Browse content similar to 12/03/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello this is BBC Newsline. Tonight's top stories... | :00:00. | :00:19. | |
People with eating disorders say the hospital care they received was | :00:20. | :00:28. | |
second rate. Most days I just sat in the bed or walked round and round | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
award. A quarter of a billion pounds - the | :00:34. | :00:36. | |
police's final bill for officers' hearing loss claims. | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
Two men admit beating this man to death in an attack four years ago. | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
We shall not be moved - the charity that's refusing to leave | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
Hillsborough Castle. We just have nowhere to go. We have nowhere to | :00:53. | :00:59. | |
go. Two big hitters in Ulster Rugby are | :01:00. | :01:04. | |
nearing a return. A beautiful day to day and not | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
looking too bad for the rest of the week either. The full forecast just | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
before seven. First tonight, eating disorders. We | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
hear from two families who say the care they've received here is second | :01:17. | :01:19. | |
rate and claim that the money spent on treatment could be used more | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
wisely. We'll talk to the father of a teenage girl who is currently | :01:24. | :01:26. | |
being treated in hospital in London. And another patient, who claims she | :01:27. | :01:29. | |
received electric shock treatment for depression associated with her | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
eating disorder. But first, let's look at the figures. 307 adults and | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
109 children were treated for eating disorders here last year. On | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
average, it seems about ten people are sent to England each year for | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
specialist treatment. Funding that is expensive - it costs on average | :01:49. | :01:51. | |
?2 million pounds every year to send them away for treatment. The same | :01:52. | :01:58. | |
amount - ?2 million - is the total spend on the 400 people treated here | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
in Northern Ireland last year. I've been speaking to two families about | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
their experiences. Amanda Gibson is 33 and has spent 20 | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
years living with bulimia. 18 months ago, she decided she'd had enough | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
and tried to get treatment. She was admitted to the mental health unit | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
at the Mater Hospital and spent three months there. Amanda, and her | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
twin sister Claire, were surprised at how little treatment she was | :02:24. | :02:31. | |
given. Most days I just sat on the bed or walked around the ward. There | :02:32. | :02:40. | |
was nothing much to do. Sometimes they stopped walking round the ward, | :02:41. | :02:48. | |
because they knew what she was doing, because she was doing it for | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
exercise. They sometimes stopped, thinking it was bad thing. They had | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
said a couple of times they would let her go to the gym, but she never | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
did. All of the activities on the board never happens. There was | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
nothing. Then she was given electric shock therapy or ECT, 12 sessions | :03:09. | :03:15. | |
across six weeks. My memory is really bad. I've forgotten things | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
like where I live. I had to ask a woman Querrey lived. I forgot my | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
last house. I forgot how old I am. After all that, she was sent home | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
with no follow-up care for her bulimia. I was told on the day I was | :03:30. | :03:36. | |
discharged that I would not be seen my therapist any more. What did you | :03:37. | :03:44. | |
think about that? I was surprised, because if anything, I'm worse. They | :03:45. | :03:53. | |
just more or less said she is beyond help sushi is just left to deal with | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
it. There are concerns too about children with eating disorders. One | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
father, whose daughter is now being treated in London, told us the care | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
she received at the Beechcroft unit in south Belfast, that treats all | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
kinds of mental health problems, is completely different than the regime | :04:07. | :04:13. | |
in England. You know, a complete ban on any kind of exercise, any kind of | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
fresh air, any kind of home visit. She was really kept inside for 23 | :04:19. | :04:25. | |
months without breathing fresh air, except when she was taken to a | :04:26. | :04:28. | |
different hospital. He believes the time has finally come for a | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
specialist eating disorders unit in Northern Ireland. The staff at | :04:33. | :04:40. | |
Beachcroft were trying their best to help and there were some good people | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
there. There were some people who made meaningful connections with | :04:46. | :04:52. | |
