of cases involving

the internal trafficking of minors for sex‐

ual exploitation, many of whom had

been within the care system.

he Human Trafficking and Exploitation

(Criminal Justice and Support for Vic‐

tims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 ("the

2015 Act") was granted Royal Assent on

13 January 2015.

his legislation enhances our capacity to

tackle human trafficking and slavery or

forced labour in Northern Ireland by:

• establishing new offences of human

trafficking and slavery, servitude and

forced or compulsory labour;

• increasing the maximum sentence for

human trafficking and slavery, servitude

and forced or compulsory labour to life

imprisonment;

• introducing a minimum 2 year sen‐

tence for these offences, unless there are

exceptional circumstances to warrant a

lower sentence;

• making it easier to coniscate the assets

of exploiters and to force them to pay

reparation to victims;• criminalising the

purchase of sexual services;

• introducing a new offence of forced

marriage;

• introducing slavery and trafficking pre‐

vention orders;

• placing a statutory requirement on the

Department of Justice to provide assis‐

tance and support to adult potential vic‐

tims who are referred to the NRM;

• creating a new statutory defence for

victims who have been compelled to

commit certain other offences;

• creating new protections for victims

within the criminal justice system in re‐

spect of avoiding secondary victimisa‐

tion in police interviews and ensuring

access to special measures in court and;

• introducing independent child

guardians for trafficked and separated

children.he majority of provisions in

the Act came into force upon Royal As‐

sent. his strategy also includes a num‐

ber of speciic actions to implement the

remaining provisions.

! raising public awareness including

through:- the Modern slavery media

campaign and helpline;- the UN Git

Box; and- events to mark EU Anti Traf‐

icking Day.Progress reports against the

2013/14 and 2014/15 Human Trafficking

Action Plans for Northern Ireland can be

found at:- http://www.dojni.gov.uk/

northern-ireland-human-trafficking-ac‐

tion-plan-2013-14-progress-report-

http://www.dojni.gov.uk/northern-ire‐

land-human-trafficking-and-slavery-ac‐

tion-plan-2014-15

the shadows and bring perpetrators to

justice.

he strategy has been developed around

four strategic priorities which, together,

provide the focus for our collective work.

hese priorities are:

1 . P u r s u e ( effe c t i ve d e t e c t i on ,

disruption, investigation and prosecu‐

tion of offenders);

2. Protect and support (protection and

support for and improved identiication

of victims);

3. Prevent (prevent and reduce risk of

human trafficking (and re-trafficking)

and exploitation in Northern Ireland);

4. Partnership (Effective, collaborative

and joined up partnership working,

identiication of best practice and lessons

learned).

Age of potential victims, 37 (82%) of the

potential victims recovered in 2014 were

adults and 8 (18%) were minors.he

OCTF's wider strategic proile of poten‐

tial victims indicates an age range which

spans six decades, the youngest at only 3

years old to the oldest at almost 60 years

old.

potential victims indicates an age range which spans six decades


here has been so many terms bandied around the media recently, one that is missing: Human.

By : S a z Mc C on n e l l http s : / / i n‐

searchointimacy.wordpress.com/

I have heard so many different terms

bandied about the media recently to

describe the large number of people

looding into Europe from war zones

in the Middle East, migrants, immi‐

g r a n t s , r e f u g e e s , i n v a d e r s ,

cockroaches, scroungers, terrorists in

disguise etc. All these terms are used in

order to illicit either a compassion,

fear or anger, whichever emotion the

media wishes to ignite on that given

day. he term that is rarely used how‐

ever is "human beings", as if somehow

they have lost their right to be human,

conveniently of course meaning they

then lose their human rights. We can

keep invaders trapped in a train for

days without access to basic sanitation,

we could not do that if they were hu‐

man.

Yes there have been images shown in the

media of people refusing aid, apparently

due to the red cross symbol being Chris‐

tian not muslim, did you ever hear such

nonsense?! Open your eyes, use your

brain & do your own research, you will

ind that yes aid was turned down, but

no it was not because of the cross. his

was a group of people who had simply

had enough of being treated like scum.

Men women & children alike who were

trapped in a train under armed guard

and were simply showing their frustra‐

tion in the only way they knew how.

How desperate must you be to refuse wa‐

ter just to get your point across?

Yes when the media shows images of

large numbers refugees most of those

shown are young men, please consider

the culture. Women & children are kept

out of the limelight, if seen they are cer‐

tainly not to be heard. he men speak for

their families, the men collect the aid to

be shared with their families. Again do

your own research, the official statistics

will show you that over half of Syrian

refugees are children & the majority of

those are under 12.

he next issue I wish to address is the

barrage of absolute ilth coming from

people's mouths (or ingers if they are at

their keyboards) because refugees have

been seen with smart phones & of course

this proves that they are not really

refugees but chancers trying to con their

way into europe & scrounge money from

our welfare systems. here is a reason

these refugees come off trains whilst

checking their mobiles (probably the

only way they have to keep in touch with

friends & family let behind, of loved

ones separated on the way). hese people

never claimed to be poor, the fact that

they had enough money to pay for their

passage into Europe shows us that, un‐

like the millions of other "internally dis‐

placed people" who cannot afford to

leave. So ask yourself, what would force

you to leave your nice house, most of

your belongings, your job, your weekly

coffee morning at your favourite coffee

shop with a friend? I am sure most Syri‐

ans would not have led from the beauti‐

ful street in the top picture….but what

have they to stay for now it has been re‐

duced to the one below it?

