Browse content similar to 14/09/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good evening. The headlines this Friday evening: 24 hours on - the | :00:23. | :00:30. | |
future for FG Wilson, its workers and the Northern Ireland economy. | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
What's driving so many of our local jobs to China? Is it purely a case | :00:34. | :00:39. | |
of cheap labour? Avoiding student fees - the Scots | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
close down a passport loophole. And how did our reporter fare in | :00:45. | :00:55. | |
:00:55. | :01:00. | ||
his final e-car experiment? I'm afraid, for now, we are | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
stranded. Can Ulster maintain their winning start to the new rugby | :01:03. | :01:05. | |
season at Munster's expense? We're live at Ravenhill. | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
The blustery winds are easing but will the sun make an appearance? I | :01:09. | :01:18. | |
have the weekend weather. Invest Northern Ireland says it | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
didn't know until two days ago the extent of FG Wilson's job cuts. | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
Even then, it says it couldn't have done much to persuade Caterpillar, | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
the firm's American-based owners, to rethink its plans. Last night we | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
heard warnings that the job losses may be even deeper than feared and | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
now there are questions about how large corporations can be managed | :01:36. | :01:46. | |
:01:46. | :01:48. | ||
as part of our overall economic strategy. | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
The full extent of the job losses at FG Wilson was only being | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
realised today. One in three workers will lose their jobs by the | :01:56. | :02:02. | |
end of the year. On top of the 760 redundancies announced yesterday, | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
another 400 could go when production moves to China. It is | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
not the first time production has been moved elsewhere in search of | :02:10. | :02:18. | |
higher profits. This company, has gone. Seagate in Limavady went to | :02:18. | :02:26. | |
Malaysia. This company went to Texas. These are powerful, | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
unsentimental global corporations. They answer to their shareholders, | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
have not local politicians. They do not respect political boundaries | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
and go whether costs are lowest. When their minds are made up, there | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
is little can be done to change them. Invest NI was only told of | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
the extent of the cuts two days ago. We knew this chain of products were | :02:46. | :02:52. | |
going but we did not know the extent of that. This is a firm that | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
his stock market listed and has a responsibility to its shareholders. | :02:56. | :03:02. | |
I understand that, that is the environment we live in. The owner | :03:02. | :03:12. | |
of FG Wilson got �25 million in grants since the year 2000 so it is | :03:12. | :03:16. | |
have the right strategy to offer cash incentives to come here? | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
are certainly doing the right thing at in attracting these firms in. It | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
is of no comfort to those who have lost their jobs this week but the | :03:23. | :03:30. | |
The Times these companies have been here, they provide skills, training. | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
They are significant employers. Once a large corporations are | :03:34. | :03:44. | |
:03:44. | :03:45. | ||
attracted here, they say more has to be done to keep them. We need to | :03:45. | :03:47. | |
see people from the Northern Ireland subsidiary getting out and | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
working in the American parent and getting involved in that | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
organisation. One of the biggest challenges we had in the early days | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
was getting managers from Belfast into London and New York to fight | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
the corner for Belfast. Because the managers from other parts of the | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
world, be it to Paris, London, were already in those areas and were | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
strong advocates for their regions. After the current wave of | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
redundancies, FG Wilson also employing around 2000 people here | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
but with more job losses expected, and given the experience of | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
multinationals in the past, there Israel concern among the remaining | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
workers about the company's long- term commitment to Northern Ireland. | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
Our reporter has spent the day talking to FG Wilson workers. She | :04:35. | :04:45. | |
joins us from the factory gates in Larne. No mistaking the mood? | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
Absolutely. There is a mood of mixed emotions here today. There is | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
anger, sadness and despair. Very personal stories, people not just | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
worried about their jobs but their mortgages, rent, whether they will | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
get another job. I spoke to one worker who told me that his wife | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
had just given birth to a baby and he said last week the house was | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
full of joy. Last night, there was just sat us. I also spoke to | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
another worker who said the atmosphere after the news was | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
delivered yesterday was just awful. He said he is dreading going back | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
to work on Monday and is in people that he knows are losing their jobs | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
while he is keeping his. There is a lot of anxiety about whether these | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
people will find work elsewhere, because they are such highly- | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
skilled jobs. Unfortunately no one would speak to me on camera but | :05:41. | :05:48. | |
they told me FG Wilson had told them not to speak to the media but | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