her. But I also feel that it should have been obvious very soon that | :04:53. | :05:03. | |
they were losing this and somewhere with proper facilities and | :05:04. | :05:05. | |
sophisticated treatment needed to be called upon. | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
Earlier I spoke to Dr Stephen Bergin, an eating disorders | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
specialist. I began by asking him if electric shock therapy was normal | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
practice. In that specific case, we would have to approach the trust to | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
find out the circumstances of why any particular treatment was | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
provided. In general, for eating disorders, electroconvulsive therapy | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
would not be standard treatment. I think in that case, there would be | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
unique circumstances that indicated why a particular approach was | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
required. I can assure the public that is not part and parcel of | :05:42. | :05:49. | |
standard treatment approaches. We have taken measures of the last two | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
years to develop the experience of our practitioners across Northern | :05:55. | :05:56. | |
Ireland. We have been undertaking this over the last ten years. | :05:57. | :06:04. | |
Certainly, we need to focus more strongly on developing capacity | :06:05. | :06:07. | |
within our trusts. Only ten days ago we had 100 practitioners in Antrim | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
with a visiting specialist from London. That was on what you have | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
brought up, developing experience and capacity within our local mental | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
health hospitals and medical hospitals in terms of specific | :06:21. | :06:27. | |
expertise on the trading. Mac treatment of eating disorders. -- on | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
the treatment of eating disorders. Would you accept there are | :06:35. | :06:41. | |
problems? . Each year we receive about 500 referrals. About 100 | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
people are admitted to our inpatient wards per year and about ten of them | :06:47. | :06:49. | |
would have to travel to England for very specialist treatment. We have a | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
system in place that is developing and we would like to strengthen it | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
and we would like additional resources to develop capacity. What | :06:57. | :07:03. | |
about the resources - ?2 million spent sending a small number over to | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
London and a similar amount treating the other 400 patients in Northern | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
Ireland, is that enough? As you say, we have invested considerably | :07:14. | :07:20. | |
over the last ten years. Ten years ago the rules zero specialist | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
practitioners. As we stand here to date we have 40 specialist | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
practitioners in those teams. I would like to make got stronger than | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
it is. Funding pressures in the public sector are tied at the | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
moment. You are right in saying that we do send people across to England, | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
also the Republic of Ireland, for specialist care. That is around ten | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
people per year. I should say they are unique and complex in terms of | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
their circumstances. Even if we had a local specialist unit we might | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
have to send people across the water because of those complex | :07:57. | :07:58. | |
situations. I except it would be ideal if we had an original | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
specialist unit and it would be something we are thinking about. If | :08:04. | :08:06. | |
you have been affected by anything in this report you can visit our | :08:07. | :08:09. | |
website for details of organisations that can help. | :08:10. | :08:12. | |
More now on a story we brought you about hearing loss claims by former | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
RUC officers. We revealed earlier this year that more than ?135 | :08:17. | :08:19. | |
million had been paid out to settle over 8,500 claims. Now it's been | :08:20. | :08:22. | |
revealed that the final bill could be almost a quarter of a billion | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
pounds. Our home affairs correspondent Vincent Kearney | :08:27. | :08:28. | |
reports. The RUC knew from the mid 1960s that | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
officers engaged in firearms training should have been provided | :08:32. | :08:40. | |
with proper ear protection. But they weren't issued with adequate | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
equipment like this for 30 years. It was a costly mistake. The BBC | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
revealed two months ago that up to the end of November last year, more | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
than ?135 million was paid out to settle hearing loss claims by over | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
8,500 former police officers. More than 2,000 claims have still to be | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
