NI gardeners lose hundreds of seed varieties as major company Suttons withdraws fruit and veg seeds due to Irish Sea border

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* Political editor Sam McBride examines five developments at the Northern Ireland Assembly this week.
* Pupils in Northern Ireland are not set to return to school until Monday 8 March at the earliest, it has been claimed.
* Seed to grow onions, carrots, cabbage and a host of other common vegetables will no longer be sent to Northern Ireland by one of the UK’s major seed manufacturers because of the Irish Sea border.
* Esmond Birnie writes: It is striking just how badly Northern Ireland did last year in both Covid’s toll and economic recession, with output fall among worst in world.
* There are 170 more children in care in Northern Ireland than there was at the beginning of April 2021, the Stormont Health Committee has been told
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Michael Cousins
Deputy digital editor