A British MP has stated "We are al‐

ready providing sanctuary and shelter

to people in over 20 refugee camps in

Turkey and also further in Jordan so

nobody is actually leeing because of

war, everyone is taking an economic

decision…..here are refugee camps

looking ater people throughout Syria

and the Middle East. We can provide

people with safe refuge….So those

people who are in Hungary at the

moment are taking decisions that

they'd rather be in Germany, and the

people in Calais are taking an eco‐

nomic decision that they want to be

in the UK…here are no wars in

Calais and there are no wars in cen‐

tral Budapest."

Yes a lot of these people are choosing to

make their way to the richer countries in

the EU….but wouldn't you? hey are

leeing from the wreckage of their once

safe, happy lives which have now become

a living hell, why should they not seek

somewhere safe & comfortable where

they will be treated with the respect that

any human being deserves instead of

large camps where there is poor sanita‐

tion & they are completely reliant on aid

with no hope of making a better life for

themselves, no hope of a decent educa‐

tion for their children. A refugee camp is

not a permanent residence so you can

neither apply for jobs nor beneits. While

you are in a refugee camp you are a

problem to be dealt with, if you can af‐

ford to travel to europe & claim refugee

status there you have a possibility of be‐

coming a person again, with the chance

to provide a better life for your family.

he type of life you once had in Syria be‐

fore your home was blown up. I will say

however that I completely agree with

David Cameron about resettling refugees

directly from these camps so as to pre‐

vent many more from risking the dan‐

gerous crossing offered by people smug‐

glers into Europe….however I think this

should have been done before the crisis

reached this stage. Whilst it is admirable

to want to prevent any more unnecessary

human tragedy it is impossible to simply

turn a blind eye to those who have al‐

ready took that desperate step with their

families because you ignored their cries

of help for so long. As far as the whole

argument over settling in the irst coun‐

try they land in goes….if i was leeing

with my family, I do not think I would

want to settle in Greece, when their

economy is not so much on the brink of

collapse but is lying in tatters at the bot‐

tom of the cliff,where there have been

scenes of rioting in the streets shown all

over the world media…not exactly a safe

haven now is it?

Now I am not saying they should be al‐

lowed to settle wherever they choose,

obviously there has to be some common

sense applied to the situation as some

countries simply do not have the space

or the structure to cope with so many

new arrivals. All I am asking is that you

start to see these people as just that, peo‐

ple.

People are people no matter what tag you give them


With a new academic year beginning for

many, Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue

Service (NIFRS) is urging students get‐

ting ready for university and college to

be aware of the dangers of ire.

Students across Northern Ireland will be

embarking upon academic studies that

will set them for the future but the most

important lesson learnt during term

time, that of ire safety could ultimately

save their lives. Fireighters will be visit‐

ing university and college campuses over

the coming weeks to provide ire safety

advice, lealets and information to help

students to stay ire safe in their shared

or rented accommodation.Northern Ire‐

land Fire & Rescue Service Group Com‐

mander Kevin O'Neill explains:"

Living away from home for the irst

time can be very exciting for young

people and it is easy to get caught up in

the excitement of student life and for‐

get about ire safety.

As a ire and rescue service it's impor‐

tant that we engage directly with young

people at this time in their lives - not

only will this keep them ire safe, it will

install good ire safety habits and pat‐

terns for the rest of their lives."We

would urge all students to think about

ire safety and take personal responsi‐

bility for looking ater themselves and

their housemates to protect them from

the dangers of ire.

"Fireighters will be visiting university

and college campuses in the coming

weeks to give out ire safety advice and

to remind students about the impor‐

tance of having a working smoke

alarm. Students might not be aware

but they can request a free home ire

safety check through NIFRS."Ensure

that all smoke alarms provided are in

working order and tested once a week.

his will alert you and your house‐

mates to the earliest stage of a ire giv‐

ing you vital extra time to escape. Fol‐

low a good ire safe bedtime routine

and take some time to agree a ire es‐

cape plan to ensure everyone is clear

what to do in the event of an emergen‐

cy.

"Following our regular ire safety up‐

dates and advice on Facebook or Twit‐

ter will help students ensure ire

doesn't become their uninvited guest

during term time. We want students to

enjoy this next chapter in their lives

but to act responsible and to help us in

our role in protecting the community.

"Student Fire Safety Advice:- Test Your

Smoke Alarm - only a working smoke

alarm will waken you during the night.

Make sure that all smoke alarms provid‐

ed are in working order and tested every

week.- Prepare A Fire Escape Plan -

know where the ire exits are and made

sure furniture or stored items do not

block them. If there is no ire exit, plan

an alternative escape route other than by

the main entrance door.- Carry Out A

Night Time Check - by checking a few

things before you go to bed you can re‐

duce the risk. It only takes a minute and

can save your life.o Turn off all electrical

appliances not designed to be let on;o

Put a guard on open ires;o Put out all

cigarettes and empty ashtrays into a non-

combustible container;o Put out all can‐

dles;o Close all internal doors;- Do not

cook when under the inluence of alco‐

hol. You can request a free home ire

safety check by calling 028 9260 0477 or

logging onto www.nifrs.org for further

ire safety advice.

Bright Sparks given Fire Safety Tips


Get in touch with us: River House Business Centre Castle Lane, Coleraine, BT51 3DR. Phone 07850 959400 Email [email protected]

The causeway coast news 20150918 issue2

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