11/02/2016 BBC Newsline

The Secretary of State Theresa Villiers says it's not true to say

misconduct by the security forces during the Troubles was rife.

At an event about the past held in Belfast today she praised

the role of police officers and soldiers -

but accepted that some had acted outside the law.

Here is our Political Correspondent Stephen Walker.

Finding ways to deal with the legacy of the Troubles is complicated and

solution remains politically allusive. Today the Secretary of

State says when it comes to the past some people are promoting a

pernicious counter narrative. She felt the role should be put in

context. We have acknowledged that in some isolated cases, the state

was at fault, there was wrongdoing and we are prepared to investigate

it. I think it will be entirely wrong to say that that conduct was

endemic and I am convinced that the vast majority of the security forces

in Northern Ireland acted with professionalism. As too much focus

been put on state killings? The difference here is that the state is

in place to uphold the law and when the state breaks the law, that is

something different than when a paramilitary group goes out and

breaks the laws of the land. At the heart of the legacy debate is what

information should be disclosed. The Secretary of State believes it has

to be handled carefully. There are things in use in the 1970s and

during the period in which the new bodies will investigate which are

still secret and if they were disclosed publicly, would assist not

only dissident republicans but also Islamist terrorists. Our worries

about national security genuine? It does not really feel to run true

that what ever the intelligence methods have been 40 years ago being

used here is hardly the same approach to counter-terrorism taken

today in dealing with Islamic State and international terrorism. It

seems to be something of a diversion. ?130 million has been set

aside for a legacy bodies that will include an investigations unit and a

commission on information retrieval but some think even that does not go

far enough. ?150 million of an allocation and that might seem a

vast sum of money to the general public but when we look at that

money, 35mm is is said to be what it will look to -- take to look at

steak knife, lock all up ?1.5 million for each of the cases in the

inquest system. Once the mathematics is done there is ?5 million left and

how come that money possibly examine 3000 plus terrorist related murders?