unfortunately they could not speak to me today and there have got in | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
touch with FG Wilson today to see if that is the case and they are | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
yet to confirm or deny that but clearly a long weekend ahead for | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
many and a long time and a sad time for those workers who know they are | :06:04. | :06:14. | |
:06:14. | :06:25. | ||
losing their jobs here in Larne. A man who admitted stabbing to | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
death a former Fermanagh GAA player has been jailed for five years. | :06:28. | :06:30. | |
Gary Moane who is 36 and from Brookborough had his manslaughter | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
plea accepted on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He | :06:33. | :06:35. | |
stabbed Ciaran Woods in a house in Tempo in July 2010. | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
The former director of the Boston College research project which | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
interviewed ex paramilitaries has released details about the | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
interview contents. Ed Moloney is challenging a PSNI legal bid to | :06:43. | :06:45. | |
obtain the transcript of an interview with Old Bailey bomber | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
Dolours Price. He says she made no reference to Jean McConville, one | :06:48. | :06:57. | |
of the Disappeared. In a moment, we will speak to the | :06:57. | :07:04. | |
chief Executive of Larne Consul. It seemed too good to be true and | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
now it is. Local students holding an Irish passport can go to | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
Scottish universities this year without paying tuition fees. The | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
Scottish government announced today it is closing that loophole. | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
Some Northern Ireland students have already saved themselves up to | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
�9000 a year from the loophole that allows those travelling from the | :07:26. | :07:32. | |
European Union to study in Scotland for free. By applying for an Irish | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
passport, they could claim to the European citizens but next year it | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
won't be so easy because they will have to prove they had lived in the | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
Republic of Ireland for three months before qualifying to apply | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
for having their fees paid. Already, questions are being asked about | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
what this means. If they are looking at the you residency, we | :07:54. | :08:00. | |
have several members who have properties in the south of Ireland | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
and they would live there in the summer. We would need to look if it | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
is three consecutive months. Most agreed that something had to change. | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
While some Scottish universities did pay the fees for those holding | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
Irish passports, others did not and the fear is these latest guidelines | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
could cause even further confusion. Already it is not clear what it | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
will mean in future academic years for Northern Ireland students who | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
are currently studying for free. think there will be more problems | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
with this. It is a sticking plaster response. Whatever I might think | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
about it, your definition of nationality is not decided by the | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
Scottish government. There are people here that will believe under | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
the Good Friday Agreement that they can be Irish if they want to and | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
that would be supported by the courts. The Scottish government has | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
said it hopes the new legislation will provide clarity for students | :08:57. | :09:05. | |
but it seems that is a long way off. Still to come on the programme: The | :09:05. | :09:11. | |
end of the road for our reporter Conor Macauley. | :09:11. | :09:17. | |
I have an E car and I am at a garage in Letterkenny. I am trying | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
to use the fast charge. And it doesn't appear to be working. | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
Back now to the cuts at FG Wilson and on top of the job losses | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
already announced, hundreds more are likely to go in the coming | :09:29. | :09:33. | |
months as the firm moves some of its production to China. Our | :09:33. | :09:35. | |
Economics and Business Editor Jim Fitzpatrick is here. How | :09:35. | :09:45. | |
:09:45. | :09:50. | ||
fundamental a shift is this? The number is huge but the trend is | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
worrying. China is the world's second biggest economy. It has | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
grown rapidly for more than a decade creating millions of jobs | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
every year. Now around 400 jobs will be moving from FG Wilson | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
plants here to huge factory at Tainjin, the largest coastal city | :10:01. | :10:08. | |
in northern China. In one way, it is part of a long-term trend. For | :10:08. | :10:10. | |
decades manufacturing jobs have moved from west to east as | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
businesses look for cheaper labour. We benefit because we get cheap | :10:14. | :10:21. | |
goods. Your TV or mobile phone was most likely made on a production | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
line like this in China but now there's another big shift in global | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
economy that has landed at the door of FG Wilson workers. The problem | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
is that while China is still growing fast, the markets closer to | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
our local FG Wilson factories have been sluggish since the financial | :10:34. | :10:41. | |
crash of 2008. The economic growth figures out. The UK economy is | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
expected to grow by just 1.2% next year. The problems in the euro-zone | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
mean growth there is forecast to be just 0.6%. China meanwhile, even | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