settled and David Ford has revealed the estimated cost of doing so over | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
the next five years. The bill in each of the next two years will be | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
over 27 million, and more than 49 million during the next three. The | :09:14. | :09:20. | |
total estimated five year cost is more than ?103 million. That will | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
bring the total payments to just under ?239 million, with nearly half | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
going on legal fees. Legal sources say they still expect significant | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
numbers of new claims to be lodged. The Justice Minister was questioned | :09:37. | :09:38. | |
about the issue in the Assembly yesterday. Is the Minister aware of | :09:39. | :09:49. | |
the level of public frustration that the -- up the cost of the scheme to | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
the public purse? It is an operational issue for the Chief | :09:54. | :10:02. | |
Constable and administered by the police in Northern Ireland. | :10:03. | :10:04. | |
Responsibility lies with the Chief Constable. More than 20,000 RUC | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
officers are believed to have undergone firearms training using | :10:08. | :10:09. | |
inadequate ear protection and so far, more than 11,000 have lodged | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
claims. These compensation payments come on top of the Patten Redundancy | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
Scheme for police officers, which cost almost half a billion pounds. | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
That means the combined bill for compensating officers for hearing | :10:20. | :10:22. | |
loss or early retirement could come to around 750 million. | :10:23. | :10:32. | |
Two men - including a soldier in the Royal Irish Regiment - who were | :10:33. | :10:35. | |
charged with murder have admitted unlawfully killing a man in Armagh. | :10:36. | :10:38. | |
Lee Smyth never regained consciousness after the attack four | :10:39. | :10:48. | |
years ago. Gordon Adair reports. 23-year-old soldier Michael Wilson, | :10:49. | :11:00. | |
who is from Andrew -- Tandragee and a man from Portadown were charged | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
with the murder of Lee Smyth in 2010. The police officer who arrived | :11:05. | :11:07. | |
on the scene the following money described him as unrecognisable. Lee | :11:08. | :11:15. | |
Smyth never regained consciousness, spending two years in a nursing home | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
before his life support was switched off. Just before the trial was due | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
to go into its second day, lawyers for the two men asked for them to | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
be. Rearranged Again they pleaded not guilty to murder, but this time | :11:27. | :11:36. | |
they pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The judge instructed the jury to | :11:37. | :11:44. | |
find them not guilty of murder at guilty of manslaughter by way of | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
confession. They will be sentenced at a later date. | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
You're watching BBC Newsline, still to come... | :11:51. | :11:52. | |
The archaeological dig at the castle that's revealing new information | :11:53. | :12:01. | |
about the past. The former US diplomat Richard Haass | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
has warned that violence could re-emerge in Northern Ireland if | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
progress is not made in dealing with the legacy of the Troubles. Dr | :12:08. | :12:10. | |
Haass, who chaired six months of talks on flags, parades and the | :12:11. | :12:13. | |
past, made the remarks in Washington. In a moment we'll hear | :12:14. | :12:19. | |
from our political correspondent Martina Purdy, who's in the US | :12:20. | :12:22. | |
capital. But first, our political editor Mark Devenport reports on Dr | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
Haass's words of warning. The White House doesn't hold its | :12:27. | :12:29. | |
official St Patrick's reception until Friday, but the US Congress | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
got in early, with a special committee meeting to examine the | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
challenges posed by the legacy of the Troubles. The star witness - | :12:36. | :12:42. | |
Richard Haass. He insisted the blueprint which emerged from his New | :12:43. | :12:44. | |
Year's negotiations remained viable and warned of the potential | :12:45. | :12:56. | |
consequences of doing nothing. It worries me, and that kind of | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
environment, particularly where politics is not making progress, | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
alienation will fester and violence will re-emerge as a characteristic | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
of daily life. It is premature to foot Northern Ireland, as much as we | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
would like to, into the outbox of a problem solved. I would love for it | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
to be there and I would look forward to that day, but it is not there | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
yet. Dr Haass acknowledged the controversy over government letters | :13:26. | :13:28. | |
to republican On The Runs has halted attempts to bridge the continuing | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
