15/09/2011 BBC Newsline

Good evening. You're watching BBC Newsline with Sarah Travers. The

top stories this Thursday evening: Tom Elliott stands up to the Orange

men trying to discipline him for going Constable Ronan Kerr's

funeral. I do not believe it was any sin or crime to go to the

funeral of a murdered police officer. Could fines be on the

cards for people who abuse the nine nine service? I'm live at the

control room with the detail The multi-million pound grant to

farmers which MLA's say was a waste of money. S. Meet the brothers who

could be going for gold together at the London Olympics next year. And

if you needed anything doing outdoors, today was the day to do

it - there's more rain on the way. The Ulster Unionist leader, Tom

Elliott, says he has no regrets about attending the funeral of

Catholic police officer, Ronan Kerr. As we revealed last night, he and

his party's Stormont Minister, Danny Kennedy, are facing Orange

Order disciplinary hearings after a lodge in Belfast complained they

had broken the rules by attending a Catholic mass. This afternoon, Mr

Elliot told BBC Newsline that he's been inundated with support from

the public, including many Orange men. Here's our political

correspondent Gareth Gordon. In his shop today, drum maker and orange

man, William Hewitt was clear where he stood on the row. They broke the

law, as an Orangeman. As a brother arrange man they went to a chapel

for a funeral and... They need to take it from there. In this

loyalist heartland, there were other views. Most people we have

spoken to here say they believe Tom Elliott and Danny Kennedy did

nothing wrong. I'm an orange man I would go to funeral. It is against

the rules. They're ape shepbt rules. Its none sense. You don't think

there is a problem? No. I think they should be able to g to

whoever's funeral they want. It is nothing to do with politics.

Ulster unionist leader came to the BBC for his first interview since

the storm began. His message - no regrets. I do not believe it was

any sinner crime to go to the funeral of a murdered police

officer. Someone who was serving this community, someone who served

in my constituency. I believe by doing that, that was showing

leadership from the Ulster Unionist Party and from our community

towards the services that Ronan Kerr and others are

proindividualing to this society. Yet the Orange Order of which

you're a member of, takes a different view. Well I think we

need to put that in context, in that it appears that one particular

lodge has made a complaint. That is something that will have to be

dealt with, through the due processes of the orange institution.

I'm happy that we follow that due process and I'm happy to

participate in that process and be part of it. Are you advised think

lodge has made this complaint? think in the context of what it was

about, I'm surprised. I'm surprised in the sense that we were doing

what was right for society. I must say it is very demoralising for me

at think stage to see this going through the emotions that its for

the Kerr family. I must say that the Kerr family, I have a lot of

simpthri for at this time, because I'm sure it is retraumatising them.

Today the issue was mentioned in the House of Commons. The leader

will be as shocked as I was to hear do senior members of Ulster

unionists have been summoned to a Orange Order disciplinary

proceedings after they attended the funeral of the murdered Catholic

police officer, Ronan Kerr. Can I ask that we have a shot debate in

which all members of the House can demonstrate our support for Tom

Elliott and Danny Kennedy and recognise the responsible way they

have offered leadership. Elliott said he has had much back.

I have 45 a -- had a huge amount of support, from the general public,

but a lot of them from orange men and fellow orange men, people I

don't even know. The next move is up to LOL 821 who made the

complaint and the Orange leadership. One in five callers who dialled 999

here last year did not need emergency help. Over 28,000 callers

wanted everything from assistance getting into bed to treatment for a

toothache. Our health correspondent, Marie Louise Connolly, is at the

ambulance control centre in Knockbracken in south Belfast.

Abusing the system not only costs lives but is costing the Health

Service hundreds of thousands of pounds. To improve the system, the

Health Minister has told the BBC he's considering introducing a

system where people can also dial 111 as well as imposing those who

waste paramedics' time. Responding to an emergency and every sect e

second counts. The calm is to a house where a man is having trouble

breathing. Within minutes the vehicle leaves the Royal Victoria

Hospital. Swift action could save a life. While this incident turned

out to be serious, not all emergency calls are. In fact,

paramedics are increasingly finding their time is being wasted. It was

ten to 12 and I was off duty at midnight and when I arrived she

told me I -- she couldn't get a ring off her finger. Last year the

ambulance service received 130,000 calls. Around 28,500 were non-

emergency and included requests for helping to stop a nose bleed,

finding a missing person, even trading -- treating a tooth ache.

