27/05/2014 BBC Newsline

it's goodbye from me and on results. That is all from the

The headlines on BBC Newsline. The counting is finally over.

Martina Anderson, Diane Dodds and Jim Nicholson

all keep their seats in Europe. Sinn Fein are now big political

players on both sides of the border, so how worried should either XP? --

should ems to be? # unionists the. all keep their seats in Europe.

New allegations of Garda-IRA collusion -

an investigation shows it went deeper than previously thought.

A priest's plea following the death of this young man at a house party.

Avoid drugs for Allah. They are too dangerous, and too expensive. --

avoid drugs for ever. of this young man at a house party.

She carried the torch for Northern Ireland at the Olympics.

Can she light up this summer's Commonwealth Games?

And it's been a fine day for many of us with plenty of sunshine,

but will it return tomorrow? Find out shortly.

After two days of counting, Northern Ireland has its three MEPs.

Sinn Fein's Martina Anderson topped the poll and was elected yesterday,

while the DUP's Diane Dodds reached the quota after transfers from other

between the Ulster Unionist Jim Nicholson and Alex Attwood

of the SDLP ended half an hour ago, with Mr Nicholson victorious.

Let's take a look now at the first preference votes in more detail.

Sinn Fein have 25.5%, with the DUP on 20.9%.

The UUP, SDLP and TUV have a similar vote share of between 12% and 13%.

The Alliance party, UKIP, the Green Party, NI21 and the Northern Ireland

Compare that to the last European election.

There have been gains for both the DUP and Alliance.

The DUP's vote rose by 2.7% while Alliance's went up by 1.6%.

For Sinn Fein, there's a slight drop of 0.5%.

The UUP, SDLP, TUV and Greens have also reduced their share.

Sinn Fein have come out of the election well on both sides of the

border but tonight the DUP leader Peter Robinson said he believed the

BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson has been following the count

It took two days, but they got there in the end. Idea by declare that the

following persons have been elected to serve as members of the European

Parliament. Martina Anderson, Sinn Fein. Diane Dodds, Democratic

Unionist latte. -- Unionist party. And Jim Nicholson, Ulster Unionist

party. The election count was a marathon, not a sprint but there

were celebrations nevertheless. For Jim Nicholson it was an anxious wait

but he retained his seat. The elections have been good for Sinn

Fein on both sides of the border. They topped Paul in Northern Ireland

and in the south we have taken two seats and on course for a third. In

the council elections they took 157 seats in the south and 105 in

Northern Ireland, and they are the largest party Belfast and Dublin

Council 's. Does the party's widespread support mean that they

are any closer to their goal of a united Ireland? Yes. I would not put

a date on it but we are uniting the people. They are

a date on it but we are uniting the Fein, North himself. The next step

is to try to get into government on both sides of the border. If Sinn

Fein do get into power in the south they will be hoping to get key

ministries dealing with cross-border issues. All part of their strategy

do eventually get rid of the border. Some believe the Sinn Fein rise in

the Republic is temporary, and is simply a protest vote, after the

crash of the Celtic Tiger economy. I do not want to get into the politics

of another country but all of us in politics know that there are certain

periods of time were those who complain the most and highlight

problems rather than giving solutions will do well in those

certain circumstances than when politics and economy stabilised more

people not vote on them. There was going to be a Westminster Hall, an

assembly poll at the general election in the Republic, all within

the next few -- all within the next two years.

They just finished counting at the Kings Hall

in the last half hour, amid criticism of the time it's taken.

Some politicians say the process has been understaffed,

technology is the best way to speed things up.

They had set aside one day for the count but by mid-evening it was

clear that it was going to stretch into the second one. The long hours

took their toll on everyone waiting on the declarations, especially the

candidates. There has been criticism of the delay in the declaration of

both the local government and European results. The DUP said it

was simply an issue of staffing. In my view we just do not simply put

enough people in the count the votes. And if we put more people in

and get more professional about it and organise it more effectively,

there is no magic about it. That is the problem. The chief of the actual

officer said that he had enough people for the job. The Irish

Republic are still doing the last of its receipt after three days of

counting. It has been suggested that technology might speak rings up. We

are using a system on a 21st-century that is not fit for purpose. If we

want to make progress on this and make the count quicker and more

efficient we have to have all ballot papers with a bar code on them,

scanned into a scanning device and a computer reads that and does the

calculations and instead of the count lasting days, it lasts four

hours. He has been making this case for some time. After criticism in

the last assembly election results, he arranged counting using software

developed by a company from Derry, but not many politicians turned up

to see. That same company ran Scottish local government elections

in 2012. The electoral commission said that they had gone smoothly.

