As EHJ went to press, planning for this year's annual conference, to be held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was reaching its climax. Which makes this a timely issue in which to look at the emerging public health and local government agenda in the province.

At the end of June, Paul Murphy, the Secretary of State for Northern Irelend, released a statement in which he reiterated the Government's commitment to "secure and consolidate long-term peace, stability and normality for Northern Ireland." He also promised to deliver "high quality public services", building on the progress made by the Executive prior to suspension. This commitment to developing the Executive's agenda means that plans to reform and modernise public services, physical infrastructure and the public health function are still moving full speed ahead.

"Public health" in the wider context of addressing the underlying causes of ill-health and preventing disease is currently being overhauled in Northern Ireland alongside a wholesale review of public administration. Gary McFarlane sets the scene on page 260 with a call to environmental health professionals to "rise to the challenge".

Nick Warburton continues the theme with a look at the new cross-cutting, interdepartmental approach to public health, as set out in the Northern Ireland Government's Investing for health strategy. Widely seen as signalling a sea change in health policy, it focuses on prevention rather than cure. However, as in the rest of the UK, environmental health services are becoming increasingly bogged down with statutory enforcement duties, so Investing for health looks set to reawaken the debate about what role environmental health can actively take in delivering the public health agenda.

Brian Hanna, CIEH president sets out the key components of the review of public health function in Northern Ireland and outlines the structure of the steering group that has been set up to facilitate this process. He calls on environmental health practitioners to see this process as an opportunity not a threat. The final piece in the Northern Ireland focus comes from Heather Moorhead, who takes a look at the direct role of local councils in a renewed health agenda. She feels that you have "over professionalised" to such an extent that holistic thinking has become a thing of the past. Read on and see if you agree...

On a different note, EHJ caught up with Dr Pat Troop, chief executive of the newly established Health Protection Agency last month, where we were able to talk to her about the agency's plans for building bridges between a wide range of key organisations that have health protection at the heart of their remit. A strong believer in building national, regional and local partnerships she promises that everyone at the agency will be "getting in there with their sleeves rolled up".

Finally, I hope to see many of you at conference later this month, but for those of you that will not be there, look out for our conference round up in the next issue.

Tracey Khanna

Editor