though it's slowing down, is expected to grow by a whopping 8%. | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
On those figures, it is easy to see that FG Wilson's parent company | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
wants to have its manufacturing bases closer to more promising | :11:01. | :11:07. | |
markets. Many experts are not surprised. The challenge for us, | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
they say, is not to hang on to those jobs but to find focus on | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
industries in which we can truly compete. We cannot ignore China and | :11:15. | :11:25. | |
:11:25. | :11:30. | ||
the East. We have to think strategically. That looks at a | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
value added industry, looking at industries that are starting to | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
perform well, industries such as software engineering. We have seen | :11:40. | :11:45. | |
large increases in the past few years. That is where we have to | :11:45. | :11:52. | |
focus as a small country. As their consumers grow richer, they won't | :11:52. | :11:58. | |
just make things, they will buy more imported products, too. So how | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
are we doing at selling them to them? The most recent manufacturing | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
export figures show that out of �16 billion worth of exports from | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
Northern Ireland, just 3% went to the whole of Asia, including China. | :12:10. | :12:17. | |
So there is a long, long way to go before we crack that market. | :12:17. | :12:27. | |
Joining me now from Larne is the council's chief-executive. You have | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
been critical of the company's lack of communication. What could you | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
have done, even if they had told you? We think it is important that | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
we had some advanced notice because it is important that councillors | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
are informed as to what is happening. We want them to make | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
informed statements that are constructive and positive and do | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
not do anything to damage the sustainability of Caterpillar | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
globally. That is important because there are still jobs here and | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
Investment to be made here and we want to be seen it to be proactive, | :12:59. | :13:04. | |
working with Caterpillar to nature jobs are secured for the future and | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
to encourage them to bring other work to Larne to replace the work | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
that has gone now. You have had 24 hours to digest this, what will the | :13:13. | :13:19. | |
impact be on other businesses in Larne? There are quite a few that | :13:19. | :13:26. | |
are involved in the supply chain, whether it is feared servicing, | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
those who provide materials and other components for the | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
manufacturing process and beyond that to how people spend their | :13:33. | :13:42. | |
money within Larne and the local area as a whole. | :13:42. | :13:48. | |
Can Ulster make it three wins from three in rugby's Pro 12? Join me at | :13:48. | :13:56. | |
Ravenhill shortly. It has emerged that a businessman | :13:56. | :13:58. | |
appointed by ministers to the Maze Development Board is facing legal | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
action to ban him from acting as a company director. Ken Cleland was | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
appointed to the board of the Maze Long Kesh Development Corporation | :14:06. | :14:11. | |
last week by the First and Deputy First Minister's department. The | :14:11. | :14:13. | |
appointment comes as another government department pursues him | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
in the High Court. Our Political Correspondent joins me now that the | :14:17. | :14:27. | |
details. He is a Ken Cleland? He is a local | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
businessman, he recently got planning permission to build a | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
hotel in Lisburn and he has been pictured at social functions with | :14:35. | :14:41. | |
members of the DUP. He was also chairman of a company, a printing | :14:41. | :14:48. | |
company that employed 80 people and Tallaght went into administration. | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
That was in 2009. Because he was chairman of the company, it is in | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
connection with that company that the Department of Enterprise are | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
seeking to disqualify him from acting as a director in future. | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
do they want to ban him from being a director? When a company fails, a | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
company prepares a report that has given to the Department of | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
Enterprise he then consider the conduct of the directors and has to | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
decide whether his in the public interest to pursue a case in the | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
High Court in terms of banning that person from acting as a company | :15:21. | :15:26. | |
director in future. This is a civil matter, not a criminal matter. The | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
department is refusing to say on what grounds they are pursuing Ken | :15:31. | :15:37. | |
Cleland but in the past, you can be pursued on grounds of failing to | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
keep proper records for example or failing to pass on VAT to the | :15:41. | :15:48. | |
taxman. 12 young people living in supported | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
accommodation in Lurgan say they are at risk of becoming homeless. | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
It follows a Housing Executive decision to move funding from the | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
project. For more than a decade it has provided semi-independent | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
living for homeless and vulnerable young people. Last month residents | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
were told it would close within weeks. | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
These young people have a lot in common, they all have troubled | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
backgrounds and they will all tell you they had never felt as happy as | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
