The DUP Minister for Communities Paul Givan kicked a Gaelic football for the first time as he marked the awarding of a £50,000 improvements grants to St Patrick’s GAA club in Lisburn. The grant will go towards fencing and outdoor gym equipment. Gaelic football, he said, “is something that I recognise as very important to our community… I support the organisation (GAA) – in terms of the sporting aspect of it – and the value that it brings to young people.” Mr Givan also expressed support for the £76m Casement Park GAA stadium project in west Belfast.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness claimed some unionist leaders have a psychological problem with reconciliation. Speaking at the launch of a Sinn Féin document on reconciliation, he said reconciliation could not be a one-way street; “I am clearly saying to the leaders of unionism that we can all be involved in reconciliation without giving up our aspirations or our political allegiances.” UUP Leader Mike Nesbitt described Mr McGuinness’s comments as “fatally flawed”.

Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered the government’s first major economic statement – the Autumn Statement – since June’s Brexit vote. In a speech which never mentioned “Brexit”, he focused upon investing in innovation, productivity and connectivity. He committed an extra £250m to the Northern Ireland Executive, to be spent on capital infrastructure projects here. Our own Finance Minister, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, announced some of his own plans this week; a reform of the property rates system could see 7,000 households here face higher bills; and charity shops, which currently pay no rates, may have to contribute. There will now be a consultation.

Fianna Fáil leader Michéal Martin said the UK and European Union must seek and support a “generous special status” for Northern Ireland after Brexit. Speaking at Queen’s University, he said Brexit may go down as “one of the biggest mistakes of modern European democracy.” He said there has been a significant lack of civic dialogue on Brexit here, particularly in relation to what implications it may have on the Good Friday Agreement. He said there is “no evidence whatsoever” that the UK government has a credible plan for what happens next. The period from now to March 2019, he added, will define our future direction for decades.

The death of Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro was announced on Friday. He died aged 90. Mr Castro came to power in 1959 and defied the USA for decades; he handed power to his brother Raul in 2006 due to illness. It was only in 2015, under US President Barack Obama, that diplomatic ties between the countries were restored. Response to his death and legacy has been divided: whereas Irish President Michael D. Higgins praised Castro as a “giant among global leaders”, US President-elect Donald Trump described him as a “brutal dictator”.