How can the system be improved? We're looking at best practice

elsewhere. In England they have a 111 system, that would be an

alternative for people who are not sure to call and we could fine

people who progress lively abuse the system. By streamlining the

service, the minister said he is improiving it, including closing

the city hospital's A&E. The Royal will become the main hub for

admitting patient and if a person arrives by car or ambulance, they

will be assessed. Depending on their condition, they could be

admitted here, or they could be sent to the city hospital for

example, if their complaint is cancer-related. However, there is a

third oop option. If a person arrives here believing they need

emergency care, they could be sent to an out of hours centre. If it is

thought a GP could look after them instead. GPs say they want to play

a bigger role in the reorganisation of emergency care, but insist it

will come at a price. There needs to be change in patient behaviour

and patient education in where to go and I think that most doctors

who work out of hour will say the pressures are severe, most are

stressed with the amount of work and we would welcome more resource.

Now the change to the local emergency service is taking pace,

academics say if managed properly, there could be huge savings.

believe it will save into the hundreds and thousand over time.

Because we need joined up thinking about the out of hours service and

the ambulance and emergency services, people are using the

emergency service listen they should be using the out of hours

service. But the savings would be substantial. Well I'm joined by the

director of operations here. Brian, we're trying to improve the system,

most of the fault lies with the public. Do you think the par Med

yibs who are sitting around us here could better assess the situation?

Yes we could do more work in that field. It has been done in England,

where paramedics have sat beside call takers and intercepted calls

and got more information and be able to stop it as an emergency

call and provide advice, or direct them to another service. We have

heard stories of people ringing to have a ring removed or to find a

cat, why do these call get through? Often those calls come through,

because the caller hasn't given the full information and the call taker

has no option but to treat it as a high priority, because of patient

safety and dispatch a blue light ambulance. The health minister has

said he is considering the system of where the public can dial 111 to

get information, how helpful would that be? That would be a great

initiative and it mean question deal with the non-emergency calls,

it means the patients, the caller, will quet a -- get a better service

and it will take pressure off the emergency departments. Belfast is

about to undergo tremendous change to its accident and emergency

services, the City A&E will close, how close are you to finalising all

of the details to ensure man power is in place? We do still have a bit

of work to do. But we will be confident that we will be ready for

the change. You will be there. You're not quite there yet? Seems

hard to believe? Well we had to wait until the Belfast Trust had

finalised their service delivery model. Now we know what will be in

place, we will put in place the resources to meet that demand.

While I have been here, for about the past 40 minutes, the same woman,

the same caller has been calling this centre asking for an ambulance.

She has been on to this crew here. That is one example of how their

time is being wasted. Armed officer went to the castle Mara estate

after reports that shots were fired. Two men were arrested. There are no

reports of injuries. The police operation is continuing. Two dive

teams are this evening joining the search for the missing Ballycastle

woman, Karen Coyles. The 47-year- old, who's a prominent member of

the McQuillan GAA club in the town, hasn't been seen since Sunday night.

A subaqua team from Dundalk and the Mourne Underwater Search Team will

focus on an area below the cliffs where a dog team led the rescue

services yesterday. A witness in one of the biggest criminal trials

here for decades has admitted new flaws in his evidence. Robert

Stewart is testifying at the trial of Mark Haddock and 13 other men,

some of whom are charged with the murder of Tommy English 11 years

ago. BBC Newsline's Will Leitch was in court. A day of frank admissions

and major discrepancies in a witness's evidence. Robert Stewart

said he has been a terrorist, in his words, a nasty piece of work. A

defence barrister said his testimony had contraDixs. He told

the defence that one of the defendants, onBond had been present

at punishment beating in 1996, but the lawyer said he had new evidence

showing that Bond had been in prison on that day. There was

lafter in court. The judge called for quiet and Mr Stewart said, he

must have made a mistake. Mr Later Barry Macdonald, QC, produced

new evidence from the day of the Tommy English murder. The RUC has

seen Mr Milner a car leaving and reenstering the area twice in ten

mince. This when Mr Stewart said Miller was in an area six miles

away. Robert Stewart has been giving evidence for seven days.

Many more days of tough questions could well lie ahead. Still to

come: Why women are more likely here to split with their partner

over fertility problems than anywhere else in the UK. And the

Corraine brothers hoping to win A draft report from that Stormont

spending watchdog will slate �120 million grant scheme for farmers.

The report will ask if the scheme, funded by the taxpayer, was even

necessary in the first place. Kevin Magee reports.

This is what one European directive aims to prevent. Poor water quality

caused by chemicals called nitrates washing into our water courses. The

chemicals are contained in slurry, a by-product of dairy farming. To

prevent being fined under EU law, the Department of Agriculture here

gave 4,000 farmers a total of �121 million in grants to build slurry

tanks, like this one on a farm outside Ballywalter in County Down.

