02/04/2014 BBC Newsline

Hello and welcome to BBC Newsline. A retired senior police officer has

told the inquiry into the On the Runs affair that Downing Street put

pressure on the PSNI to release two republicans who were being

questioned about the attempted murder of a UDR soldier. Norman

Baxter also told MPs that the Northern Ireland Office had a

culture of not wanting republicans to be prosecuted. Our Home Affairs

Correspondent Vincent Kearney reports.

Six weeks ago, an Old Bailey judge ruled that John Downey would not

stand trial for the murders of four soldiers in the IRA's Hyde Park

bombing. In July 2007, they were sent a so-called lesser of assurance

telling him he was not wanted for questioning by the PSNI. The letter

was sent after checks were carried out by a specialist team called

Operation Rabbits. The officer in charge of that team today accused

them of political interference. The retired detective Chief

Superintendent claims that pressure was applied to ensure that a number

of high-profile Sinn Fein members would be able to return to Northern

Ireland -- the Northern Ireland office crossed a boundary.

It is unconstitutional. They should not be contacting these officers to

apply pressure. Downing Street was also accused of political

interference. He was later sentenced to 20 years

in prison. Gerry Adams telephones Downing

Street demanding their release. Downing Street rang the chief,

the's office looking for their release. I got a phone call

suggesting that I should release them. That, in my mind, is

attempting to correct the course of justice. As a police officer, that

is totally illegal and unconstitutional. What did you do?

We continued interviewing them. Tonight, DUP councillor Sammy Brush,

who was the soldier shot and wounded by Gerry McGeough, said that he was

shocked by Mr Baxter's claims, but not surprised.

From the revelations of these letters, I expected there

From the revelations of these more to come. And I still think

there will be more revelations to come out. I think the government has

behaved very badly towards the victims of terrorism in this

country. The victims of terrorism seem to be expendable. The

terrorists have been preserved. Tonight, DUP councillor Sammy Brush,

who was the In a statement tonight the Northern

Ireland Office said they anticipated giving evidence to the inquiry

themselves, and in the meantime would not be giving what they called

a running commentary. And there will be more reaction to Mr Baxter's

evidence to the committee on tomorrow morning's Good Morning

Ulster on Radio Ulster from 6.30am. And now for some news just in, and

First Minister Peter Robinson has warned of potential nuclear options

if agreement is not reached on welfare reform. The First Minister

said that the present budget would have to be redrawn to cope with the

costs the Executive would have to pay. Our business and economics

editor John Campbell joins us now. John, what was Mr Robinson saying?

Mr Robinson was speaking at an event at Stormont. There has been

increasingly dire predictions from senior DUP members about the effect

on the Northern Ireland budget if these welfare reform changes could

not be agreed. These changes have already been introduced elsewhere in

the UK, and the night Mr Robinson at the anti-further. He said that he

thought over the next five years, failure to introduce those reforms

would cost the Stormont budget ?1 million. A further ?1.5 million

would have to be found to pay for IT systems. He said that if he didn't

agree a deal with Sinn Fein he would consider nuclear options. He did not

specify exactly what those options would be.

Why is he saying this now? He said -- he says that Westminster

has been putting the pressure on. The finance minister says this has

to be sorted out as a matter of urgency. Let's not forget that we

are in an election season here. These tend to be times when the

political rhetoric becomes that bit more heated. Mr Robinson did

acknowledge that there was no prospect on doing a deal with Sinn

Fein this side of the elections. We have had no comment so far from Sinn

Fein about these comments. Poorer Protestant boys are close to

the bottom of a UK league table of exam results. The figures are

contained in a new study by the Community Relations Council which

found Catholic girls from Northern Ireland are close to the top. Pupils

from both sides have been giving their reaction along with the man

who wrote the report. I think the Catholic ethos is to

better yourself. That's why there is such a drive to do well. Maybe

because Catholics got a harder time it was just ingrained in their

culture that they did try harder. Newtownabbey Community High School

used to have poor results, but over the last few years things have

started to change for the better. These students were surprised to

hear that Protestant boys are not reaching their full potential. Hello

and welcome to BBC News. This is the first I have heard of it.

If they don't achieve as much, maybe it is the lack of work from them.

Maybe it is the way they are brought up in their estate. The people they

are hanging about with. The massive gap between students and their

conjugal rights is concerning the man who broke the report.

He says there will be consequences. The real problem is that we are

creating inequalities that will later show themselves in the kind of

incidents we have seen over recent years ie in terms of public

disorder. In terms of a young generation which feels it has no

roots out of its poverty. Out of that inequality comes anger. Out of

that anger, I'm afraid, we have an unsettled political future.

Across Belfast outthink Dominic: in the past, in Catholic working-class

families especially they didn't have many opportunities.

Education was the way to get out. I think that's why now education is

being pushed. In's BBC newsline one former

principal said he sat on two task forces. His recommendations seems to

have been ignored. forces. His recommendations seems to

Some of the recommendations around community and leadership we put

forward is. If these figures in 2014 are telling us this I would like to

know what was done? Why was something not done? Andy McMorran

speaking on the night's BBC Newsline.

A plan to build a joint police, fire and prison service college near

Cookstown has been put on hold. The programme team decided that the

preferred bidder could not deliver the project within budget. But a

senior PSNI officer says the proposal is not dead. We need a

reassessment of the project and the costs. We will look at ways of

reducing some of those cost. The government have an idea of what the

scale of this is, and the costs, and ensure that we have a way forward.

There is an absolute commitment to the delivery this college.

In for a fair bit of rain over the next few days. A weather warning is

now in place until midnight tomorrow night. The rain will tend to fade

away towards the early morning. A mild nights and possibly some fog

lapping onto some of the East Coast. There is more rain to comfort their

estate but it will be raining everywhere all the time. Through the

rush hour tomorrow there will be another heavy area of rain. It means

a lot of puddles on the road. Misty and murky conditions. Some

a lot of puddles on the road. Misty weather over the Republic of

Ireland. That will edge forward tomorrow. Over lunchtime, we will be

looking at an area of rain over Wales in the South West. The eastern

Scotland and North East England, mist and low cloud continues, us

towards London temperatures will be in the high teens. Tomorrow

afternoon, it's a bit of an east-west split. The rain gathers

from the East and will be heavy and prolonged. The higher temperatures

will be in the West. On Friday, that rain dies away. A few showers to

commence, but it will be last hazy. It will be less misty. A bit

clearer. Atlantic weather to commend this weekend. Some rain at times on

Saturday. Sunday it looks like it will be the better of the two days.

That's it for now. You can keep up to date with News Online and follow

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