More than 1200 seats where gold, more than three times that what we

have in our new super councils, and the last of the result was in by

tea-time on day one of the count. But that type of counting has not

been without difficulty in the past, and any new system would need

extensive stress testing before its introduction.

Let's get an overview of where the European results leave

The Ulster Unionists had better is in our Dublin studio.

The Ulster Unionists had better local elections, their share went

up, they had worse European elections in the sense that their

share went down by 2.75%. Given that, they will be taking solace

from the fact that Jim Nicholson has one, because there was some speaking

nation you could be the most vulnerable of the outgoing MEPs. We

heard how slow the count has been in Northern Ireland. They are still

counting in the Republic, although they had a head start. Counting on

the Republic began they had a head start. Counting on

at nine o'clock, and so far, only Dublin has completed. In the

constituency known as South, which is monster and South Leinster, two

of track is have to be filled, and in the constituency of Midlands,

of track is have to be filled, and North and West, two alt. Grater

seats still have to be filled. North and West, two alt. Grater

Fein will have seats on all four of the constituencies across the

island. Peter Robinson has suggested the Sinn Fein voters a protest vote

in the Republic. How solid the you think it is? Peter Robinson is right

to the extent that people think it is? Peter Robinson is right

local and European elections as another Junor did to send out a

local and European elections as had enough of

local and European elections as But the experience has shown that

the Sinn Fein vote is on an almost continuous upward curve, albeit

incremental. It is difficult to see the Labour Party regaining much of

the ground that it has lost at the weekend, even with a new leader,

especially as there has to be another vote in the autumn. Three

major political parties in the Republic now, including Sinn Fein,

and that is not going to change between now and the general election

expected in 2016. It means that Sinn Fein policies will come under a lot

more scrutiny from their political opponents and from the media than

perhaps was the case. I have heard some DUP people privately say that

some tough decisions, particularly in Northern Ireland with regard to

welfare, have not been taken because Sinn Fein did not want to give

ammunition to its opponents, south of the border. What do you think the

implications are of both elections on those party leader talks?

Commentators talk about a window of opportunity on the other side of an

election when politicians can take more risky moves than they would

want to. The problem is, in relation to parade in the past, the DUP will

be looking over its shoulder at the likes of the TUV who got 75,000

votes within the last few moments. Jim Allister has made a tub thumping

speech. In relation to issues like welfare reform, Sinn Fein will so be

looking at the situation in the south, especially if there is any

possibility of the ruling coalition not going to its full term, and they

will not want to be accused of bringing in austerity north of the

border. Those are issues that they have to weigh up in the week said.

This is BBC Newsline, and still ahead on the programme.

She was a teenager who shone around the world as she carried the Olympic

torch. Can she now Shang at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow? --