they do right here and now they all face an uncertain and anxious | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
future. That is because virtually out of the blue, they have been | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
told within weeks, this supported housing, which has been their home, | :16:29. | :16:36. | |
or close. The Housing Executive have withdrawn its funding. | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
gives 12 young people one month's notice that they're going to be | :16:39. | :16:45. | |
made homeless. Who doesn't speak to them. The Housing Executive says it | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
is committed to finding all the residents alternative accommodation. | :16:48. | :16:56. | |
The fear had ever is that that means a hostel or nothing. We are | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
protected from Alcoholics and drug users and things like that. We are | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
not around that but if we were in a hostel, our safety would be in | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
danger because we are so young and we will be around that and it's not | :17:10. | :17:16. | |
right. Foremost, the path here has not been an easy one. I moved in | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
here and my confidence was so low that I felt I had nobody to turn to | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
and they have done so much for me. They have taught me how to clean | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
and cook and they have bowled by confidence up again. People don't | :17:30. | :17:37. | |
see us as homeless, they just see ass as young people who don't | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
behave well but most of us do have problems like mental or health | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
problems and we do need support. We need to learn how to be independent. | :17:48. | :17:58. | |
:17:58. | :17:58. | ||
Staff here seem as perplexed. In a statement, the company says it | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
expressed regret at the loss of a unique services but without funding, | :18:02. | :18:09. | |
it could not keep it opened. All week we have been following the | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
adventures of our reporter Conor Macauley as he tried an electric | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
car on his daily commute to work. On one of the days he took it a lot | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
further afield, driving it for hundreds of miles across seven | :18:19. | :18:28. | |
counties. Here is how he got on. It is around 8:30am and we are in a | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
Newry, the starting point for our odyssey around Northern Ireland in | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
is the car. We spent most of yesterday working out a route and | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
what we will try to do is hit those fast chargers to minimise the | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
charge time as we go along but we still think it could take anything | :18:44. | :18:50. | |
up to 12 hours to get ourselves around Northern Ireland. The | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
weather deteriorated as we set off and that meant climate control to | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
clear the windscreen, and drain on the battery but we made our map | :18:59. | :19:07. | |
without incident. First we had to clear the cobwebs off the charge. | :19:07. | :19:12. | |
And then a quick familiarisation with the machine and a 20 minute | :19:12. | :19:19. | |
charge to push on to Enniskillen. Dual-carriageway driving in economy | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
mode got us there with a little to spare but now they had a problem. | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
We have reached Enniskillen and we have 16 miles left on the battery. | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
This is not a fast charger and we have a long way to go in the next | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
section. We don't know how long it will take to charge here but we are | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
allowing two hours so I am off for lunch. Two hours later and we still | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
didn't have what we needed to reach our next point, County Donegal. So | :19:46. | :19:52. | |
we waited and Willey did, they bumped into commuter Tom Elliot, | :19:52. | :19:58. | |
the Ulster Unionist MLA. We asked his opinion. I am somewhat | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
disappointed that it takes so long to charge and you get so few miles. | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
That is a huge downfall but I think with the technology there is, there | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
is bound to be opportunities that they will be able to assist that. | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
Eventually we couldn't wait any longer, we had to risk the journey | :20:16. | :20:25. | |
on a three quarter charge. A few towns stood between us and a | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
destination. We pitched up to this point and there are 13 miles left | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
on the tank. There is a fast charge here in a live bird. If this is not | :20:34. | :20:40. | |
working, we are really in trouble. Prophetic words, as it turned out. | :20:40. | :20:45. | |
Instead of giving as part, a charger in the method gave us an | :20:45. | :20:55. | |
:20:55. | :21:04. | ||
error message. Oh, that is not good. It took frantic phone calls. I am | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
trying to use the fast charge. And it does not appear to be working. | :21:09. | :21:16. | |
And a remote boot from an Engineer to get us going. It took two hours | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
and was close to 8pm. As the light faded, we abandoned plans to come | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
home via the north coast and headed for a rapid charger at the | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
Glenshane Pass for the final leg home. It was 40 miles to the big | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
city but we made it comfortably enough. 15 hours later and my | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
journey for BBC Newsline is at an end. The battery is exhausted and | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
to be honest, so am I. I have to give it another charge and because | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
there is no Robert charger in Belfast, I am going to have to wait | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
again. Conor Macauley is safely in the | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
studio, refreshed. Would you buy one? That is the question people | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
have been posing to me all week. This story generated a massive | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