If money is the issue, is it time to stop investigating the past? Well, I

think that is largely a political question. I think that is a debate

that is worth having. The Attorney General perhaps three years ago but

that on the table, there was a negative political response to the

suggestion. I think it is a debate worth having, I am not advocating a

one way or another, but fundamentally how we deal with the

past did not sense is for the politicians. Even though a political

consensus has not been achieved and we are about to enter an assembly

election campaign, Theresa Villiers ended her speech in an optimistic

mood saying there was much common ground between the parties and a

deal on the pass is achievable. A number of journalists have been

told they're under threat from criminal gangs in Dublin

following two recent killings. Earlier I spoke to our Dublin

Correspondent Shane Harrison. 80 macro issued a statement saying

it is working with Gardai to protect their journalists. I N M takes a

keen interest in the crime scene and it had a number of reporters present

at the weigh in on Friday were David Byrne was murdered. His death was

followed by the death of Eddie Hutch. All of this is happening on

the 20th anniversary of the death of the other investigators report

Veronica Guerin. The editor in of IMM issued a statement saying this

is a threat to press freedom. Nielsen said that his organisation

would not be deterred from reporting on the crime scene in the public

interest. The newspaper group owns the Belfast Telegraph and the Sunday

world in Northern Ireland as well as a number of titles south of the

border. This development has been widely condemned across the

political divide. A dispute between lawyers

and the justice minister over cuts to legal aid payments

has been resolved. It follows fresh talks

which began yesterday. Lawyers had claimed the cuts

would undermine their ability to properly represent clients

who could not afford pay legal fees. The row had resulted in delays

in more than 900 court cases, including charges ranging

from murder to drink driving. The DUP has denied using delaying

tactics over decisions about abortion in the cases

of fatal foetal abnormality. The Health Minister Simon Hamilton

told BBC Newsline the issue is too important to be bound

up in party politics. Last night MLAs rejected an attempt

to allow terminations in such cases through an amendment

to the Justice Bill. This is too important an issue to be

bound up in electoral poll tax or party politics. I hope we were

moving away from that with the tone of the debate and unfortunately the

comments of some today has probably taken it back into that area and I

think it is disappointing. And the Justice Minister David Ford

will be talking about the issue on The View which is straight

after this programme. The Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry

is to reopen this summer after it was confirmed by Ards

and North Down council that a 1.5 million pounds refurbishment

will begin after Easter. The aquarium and seal sanctuary

will be run by the company It has been funded by the department

of the Environment along with the council

and the new operator. A campaign was launched

to keep Exploris open after it was threatened with closure

nearly three years ago. A man with a terminal brain tumour

says he believes cannabis oil has Even though it is illegal 38 year

old Kieran McCrory says he's A new campaign is underway today

for medical cannabis to be legalised Around 28,000 people

here are using it for medical reasons - but critics maintain

there is NO evidence Kieran McCrory this week celebrated

a birthday he was not sure he would say. The 38-year-old was diagnosed

with the terminal brain tumour in 2014. He was given at most five

years to live, he had brain surgery and radiotherapy but it is cannabis

oil that he credits with helping him come back from cancer. I am

confident about the future. I have got something, the term he is

fighting cancer or she is fighting cancer, I have something to fight it

with, not tablets, which is fair enough for some people, but I am

terminal, I want to stay alive. It is illegal in the UK to use cannabis

for medical reasons. The government calls it harmful while Cancer

Research UK says there is no evidence can safely treat the

disease. It is a Class B drug, you are breaking the law and leaving

yourself open to prosecution, is that a worry? I understand I am

breaking the law. I understand all that. What would anyone do? What

would anyone do? I have got back, I had lost him. Sorry... He is back.

And this is what we all want. His daughter... And myself and his

family and friends. It is a crime that it is a crime. His long-term

prognosis remains unchanged, for now, his focus is on looking forward

to future birthdays. Cancer Research UK has urged caution

about using cannabis oil. The evidence we have so far on

cannabis and its derivatives is far from convincing. It does not mean it

is interesting, we are still carrying out research, but the

research we have at the minute has been carried out on sales grown in

laboratories or in mice and there is very little evidence that actually

it will have that cancer patients. Over the past few months motorists

in Belfast have endured some very In many cases, relatively minor

accidents in one area have caused Traders say the problem is damaging

small businesses and some believe it could be linked

to the new bus lanes. Waiting for the lights. On a good

day that is all that causes delays but on a bad day one crash is all it

takes. Delays last much longer. Sometimes for hours. The crash is

still blocking one lane towards the M1 and also affecting traffic on the

other side of the Westlake... That is something that has been repeated

regularly in recent times in and around Belfast. Gridlock. The

concern is that if you do not have proper public transport

alternatives, then all you're doing is damaging business. The big

problem earlier this week began here on the West Link. Seven o'clock in

the morning and a car and a lorry crashed and the accident was not

deemed to be serious or major, but it caused serious and major

disruption all across the city and it lasted four hours. In fact, up

until 10:30 a.m., people who are trying to get a bus into town from

places like the Ormeau road were being told that the service was

delayed because of a crash in another part of the city, 3.5 hours

earlier. If there are more and longer delays after accidents, what

is the problem? Difficult as it is to believe, sometimes the bus lanes

are supposed to be part of the solution because the problem is we

do not have the space in Belfast to put that many cars into the city

centre. When you're squeezing almost every vehicle through a small number

of roads, when you have 90,000 vehicles on the West Link everyday,

it only takes a single smash for that whole

thing to come grinding to a halt and perhaps what we need is some way of

making sure that crashes when they occur are cleared as quickly and

safely as is practical. That is something drivers would well, if it

means less of this and more of this on the city's roads.

Now looking ahead to what's coming up on BBC Newsline tomorrow -

here's Kevin Magee with the details.

I have been on the streets of Belfast finding out. My report

begins on BBC Radio Ulster in the morning and I will have more on BBC

Now the weather with Angie. Newsline at 6:30pm tomorrow evening.

Still some clear spells for the first part of tonight, temperatures

falling away, particularly in the West getting towards freezing. We

are looking at frost and a few patches of mist and fog although

they may not hang around as generally speaking we have

increasing cloud from the east. That will bring a few showers which could

be wintry especially but not as exclusively on the hills and were

therefore logical ground it could lead to an icy patches. Something to

bear in mind for the morning. A cold start tomorrow but the

emphasis is on dry weather, generally speaking it will be

cloudier than the last couple of days but there will still be some

bright spells during the morning, in particular towards the North, some

showers, particularly in the south-east. Some bright spells on

offer for the West of Scotland, South West Scotland and North West

England but in the Republic of Ireland and Britain, a lot of cloud

and a scattering of showers. Those showers in the north-east of

Scotland falling as sleet and snow and accumulating in places and there

could be some travel disruption, though showers coming in on a brisk

breeze. As I mentioned, the breeze will pick up for Northern Ireland,

continuing to feed in areas of cloud, some bright spells at one

order two showers in the east.