can she now Shang? The BBC Spotlight programme tonight

investigates new allegations of Garda-IRA collusion

which have emerged in the wake Last December Judge Smithwick found

there was collusion in the murder But in tonight's Spotlight, Stephen

Dempster examines new claims that His report contains some

flash photography. Tracy dop was one of quarterback RUC

officers killed by the eye every outside Newry in May, 1985. As soon

as the Smithwick inquiry was finished, I remember saying... For

many years her parents have been aware of rumours that someone in the

Garda may have colluded with the IRA in the murders. I just didn't

believe it at the time. But as time has gone on, I think there must have

been. The murder is one of a number of unsold killings shrouded in

allegations of Garda-IRA collusion. In 1987, the eye every killed Lord

Justice Gibson and his wife. -- the IRA. He was the most senior member

of the judiciary to be killed in the troubles. In a previous review, a

retired Canadian judge ruled out a public inquiry into the case in

2003. He concluded there was not sufficient evidence to justify an

inquiry. Because, he said, intelligence that claimed collusion

was a factor in the murders, it was over ten years out of date. He also

questioned the reliability of the source of that intelligence. Judge

Smithwick found that this information was dated just three

years after the murders and was reliable. The former force minister

Lord Trimble has called for a full public inquiry to be granted

alongside -- along the Smithwick tribunal lines. It is clear that the

mistake was made and that mistake should be put right. There is clear

evidence which points towards collusion again. You think there

should be an inquiry into the case? Yes. Attention has turned to this

and other similar cases in the six months since the Smithwick report

was published. The murders are examined as part of the night's

Spotlight programme. That is after our league news here on BBC One at

10:25pm. A Belfast-based company is to more

than double its workforce by creating 107 jobs

in the financial services sector. Spence Partners provides

pensions advice to a range of client companies and has developed

new software for the industry. The posts will pay average salaries

of ?32,000 and the company says it finds no

shortage of graduates to recruit. We find an opportunity to recruit

graduates from some larger employers reducing graduate intake. We are

seeing it as an attractive place to work. We are well placed to continue

to recruit locally. A County Donegal priest has warned

young people to stay away from drugs following the death of a young man

in the village of St Johnston. Oisin Crawford died,

and some of his friends became ill, during a house party in the early

hours of yesterday morning. Here's our North-West reporter,

Keiron Tourish. Oisin Crawford was 22 and worked in

his father's business. He died after attending a party in this house

yesterday morning. Gardai suspect his death may be linked to drugs. It

is understood the group of young people had initially been attending

a birthday celebration. They decided to return to the house in Main

Street in St Johnston to continue with the party. A local priest who

has spent time with the family says they are numbed and bow will be by

what has happened. They are absolutely devastated, the father

and mother. They are a close the family anyway. They are an outgoing

type of family and he was the oldest boy in the family of three and he

has been working with his father for a number of years. Both father and

son were like brothers. The death of Oisin Crawford has deeply upset

everyone in the village. Everybody is devastated, everybody is non-.

They don't know what to do or what to say. What do you do? What do you

say? It is just terrible. It is just sad, I fear for his mummy and daddy.

It is hard on them. Everybody is wild upset. You never would have

thought it would happen in a village like this but I suppose it happens

thought it would happen in a village in every village in It is destroying

epidemic. One other man who was at epidemic. One other man who was at

Tributes have been paid to the former politician

and war veteran Sir John Gorman, who's died at the age of 91.

He won the Military Cross for his service during the

Chris Page looks back at Sir John's extraordinary life.

War hero, businessmen, politician. Sir John Gorman's 91 years were full

of achievements. He was passionate about military service and unionism

and he was a Catholic. He said he saw no contradiction in that. I am

British and proud of it. I am an Irishman and proud of being that

too. When one is born into Irishman and proud of being that

swear an oath of loyalty to a united Ireland. In the 1990s he chaired the

Northern Ireland Forum. Before this he ran the Housing Executive, had a

senior position with British Airways and was an inspector in the RUC. But

even prior to those multiple careers, he earned fame for his

exploits with the Irish Guards in World War II. The actions of

Lieutenant Colonel and World War II. The actions of

chronicled in this annual. The Ulster Unionist leader says the

chronicled in this annual. The stories were inspiring. Goal I was

in a coach with him a few years ago going into Brussels. He said, the

last time I was in the city are liberated. Here we are at a European

card and he is the man who liberated Brussels and Belgium from Nazi row.

That it's one of many tributes today to a man who lived a remarkable

life. We're used to school children

learning European languages which can benefit

their future job prospects. But with business looking to new

markets, attention is turning to other

languages like Arabic and Mandarin. Our education correspondent

Maggie Taggart reports on a pilot scheme which is giving

young people a working knowledge of A quarter of schools in Northern

Ireland already take part in a cultural programme organised by the

British Council. This is about 100 pupils and teachers finding out what

else they can learn about other countries and their cultures. I

speak with you about how it is easy to learn. Our language is rich and

easy. It's never too late to learn and one

politician was game for a lesson. Six schools have signed up

for a pilot programme in Arabic. This Antrim trailer manufacturer has

an order from Saudi Arabia and Invest NI has opened an office

in Dubai to attract investment. These boys have an eye to

the future. It would be useful if I want to go

to different countries to have a job in a specific country, like in Saudi

Arabia, to have a job there. We see a clear link between prosperity and

international knowledge, which includes languages. It is not the

only thing. It is about a broader understanding of international

culture and the opportunities out there for our young people.

Belfast Royal Academy is joining the Arabic lessons.

Yellow back the British Council recognised hare -- Arabic as one of

the top for culture and languages. And Methodist College is doing

both Mandarin and Arabic. It was a packed event today

at Parliament Buildings, a showcase This Belfast primary school's link

with Uganda has taught the pupils A language or two might come

in useful during the Commonwealth Games this summer

in Glasgow. Our local athletes are

preparing for them, including one who starred at the Olympic Games in

London off the track. A youthful Katie Kirk helping light

the Olympic torch two years ago is one of the many enduring images

from the London Games. I am sure you remember?

