Ulster medical school on the table in deal to restart Stormont

Universities and research given boost by draft deal to restore devolved assembly in Northen Ireland

A commitment to developing Ulster University’s new graduate medical school and pledges on boosting research are part of a draft deal aimed at getting Northern Ireland’s executive up and running again.

The country’s assembly, Stormont, has not met for three years after relations broke down between Northern Ireland’s main parties, the Democratic and Unionist Party and Sinn Fein, in 2017. The Irish and UK governments’ draft deal—called New Decade, New Approach—was published on 9 January and is the product of talks between the two governments and five parties in Northern Ireland.