The purpose of it is to give meet increased storage and that is a

requirement under a directive coming out of Brussels. There is no

spreading now undisclosed period during the winter. Yes, this helps

the environment, because we're slurry is spread during the growing

season. Therefore there is no leaching. But will investigation by

the storm and spending watchdog, the Public Accounts Committee, has

heavily criticised the scheme. In a draft report, it says it was poorly

planned and badly managed and says it was not designed to minimise

cost to taxpayers. Uncertainties, delays and revisions hampered the

programme. The draft report also says there are fundamental

uncertainties over the extent to which the scheme is contributing

towards the improvement of water quality in Northern Ireland. And on

that basis it concludes, it did not provide good value for money. But

many of those who benefited from the farm nutrients scheme say it is

too soon to measure its success. is too early to get the full impact

of what this scheme has and will achieve. I know that on my own farm

nitrate levels in the soils and phosphate levels and the sales are

dropping quite substantially. PAC says it is extremely

disappointed that the draft report was leaked. The final version is

expected in the next three weeks. Good news in Enniskillen. It is to

get a new �12 million road scheme. The Regional Development Minister

Danny Kennedy announced today that work on the Cherrymount Link Road

will begin later this month. It is expected to be completed early in

2013. It has been in the planning quite a number of years. We are

very pleased we about the stage. I think it holds out a very good

prospect for the travellers in this area, particularly in and around

Enniskillen and County Fermanagh. Women in Northern Ireland are more

likely to split up with their partner due to the stress of

fertility problems than women in other parts of the UK. That is one

of the findings in a recent survey by. It says that 20% of women here

are stated that their relationship nearly ended because of infertility.

With me in a studio for tonight's Family Focus is a Sharon Davidson

from Infertility Network UK. Welcome to the programme. You are

no stranger to the stress of infertility. Indeed, you tried for

five years and you were on what you call the infertility roller-coaster.

Yes, it is in roller-coaster ride, when you go through fertility

treatment. We waited five years for our precious son to be born and

went through numerous treatments cycles to get him. I have

personally experienced the stress of infertility. It cannot be

underestimated. The findings do not surprise me at all. Infertility is

a devastating condition. It is very much a roller-coaster ride and when

the treatment does not work for a couple, only one in four treatments

are successful, I mean it is devastating for the couple and for

them to pick up the pieces again and try again is very difficult.

For couples in Northern Ireland there is this postcode lottery as

well. Does that had to the stress? Tell us about the situation. Very

much so. In Northern Ireland, if we compare ourselves to other parts of

the UK, just across the water in Scotland, couples can get three

treatment cycles, eligible couples, that is, in Northern Ireland treat

couples only receive one fresh treatment cycle. What that means is

that if the couple go through, especially a young couple, if they

go through fertility treatment and get a number of embryos and those

embryos are good enough to freeze, then should that couple experience

-- experienced that particular treatment cycle being a MUC

successful, they can try again with the frozen embryos, but in Northern

Ireland we only get a fresh cycle funded and the couple would have to

find �1,000 for the transfer of any frozen embryos. The constraints on

health budgets. Do people take IVF seriously? Do they see it as a

need? Infertility is a disease of the reproductive system and

basically it should be treated as such. It should be treated as an

illness and the NHS is there for clinical need, not based on your

ability to pay for treatment. A cycle of infertility treatment, of

IVF treatment, is �4,000 and in the current economic climate couples

can just not up for that kind of money and they are basically having

to go through treatment and suffer the effects of if it doesn't work

and suffer in silence because sometimes their immediate family

don't even know what they're going through.

Con appellations, I know you have won an award in London for your

campaigning on behalf of couples going through infertility --

congratulations. Thank you for joining us.

It you have any comments on this issue you can go to our Facebook

Two of Northern Ireland's bigger than big hope for some edifying

visit back home today. Here is Stephen Watson.

Coleraine rowers Richard and Peter Chambers spent most of their time

in England training for the 20 told London Games. Fresh from winning

medals at the World Championships in Slovenia this month their

thoughts are now turning to the Olympics, where the brothers could

role in the same boat. Nikki Gregg caught up with them today.

It is a familiar routine for the chambers brothers. Back home after

a long and successful season they could not resist getting out on the

Bann together where it all started. We have been doing different things,

talking to the young kids, getting photographs with them. It is nice

to be back, doing coaching as well. We travel quite a lot together now

and be in at each other's company. Whether that is a good thing or a

bad thing. The two have been sharing the spotlight. By Richard

took bronze with Great Britain's lightweight four CRU at the World

Championships, p to one gold and the pair, to add to his world and

23 title. He is in no doubt about his highlight of the year, teaming

up with Richard at the World Cup in Lucerne. That was probably my most

favourite race of the season. Even though the under 23 some seniors as

well, that was special. I was hugging Peter too tightly at the

end, he said, I can't breathe! It was an amazing, amazing experience.