differences at Stormont. The letters did not offer amnesty. I know of | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
nothing in their content that would justify anyone walking away from the | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
process we are discussing here today. The committee also heard from | :13:43. | :13:50. | |
Geraldine Finegan, widow of Pat Finucane, and Eugene Devlin, who was | :13:51. | :13:53. | |
injured in a drive-by shooting carried out by an army undercover | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
unit called the Military Reaction Force. We can go now to Washington | :13:58. | :14:05. | |
where we're joined by our political correspondent, Martina Purdy, who is | :14:06. | :14:08. | |
there to cover the the annual St Patrick's Day events in the US | :14:09. | :14:11. | |
capital. First of all, how have Haass's remarks been received? | :14:12. | :14:18. | |
Well, I think Dr Haass's comments will be a big talking point here in | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
Washington this week. They sharply contrast in some ways with what | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
former US President Bill Clinton said in Northern Ireland last week | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
that the conflict resolution process in Northern Ireland was a model for | :14:33. | :14:35. | |
others trying to make their way out of conflict and that we are an | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
inspiration. Although President Clinton did say we needed to finish | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
the job. The DUP are unhappy with the way this Congressional hearing | :14:45. | :14:47. | |
was handled. They felt that congressmen held -- heard a very | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
one-sided view of dealing with the past and that IRA victims should | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
have been heard from. Diane Dodds, the MEP, has written to the | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
committee asking for the chance to give evidence. I have speaking to | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
the Ulster Unionist Party is to, Danny Kennedy, among the first to | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
arrive in Washington, and I asked him what he made of the comment that | :15:10. | :15:12. | |
Northern Ireland was at risk of returning to violence. | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
We were interested in that comment and clearly we would like to perhaps | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
pursue with Dr Haass who made that comment to him or whether or not he | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
had gained that by his own instincts, but if Republicans were | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
in some way trying to bully either Dr Haass or indeed others involved | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
in the process by using that thinly veiled threat, that is a huge | :15:37. | :15:39. | |
mistake. Martina come is this failure to | :15:40. | :15:41. | |
agree overshadowing the trip? I think in some ways it has. The | :15:42. | :15:51. | |
local media interest in this and the annual st patrick's Day event is | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
because there are problems in the process. Instead of focusing on | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
cultural ties and trying to build tourism and investment possibilities | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
we are once again talking about our problems and I think the message of | :16:05. | :16:07. | |
finish the job is something that Peter Robinson and Martin McGuiness | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
will hear from the US vice president, Joe Biden, when he meets | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
them in Washington this week. They are en route from California this | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
evening, they are hopeful about making investment announcements in | :16:21. | :16:23. | |
the week ahead but in the meeting they will have to deal with the | :16:24. | :16:26. | |
fallouts from these Dr Haass remarks. | :16:27. | :16:36. | |
A soldier has been remanded in custody charged with murdering a | :16:37. | :16:39. | |
County Antrim soldier at his base in England. Corporal Geoffrey McNeill | :16:40. | :16:42. | |
from Ballymoney was serving with the Royal Irish Regiment. Lance Corporal | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
Richard Farrell appeared in court this morning accused of killing | :16:46. | :16:47. | |
Corporal McNeill at the weekend. Sarah Falkland was at the court in | :16:48. | :16:49. | |
Shropshire. It was a very brief hearing this | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
morning, just the committal to the Crown Court. Richard Farrell stood | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
in a black sweatshirt with his hand held loosely in front of him. He | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
spoke to confirm his name, his age, 23, and his address, near market | :17:02. | :17:08. | |
Drayton in Shropshire. The charge of murder was read out to him, there | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
was no plea and he was remanded in custody, handcuffed and led away. He | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
will now appear before Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday. We have heard | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
no more from the army yet this morning but having spoken to one of | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
the military police here in court I understand that the annual st | :17:29. | :17:31. | |
patrick 's Day parade which is held every year on the barracks will go | :17:32. | :17:34. | |