Yes, and I've remember her coming with a replica torch.

Now she's determined to come of age at the Commonwealth Games

As is another track athlete - Amy Foster, the in-form

This is what Katie Kirk is most remembered for, but she will beat

Glasgow bound in the summer for her second Commonwealth Games. She is

determined to have everyone talking about her running. It is good to

have recognition for something I have worked for. I am the sort of

person who likes to do something but just show that you have worked for

it as well. The publicity for that did get a bit tiring after a while,

getting lots of people contacting you, and it is nice to have worked

really hard this year. She passed the test of gaining the qualifying

standard with a new personal best in the 800 metres and believes there is

more to come. I will probably be able to run a lot faster but you do

not know. If you do not get the right conditions, there are so many

things that influence it. I have exams coming up and that is always a

risk, doing too much. Another athlete in great form is sprinter

Amy Foster, who made the semifinals in Delhi four years ago and last

week equalled the Irish 400 metres record. I am in a very fortunate

position to have not only the Commonwealth Games qualifying time

but the European Championships time, 11.40 dead on. It means I can go and

train and prepare to compete at the championships. Other years I have

been in a position where I have been chasing standards and if I got them

I was not necessarily prepared to compete as best I could. They will

both be in action at the Northern Ireland Championships on Saturday,

7th June. After that, the focus will be on the Commonwealth Games at the

end of July. And we will have extensive coverage

here on BBC Newsline. There'll be an abundance

of young football talent on display Within the past 24 hours, the Foyle

Cup and Milk Cup have been launched. As Mark Sidebottom,

reports both tournaments have been the spring-board

for many professional careers. Last year, Liverpool manager

Brendan Rodgers was guest of honour for the

Milk Cup draw. Today it was a former

Manchester United favourite who was rather chuffed at following in the

footsteps of some previous greats... UCB has been here and Sir Alex. I am

happy to be in the same place as those legends and to be part of it.

I am hoping to try and get over for the competition itself. I want to

stay involved with the competition. The Milk Cup will run

from July 27th to August 1st. Another given on the summer

football front is the Foyle Cup. We will see stars of the future in

the next couple of We will see stars of the future in

games are spreading across to Donegal. There will be future

players and it will be great for the locals to watch and support them and

I am sure there will be scouts watching them.

The Foyle Cup takes place in the third week of July.

County Armagh have been pulled out of the hat with Manchester United

The full draw is on our BBC Sport NI website.

How long will the Sun last? Let's get the weather.

It came out for a few of us. This evening, many areas enjoying fine

sunshine, especially in the West. The cloud has come into eastern

areas bringing some showers. They will drift westwards as evening.

They die out tonight. Temperatures settling at about eight or 9

degrees. Milder on the east coast with more cloud coming in. It will

bring a change tomorrow. For the beginning of the day, plenty of

bright weather and spells of sunshine, especially in the West. We

will have the best of the weather in the West tomorrow. Further east,

cloud coming in ringing patchy outbreaks of light

cloud coming in ringing patchy It is going to keep the temperatures

well act. -- back. Further west, with a bright weather and sunshine,

well act. -- back. Further west, 17 or 18. Even here, they

well act. -- back. Further west, avoid the rain. The rain will drift

westwards. At some stage you are bound to get a bit of rain

westwards. At some stage you are preparing yourself. Patchy rain into

westwards. At some stage you are tomorrow evening, lasting for a

while. Gradually dying away for a tomorrow evening, lasting for a

few hours at least. Tomorrow night, a lot of

few hours at least. Tomorrow night, Temperatures in double figures at

ten or 11. Temperatures in double figures at

next area of rain from the east. That sets up the picture for

Thursday. It will move westwards. There will be a fair amount of rain

around. It should not be too heavy and it should be raining all -- not

raining all day. It will be rather grey and temperatures well below

average for the time of year. Temperatures will be back tomorrow.

A slow improvement for Friday and Saturday. With the rise in

temperature as we are expecting prior and brighter weather. The

weekend looks set to get off to a decent start. We will keep you up to

date on BBC Newsline. Our late summary is at 10:25pm. Your

comments are welcome on our Facebook page and we are also on Twitter.

Take care.