Home Ground episode 3 2022: Jo Scott travels across the country to hear about an ambitious new project which aims to tackle poverty and isolation in rural villages, while Conor investigates the growing problem of wildfires and their impact on wildlife. Deep in County Tyrone’s Sperrin Mountains, Jo catches a glimpse of a spectacular night sky at the country’s only Dark Sky Park.
Gavin Andrews and Jo Scott present a magazine show celebrating the richness of rural life in Northern Ireland, featuring stories about people who use the countryside for work, rest and play. Rural affairs magazine series celebrating the richness of rural life in Northern Ireland
Home Ground episode 3 2022
Northern Ireland has traditionally had an industrial economy, most notably in shipbuilding, rope manufacture and textiles, but most heavy industry has since been replaced by services, primarily the public sector.
Seventy per cent of the economy’s revenue comes from the service sector. Apart from the public sector, another important service sector is tourism, which rose to account for over 1% of the economy’s revenue in 2004. Tourism has been a major growth area since the end of the Troubles. Key tourism attractions include the historic cities of Derry, Belfast and Armagh and the many castles in Northern Ireland.
The local economy has seen contraction during the Great Recession. The Executive wishes to gain taxation powers from London, to align Northern Ireland’s corporation tax rate with the that of the Republic of Ireland.
As in all of the UK, the economy of Northern Ireland was negatively impacted by the lockdowns and travel restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The tourism and hospitality industry was particularly hard hit. These sectors “have been mandated to close since 26 December 2020, with a very limited number of exceptions” and many restrictions were continuing into April 2021. Hotels and other accommodations, for example, “closed apart from only for work-related stays”. Some restrictions were expected to be loosened in mid April but tourism was expected to remain very limited.