ahead as scheduled for this Saturday, but understandably the | :17:35. | :17:43. | |
atmosphere is quite muted. On the programme before 7pm... | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
The beach is a great place to walk the dog when the sun is shining, but | :17:48. | :17:51. | |
amongst the seaweed and shelves, this has been found - it is a deadly | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
toxic plant. I am in County Down to find out | :17:57. | :18:04. | |
more. The Northern Ireland Office want a mental health charity which | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
runs a coffee shop in the grounds of full Castle to leave. | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
But today the charity told them "we're not moving". Praxis Care say | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
they have nowhere else to go, and today their supporters staged a | :18:18. | :18:20. | |
protest outside the Castle. Mark Simpson was there. | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
Demonstrations outside Hillsborough Castle over the years have been a | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
lot bigger and louder than this one. But behind the polite protest was a | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
real depth of feeling. My message to Theresa Villiers is to | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
keep the cafe open if she has a bone of compassion in her body. If she | :18:40. | :18:46. | |
does not, shame on her. Seven staff under 16 people with learning | :18:47. | :18:49. | |
difficulties worked in the cafe at the back of the castle. | :18:50. | :18:52. | |
The coffee shop and garden are part of a project run by the mental | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
health charity Praxis Care, but they have been told to leave. A new | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
body, historic Royal palaces, is taking over the running of the | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
castle and meets the premises. For the moment, the secret Garden | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
coffee shop is open and remains busy, but its days are numbered. The | :19:10. | :19:15. | |
charity knows this, but they have spent ?400,000 on these premises, | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
and they are not moving. The Secretary of State has said she | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
really wants us to leave within four weeks, and we have said to her that | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
we are just -- have just absolutely nowhere to move to. | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
We have also said to her that the 16 learning disabled people who depend | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
on this site for their jobs are very distressed at this point in time. In | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
effect, you are refusing to move? We just have nowhere to go. We have | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
nowhere to go. But the Northern Ireland Office say | :19:50. | :19:51. | |
they must move. In a statement they said... | :19:52. | :20:02. | |
Behind the scenes, some efforts are being made to reach a compromise. In | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
this highly unusual version of Hillsborough talks. | :20:08. | :20:14. | |
People are being warned to be on the lookout for a plant which is highly | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
toxic and can kill dogs. The Hemlock Water Dropwort has been found on | :20:21. | :20:23. | |
beaches for a couple of weeks now. It is not uncommon but Donna was in | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
County Down this afternoon where more has been washed ashore. | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
With the sunshine need here in County Down, this beach is a magnet | :20:34. | :20:40. | |
for dog walkers, but there are potential dangers if you are walking | :20:41. | :20:43. | |
your pet at the moment. And dangerous toxic plant has been | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
located on the shoreline here in 20 down and also in County Antrim. | :20:48. | :20:51. | |
Hillary Mayne was walking her dog yesterday and found this poisonous | :20:52. | :21:01. | |
plant. It is called, Nelly -- commonly poisonous parsnips and I | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
can see why. Did you know what to look for? I had an idea, but because | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
of the party name it was easy to associate this with what I was | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
looking for. -- because of the parsnip name. I | :21:14. | :21:17. | |
think it is because of the storms and coastal erosion this has ended | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
up on shore with the tide coming in and out, watching bits in and along | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
the shore, as well, leaving it deposited along the beaches. | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
It has been all along the course line. | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
In fact a dog died near Laugharne in County Antrim and they reckon it is | :21:35. | :21:42. | |
because the dog tried to eat that poisonous parsnip. Not everyone | :21:43. | :21:45. | |
would recognise it and see possibly do not know the dangers. Craig | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
Reilly is a local vet. Dogs will have a rummage for seaweed, how | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
dangerous is it for those animals? If they eat it is very dangerous, | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
