28/08/2014 BBC Newsline

Good evening and welcome to BBC Newsline.

The Health Minister has revealed details of how the Health Service

Pay restraints on staff and further reducing expenditure

on home care packages are among the controversial measures.

The paper, seen by the BBC, paints a stark picture and came

on the day a former Health Minister broke his silence on

Here's our health correspondent, Marie-Louise Connolly.

According to officials, some health and social care services

Earlier, the Minister wrote to the Executive and the Health Committee

While these are just proposals, they're a stark reminder of how

Pay restraint for health care staff - with a warning this

Major cuts to care packages for the elderly.

There will be less money for drug therapies such as cancer,

And the Round-the-clock cardiac centre at Altnagelvin

Of course he wants us to look at money over here and the pressure is

everybody else's fault. The reality is, it is his plan and his fault and

when he comes before the committee next week, we will put questions

about whether he has been interrogating the plan sufficiently.

On the day the Health Minister chose to announce the impact of potential

cuts, his predecessor chose to break his four year silence and told

the BBC he can empathise with the man currently in the firing line.

I do have sympathy for him. I think he is not getting the support he is

entitled to from his Executive colleagues and I think we, as the

public, expect to see that happening now and it is very important that

the Executive get behind the Health Minister and the health service and

find the money required to keep the show on the road. If they don't,

lives will be lost. I am extremely angry about the way the health

service has been treated. This is a bad budget...

When he was Health Minister, hardly a week went by without

criticism from some quarter for his handling of the budget.

Responsibility for the budget in this Assembly...

In 2011, the budget was slashed by ?300 million.

According to Mr McGimpsey, the Executive still fails to grasp

that funding needs to match demand which is increasing annually.

We made lots of efficiencies and lots of changes. The fact is, we

note demand is rising for health and social services in Northern Ireland.

You have to increase the provision in order to meet that demand. How

this party politics in Northern Ireland damage the running of the

department, in particular, health? I constantly pleaded with other

parties, let's not play politics with the health service, it is too

important. We all need to work together to make it work. Those

pleas, by and large, fell on deaf ears.

And the former Health Minister says that party politics is interfering

with the running of the service, which means interfering with saving

Both these ministers know what a poisoned chalice running

And if no extra funding is allocated, it's highly possible

The police are appealing for information about racist attacks

on the homes of two families from Sudan in north Belfast.

Windows were broken in the houses where children and a heavily

The two homes off N. Queen St each tab a window smashed around 230 AM.

They are inhabited by families who fled the conflict in Sudan. The

window has not been replaced. Elsewhere in the house, the balloons

are because there is a birthday party this evening, despite the fact

the house was attacked. In the kitchen, the family are looking for

this evening. Here is Mohammed and his wife. Tell me first of all, the

party is going on despite what happened. You are not frightened.

You are staying anywhere, aren't you? We do not know what to do,

exactly. We don't have any choices. We come from an unsafe country. We

are looking to live a normal life, like anyone. This is my first

celebration with my son after six years' separation. The first time

you have celebrated his birthday? I left him in my country. He joined me

in December. This is my first celebration with him. We felt it was

unsafe. You live happily here, do you have good relations with your

neighbours? They are good people, they are very nice. Their children

play with my son and they are very happy. They are nice people. It has

been a big day for his son. A new school, a party with his friends,

Well, we've had a huge response from you -

by email and on our Facebook page - to our report on how the price

of school uniforms here has been driving some parents to use swap

The Minister for Education has threatened to

bring in a new law if schools don't make uniforms more affordable.

Guidance from the Department says schools

should eliminate exclusive deals with uniform suppliers and make sure

uniforms are available from high street or internet retailers.

However, rather than complying with the guidelines,

some schools are being accused of adding even more expensive

It seems to be year-on-year, the prices of uniforms are either

increasing or the level of what the school requires is increasing. It is

PE shorts, then it has escalated to tracksuits, now you need the

waterproof coat, the fleece, the heady, and all of these things.

People are saying they cannot afford it. I have said to schools that if

the guidance does not work I will consider legislation to ensure

schools allow a free market in terms of provision of uniforms, and to

ensure that there is equality of access maintained. Barriers such as

cost of uniforms should not prevent the Bulls accessing schools.

International football manager Michael O'Neill says he believes

Northern Ireland can qualify for Euro 2016.

The campaign begins in just over a week against Hungary.

Today the manager revealed his 26 man squad

which includes two players who made headlines this week as they helped

It has been quite a week for Will Grigg and Ben Reeves. Reeves scored

twice in the stunning 4-0 win over Manchester United. The road for

both, a up into the international squad. He was in or under 21 team.

He scored two against United and that was fantastic for his

confidence. Ben Reeves is a player that has put in a lot of work. He

qualifies through the eligibility route. He is a young player who is

building his club career but who now has the opportunity

building his club career but who now international stage as well. He is

good technically and I am excited. Jonny Evans is ruled out because of

suspension. Northern Ireland have never qualified for the European

Championships but 24 teams instead of 16 can get through now and

Michael O'Neill believes his side will be one of them. I believe we

are capable of finishing in the top three on that has to be the aim for

this group. The important thing is that we go in to the second phase of

the campaign with a two aim for. A difficult task, but if they qualify

it will be Northern Ireland's first major tournament in 30 years.

What has the weather got in store? Here is Barra Best. Not a great

night. It is windy with gale force winds

along the coast and rain. Some of the rain will be heavy. The Met

Office has issued a weather warning. the rain will be heavy. The Met

Office has issued a weather There may be disruption as a result. Most

of the heavy rain will clear the East Coast as we get into tomorrow

morning. Behind that it will ease, but there will be showers behind and

some will be heavy. A mild night and temperatures of 13 Celsius for many

of us. Tomorrow, quite windy, rusty at times. Spells of sunshine but

also scattered showers. The showers likely to affect the north coast,

some heavy and possibly thundery. South of that, not as bad, dry and

bright. The most unsettled picture will be across Ireland, for Wales

and Scotland. A better picture across England with lots of dry

weather. Rather cloudy with temperatures in the low 20s. Further

north and west, temperatures not too bad there either. Across Northern

Ireland tomorrow there will be one or two showers but also decent

spells of sunshine for many places. One or two of us will be affected by

persistent rain. Temperatures, 17 or 18 degrees typically in any

sheltered areas. In the best sunshine, 19 or 20 in one or two

places. The low pressure will clear for Saturday. Temperatures up into

the high teens. Plenty of dry weather in the forecast and just a

handful of showers. Sunday into Monday, settled weather on the way

and it looks set to get a little bit warmer as well. Looks like it will

get better for the weekend. You can keep up to date with news

online and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Good night.