interest. A man just driving past my house this morning stopped and | :22:06. | :22:12. | |
walked up to ask me what I thought of the car. I think it would be a | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
good second car for a well-heeled urban family, perfect for the | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
school run, popping to the shops but for widespread use, it will | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
have to be half the price because remember, this one is �30,000, and | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
probably have twice the range but for it will take off but it was a | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
fun week and it was a nice drive - a great experiment and we had good | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
fun. Can the Ulster rugby team pick up | :22:38. | :22:40. | |
where they left off last season against Munster? Austin O'Callaghan | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
is live in East Belfast for tonight's big game. | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
Ulster may have won their opening two matches in the Pro 12 but it is | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
tonight's game which feels like the real season opener. Munster have | :22:52. | :22:54. | |
not forgotten about that Heineken Cup quarter-final victory for | :22:54. | :23:00. | |
Ulster in Limerick last April. A result which had a profound effect | :23:00. | :23:09. | |
on both teams. Ulster's director of rugby, David Humphreys, is with me. | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
I am wondering would victory tonight confirm once and for all | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
that the pecking order in Irish rugby has changed? I don't think | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
we're getting close to that yet. The number of years ago when we | :23:22. | :23:26. | |
talked about closing the gap between Munster and Leinster, | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
results over the last year's show we have closed the gap but to be | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
able to say that the gap is now no longer there, we have to win on a | :23:34. | :23:43. | |
regular basis. Tonight we hope for another big performance. So on | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
supporters feel you had such a good when the last time? You cannot base | :23:47. | :23:53. | |
it on one match. This season, some changes in players and management. | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
We do believe we have a squad now that is capable of competing with | :23:57. | :24:05. | |
anybody and hopefully tonight we will see that. I'm sure you | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
remember Stephen Ferris's first game and here he is tonight, | :24:09. | :24:15. | |
running out for his one hundredth cap. A magnificent appearance -- | :24:15. | :24:21. | |
achievement for him. He has become a talisman for this team. His big | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
performances have resulted in big performances and results for us. He | :24:25. | :24:32. | |
is looking forward to tonight. you win? I hope so cannot hope to | :24:32. | :24:40. | |
see a big performance. A enjoy the game this evening. The match is | :24:40. | :24:50. | |
:24:50. | :24:55. | ||
live all over on BBC Two. Royal Mail did a U-turn today and painted | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
the postbox in Eglinton gold in honour of Paralympic athlete Jason | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
Smith. Initially Royal Mail said they would only be painting | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
mailboxes for GB athletes who have scooped gold but at the postbox in | :25:04. | :25:06. | |
Eglinton, Jason's home village, has been painted to recognise his | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
double gold winning achievement. Lots of you have been discussing | :25:10. | :25:12. | |
Eglinton's freshly painted gold postbox today on our Facebook page. | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
If you would like to join in that debate, the address is on your | :25:16. | :25:24. | |
screen. You can also follow us on Twitter. | :25:24. | :25:34. | |
:25:34. | :25:43. | ||
Thankfully nothing to exceptional for September. We quite often see | :25:43. | :25:49. | |
dusts but it will remain a blustery to date. As we head into the | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
weekend, thankfully not looking quite as Wendy. Maybe some of rain | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
tomorrow night but I think for much of the day, we are looking at a lot | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
of dry weather. Although there will be some cloud, most of us will see | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
some of brightness. Along with those blustery winds today, there | :26:07. | :26:13. | |
were a few showers. They have been starting to ease away in the last | :26:13. | :26:20. | |
few hours. For many of us, this is the brightest part of the day. | :26:20. | :26:28. | |
Still a moderate breeze blowing through Ravenhill this evening. We | :26:28. | :26:36. | |
hold on to the dry weather through the course of tonight. Temperatures | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
holding at nine or ten degrees. Tomorrow, the emphasis is on an | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
mainly dry theme. There will be a good deal of cloud but it is by no | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
means a solid bank of cloud. It will lift and then to give some | :26:51. | :26:57. | |
bright as a time to time. If you're in the West, probably more cloud | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
edging in at times and eastern areas but higher temperatures than | :27:01. | :27:07. | |
today, getting up to 16 degrees but it is likely to be parts of Antrim, | :27:07. | :27:14. | |
Belfast and County Armagh that see the highest temperatures. House of | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
around 18 degrees, feeling very pleasant with a lighter winds. | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
Tomorrow evening, a try end to the day but through the night, the | :27:23. | :27:32. | |
breeze picks up again. It will bring some rain as well but most of | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
the rain clears fairly quickly on Sunday and the skies will start to | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
Brighton. Some showers will follow through the day but some good gaps | :27:40. | :27:46. | |
so plenty of scope to get out and about. | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
In relation to our earlier story on Ken Cleland who has been appointed | :27:51. | :27:53. | |
to the Maze Development Board, we should have also pointed out that | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
we understand he is a vigorously contesting the legal action to ban | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
him from acting as a company director. | :28:02. | :28:07. |