like threaten -- life-threatening. It is a neurotoxin so it will cause | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
seizures, coma and death quite quickly. What sort of symptoms | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
should dog owners beyond the lookout for? | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
The symptoms would be very fast, it would happen very quickly. | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
The nerve system would be aggravated and therefore they would be chomping | :22:19. | :22:21. | |
at the mouth, maybe forming, collapsing with twitching. It would | :22:22. | :22:24. | |
be very obvious something is happening. | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
If you have any worries at all, check out our news online website | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
for more information. Check out Facebook and also on | :22:33. | :22:35. | |
Twitter a lot of people have been talking about this poisonous | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
parsnip. Let's hope no dogs -- other dogs are casualties of it. | :22:42. | :22:50. | |
A wealth of new information about Carrickfergus Castle is coming to | :22:51. | :22:52. | |
light through an archaeological dig. Experts from Queen's University and | :22:53. | :22:55. | |
the Environment Agency have been excavating sites within the walls of | :22:56. | :22:58. | |
the Anglo-Norman castle for the past month. They have found pottery | :22:59. | :23:01. | |
fragments, uniform buttons and the foundations of medieval walls that | :23:02. | :23:04. | |
have never been seen before. David Maxwell reports. | :23:05. | :23:07. | |
It has stood on the shores of Belfast Lough for 800 years, and why | :23:08. | :23:14. | |
Carrickfergus Castle -- while Carrickfergus Castle is now a | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
tourist attraction it was a military Arison up until the 20th century. | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
Inside, evidence of those who lived and worked here is being uncovered. | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
The excavation started at the beginning of February and a lot has | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
been found, including dozens of these flints and guns that would | :23:31. | :23:33. | |
have been used in the 17th century. It has been so productive they have | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
extended their work here by three weeks. | :23:38. | :23:40. | |
It is slow, painstaking work but the ward -- rewards have been great. I | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
am on one of the most exciting parts of the excavation. | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
We have 750 years of garrison life in the castle. This will hear dates | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
to the 12th century, can temporarily with the keeper. This is a munitions | :23:56. | :24:03. | |
rail that brought munitions in from the pier to the ward. | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
This team is unearthing the Great Hall which hosted feasts and held | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
firearms. This is something special. | :24:14. | :24:16. | |
Where it came from is a question, maybe Scotland, there is some from | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
the Bristol area and quite a lot from France. | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
The environment minister, Mark Durkan, believes work like this will | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
increase the visitor offered, and after viewing the work for himself | :24:31. | :24:33. | |
he decided the public should have free entry to the castle during the | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
last week of the day so as many as possible can witness our history | :24:39. | :24:39. | |
Sport now. It's day two of the Cheltenham Festival, and it has been | :24:40. | :24:50. | |
another good one for the Irish. Mark's here with the sport. | :24:51. | :24:52. | |
It certainly has. I'll wager there are a few happy | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
punters in the village of Newton hamilton this evening as County | :24:57. | :24:59. | |
Armagh jockey Brian Hughes landed his first festival winner in the | :25:00. | :25:02. | |
Juvenile Handicap Hurdle on the 33-1 priced Hawk High. Meanwhile, Ruby | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
Walsh, leading jockey last year, is in irrepressible form. | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
Ruby, who won the opener yesterday, also took today's curtain raiser in | :25:13. | :25:15. | |
emphatic style on the the heavily backed, Willie Mullins trained 6-4 | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
favourite, Faugheen. There he is crossing the line. And celebrating. | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
AP McCoy continues to have a frustrating festival. The champion | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
jockey came with surge on the 12-1 priced Get Me Outta Here only to be | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
beaten in a photo finish in the Coral Cup. To the Winter games. | :25:33. | :25:41. | |
The Paralympic champion Kelly Gallagher and her guide, Charlotte | :25:42. | :25:44. | |
Evans, have failed to finish their second race in as many days at the | :25:45. | :25:47. | |
Sochi Winter Games The visually impaired 28-year-old from Bangor | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
wasn't due back on the slopes until Friday, but the Slalom event was | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
moved forward and for the second consecutive day she fell in the | :25:55. | :25:56. | |
sticky snow. Kelly, who won gold in the Super G | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