Hopefully one we can repeat over the next couple of years. If all

goes to plan they may be racing together that the London Olympics.

There are currently six oarsmen competing for a spot in the

lightweight four boat next summer. The coming months will determine

who fills the seeds. Their achievements come as no surprise to

those who have watched them develop. What the main thing that sets them

apart is toughness. They are two to floods. They will race until the

last stroke. -- they are two tough lads. Competitive, yet sporting.

Double gold would be nice. Paul Cutler has turned professional and

will make his debut in next week's Austrian Open. He was the top

scorer in victory over the USA last week. Cutler will be back in

Scotland at the Dunhill Links Championship as he attempts to

secured his Tour card. Shamrock Rovers managed by Jim

Magilton are playing their first game in the Europa League. The are

at home to Reuben Kazaa of Russia. At half-time it is one-nil. The

Russians missed the opportunity to make it two, missing from the

penalty spot. Not quite going the way of Rovers.

They stand to make several million Euros on that European odyssey. But

money for the upgrade of Derry City's ground the Brandywell is

several years away. The fans are angry that facilities are not being

upgraded and the club has promised to hold a meeting to discuss the

way forward. Kieron Tourish reports with the help of her BBC colleague

from yesteryear. A visit to Derry would not be complete without the

lookout Brandywell, the much publicised, cut -- often

controversial home of Derry City Football Club.

More than 40 years on at this famous old stadium is still proving

controversial. Many fans are left wondering if there will ever be an

odd -- and upgraded facilities. Over the years as dander was built

on one side of the ground but on the other it is a case of time

standing still. These are the open- air toilets and the fans have had

enough. This is Third World stuff here. Any visitors coming here

asking to go to the toilet, I'm embarrassed. It is quite awful.

will not put me off going to Brandywell but it is a disgrace,

what we have to put up with here. While the government says funding

will not be available until 2015, the club says it has realistic

expectations. We're not looking for the Rolls-Royce of the stadiums, we

are looking for an adequate, clean professional stadium. It will

attract fans. One former terrace hero says it makes sense to invest

for a new generation. It is dreadful, unfortunate because if

you had a decent stadium and good facilities, there would be more

people coming to watch games. the arguments continue over funding

there is no doubt about the team's superb performance on the field,

top of the lead and then been in 16 games. And a League Cup final to

look forward to. And from me on the somewhat chilly slopes of

Brandywell... Yes, you have guessed it, 40 years on and the slopes is

still very much evident in Brandywell in 2011. And in case you

are wondering it is still a bit chilly! Back now to the warmth of

the BBC Newsline studio. Tomorrow, we will look ahead to

their top-of-the-table Irish League clash.

It has been feeling a little chilly, but as we head towards the weekend

let's been finding out -- let's There is more what, breezy weather.

If you did not get your grass cut, not many opportunities. It is

looking more unsettled. Today, the best day of the next few. Not

exactly the sunniest. We had a decay in weather front over the top

of us, responsible for the cloud. Along parts of the East Coast it

was fairly bright for a time. The lough was looking lovely with the

summer blooms. The park looked inviting. I don't think it will be

the case for the next few days. It is still dry. A few bright spells

across South Down and parts of Armagh but they will fill in again.

The crowd will gather during the course of the night and the wet

weather will follow -- cloud. Many parts turning damper. A bit of a

breeze picking up from the south- east. It is mild, temperatures no

lower than 11 or 12 Celsius. Not long before the wet, breezy weather

tracks across all parts tomorrow morning, so something to bear in

mind for the morning rush-hour. A lot of surface water and sprain

places and reduced visibility slowing journeys down. Fairly heavy,

persistent spells of rain and an increasing breeze by all parts of

the rush-hour. Once it gets to the east it could take until early

afternoon before it clears out of the weight and we could see some

thundery bursts across parts of down and Antrim in particular. It

should not last all day. Drier conditions follow from the West End

should get across to the east and the afternoon. A few rays of

sunshine. Even then, few sharp showers. It will feel warm, 15

Celsius. Tomorrow evening and tomorrow night, the breeze starts

to swing to the West. More showers, more frequent across northern and

western areas. They will reach the south-east. Dusty winds on Saturday,

heavy, thundery showers but they will move in the breeze -- Dusty.

The top story tonight, the Ulster Unionist Tom Elliot has told