evidence: In an article published by the Belfast Telegraph detailing a declining number of shoppers on high streets and in shopping centres and retail parks across the province in February, Aodhan Connolly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, is quoted stating, "The truth is, in Northern Ireland, we have less than half of the weekly disposable income than households in the rest of the UK." [...] Finally, figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in June 2015 revealed that Northern Ireland residents had the lowest gross disposable income (income that people have left to live on once their taxes, mortgage/rent and pension savings have been deducted) per head in 2013, where the average person had £14,347 available to save or spend, compared with a UK average of £17,559. The data presented by the ONS also shows the disparity in wealth that exists within the country, with citizens living in Outer Belfast having, on average, a disposable income of £15,208 compared to £12,910 in the North of Northern Ireland.