event on Monday, has one more chance of a medal in the Giant Slalom, | :26:01. | :26:10. | |
which is scheduled for Sunday. AS Ulster prepare to meet the | :26:11. | :26:13. | |
Scarlets in Belfast this Friday the squad has been boosted by the | :26:14. | :26:16. | |
inclusion of return of long term injured Stephen Ferris. The players | :26:17. | :26:19. | |
have also welcomed the return of the recently disciplined Nick Williams. | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
Thomas Niblock reports. Following an internal investigation | :26:24. | :26:26. | |
into Nick Williams's alleged absence without leave, he is back for | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
selection this weekend. Roger Wilson will earn his 150th cap for Ulster | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
and he is delighted Williams is back on board. Nick is one of the most | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
popular memories of the squad. You know, not just within the | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
players but within the management and the supporters. He is a real fan | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
favourite. We are delighted that we are drawing a line under it and we | :26:52. | :26:54. | |
can move on. He will have a huge impact for the rest of the season, | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
and whatever remaining years he has at Ulster. Stephen Ferris has been | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
out of action since November 2012. On Friday the main make a substitute | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
appearance against the Scarlets, testament to his dedication at | :27:10. | :27:12. | |
overcoming a career threatening ankle injury. | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
I think we have all come in here every morning and he has been busy | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
for a couple of hours already. He has had to do so much rehab and | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
extra sessions. To see him back hopefully playing again we are all | :27:27. | :27:29. | |
excited, what a great talent he is and what a brilliant player he has | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
been for us in the past. To see him back at his best will be great for | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
us as a club and I think all of Ulster will just be excited to see | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
him running onto this pitch again. Ulster lost to the Scarlets earlier | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
in the season but the possible return of two key players will help | :27:48. | :27:49. | |
the Sidekick -- add yet another -- at yet another sell-out Ravenhill. | :27:50. | :27:56. | |
And the Ireland team to take on France in Paris in the final game of | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
the Six Nations will be named tomorrow. BBC Newsline will be in | :28:01. | :28:03. | |
Paris for that. Now for the weather. | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
Wasn't that an absolutely lovely day? | :28:09. | :28:11. | |
It started off a little bit grey and foggy, but it got better. Whether | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
you were out on a motorbike or just out and about a really lovely | :28:16. | :28:19. | |
afternoon across Northern Ireland. The clear skies we saw this | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
afternoon mean that this evening drop away markedly through the first | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
part of the night for the cloud works away in from the west later | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
on. The spread of overnight temperatures, down to one or two | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
Celsius before they pick up towards the morning. Tomorrow will be a | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
decent day, mainly dry and break just about everywhere but with a lot | :28:44. | :28:46. | |
more cloud around courtesy of this little weather front working its way | :28:47. | :28:52. | |
across to the north of us. It does not bring much rain but fills in | :28:53. | :28:55. | |
more cloud through the day. The upside of that is it does help | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
temperatures started to work their way up a bit, so we could see highs | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
of 12 or 13 Celsius tomorrow, and we could catch a break in the cloud for | :29:05. | :29:11. | |
a very nice afternoon. If you are lucky enough to be handing -- | :29:12. | :29:14. | |
heading to Cheltenham for the reasons you are in for a good day, | :29:15. | :29:18. | |
12 Celsius, light breeze, the perfect day to go racing. The big | :29:19. | :29:22. | |
difference between this evening and tomorrow night will be the overnight | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
temperatures, because all of the cloud we will see tomorrow keeps | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
things more mild-mannered we head into Friday. The weather has been | :29:31. | :29:33. | |
regulated by this high-pressure system which is giving us a good | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
deal of protection from the lows coming from the Atlantic. On Friday | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
we could see some rain working its way into the west later on, but with | :29:42. | :29:47. | |
that those numbers -10, 11 Celsius, a similar picture on Saturday, | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
really not bad. As the high pressure remains in charge we are looking at | :29:52. | :29:54. | |
pretty decent weather towards the end of the week. | :29:55. | :29:57. | |
That is it from us, have a good evening. | :29:58. | :29:59. |