Issue 190 - Belfast BT6 • BT7 • BT8
BELFAST EXPENSIVE AREA FOR YOUNG DRIVER INSURANCE
Young motorists in Northern Ireland are facing hair raising car insurance premiums of £1470, just £8 off London, the UK’s most expensive region. Using data from Q4 2025, car insurance experts at CompareNI. com reviewed the insurance costs of teenage drivers both locally and across the UK to try and discover ways to reduce costs. While most UK regions saw premiums for young drivers drop, prices in Northern Ireland rocketed by £152 over the previous quarter – the biggest jump anywhere in the UK. London tops the list of most expensive regions in the UK for young drivers, with Northern Ireland coming a very close second, followed by A stand out schedule of free events are scheduled for the festival which this year has the theme Journey and will put young people centre stage.
Young People Set To Take Centre Stage at 4 Corners Festival 2026
Young people and youth-led conversations will take centre stage at the 4 Corners Festival 2026, which returns to Belfast from January 30 to February 8 with the theme Journey. The festival is a faith-based initiative delivered across venues in all four corners of the city, with events designed to encourage people to step beyond the physical and psychological “corners” of Belfast and encounter new
perspectives, new ideas and new connections. The 2026 youth programme includes schools-based activity, sports and friendshipbuilding, student discussion, youth travel and peacebuilding, and space for honest conversation about
masculinity and non-violence. A key youth event, Passports Ready! takes place at QUB PEC, Botanic Park, Stranmillis at 10am on February 4, bringing primary school pupils from four Belfast schools together
with Peace Players NI for a day focused on sports skills and building connections, celebrating friendship and support on the sports field and in life.
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Yorkshire in third place. Across Northern Ireland, seven of the District Council areas saw teenagers facing premiums of over £2000, with Belfast, Lisburn & Castlereagh and Fermanagh & Omagh the worst affected. Not surprisingly, the youngest drivers, 17 and 18-year-olds, were the most expensive to insure – with 18-old-drivers in Belfast facing eyewatering costs of more than £3000. The average cost of car insurance in Northern Ireland is currently £626, which is £19 higher than the overall UK average.