12/02/2016 BBC Newsline

exclusive investigation. That's all from BBC News at Six PM. Back with

the The headlines on BBC Newsline:

The murder of the teenager Arlene Arkinson - the government

wants to stop the disclosure of secret documents relating

to the case. The number of breast cancer cases

has risen dramatically over the last 20 years and there's a warning

of many more to come. The cancer number is expected to

increase by about two thirds again, by about 65% in 20 years.

The biggest electricity supplier is to cut its prices

Heroin use - the police say home-grown and foreign criminals

The farmer who says he had to shoot several dogs involved in a hunt

It's a tall order but after their opening-day draw with Wales, Ireland

are in Paris aiming for back-to-back victories in the French capital for

the first time in 89 years. And it's time to wrap up

for the start of mid-term and Valentine's Day -

a cold weekend is looming! First to a significant development

relating to the death of Arlene Arkinson, the schoolgirl

murdered over 20 years ago. The government is trying to stop top

secret documents linked to the case becoming public at the

inquest into her death. The 15-year-old from County Tyrone

was reported missing after she attended a disco

in County Donegal in 1994. She was last seen with the convicted

child killer Robert Howard, Howard was acquitted of her murder

but always remained A short time ago I asked our home

affairs correspondent, Vincent Kearney, how unusual

it was for the government to try to stop information on this

murder case being made public. This is quite extraordinary. This

story is about what are called Public Interest Immunity

certificates, normally granted in cases with concerns about national

security, to protect methods police used to gather intelligence or

informers, so they have been used in court cases during the Troubles but

as far as I know they have never been used in a case like this, they

killing of a schoolgirl, but I'm Northern Ireland office minister has

signed off on one of these certificates to be issued in

relation to document link to the death of Arlene Arc and son. She was

last seen in the company of child killer Robert Howard, who died in

prison last year. Do we know why this application has been made and

the information involved? We have no idea and it appears neither do the

lawyers for Arlene's family, who want to know what national-security

issues could possibly be at stake in the inquest into the telling of a

schoolgirl. The inquest is due to get next week. The coroner hearing

the inquest will have the final say on whether these documents are

released to the public. He will hear arguments from both sides on Tuesday

and then decide, but even then we won't get the full story because

much of that hearing will be behind closed doors, so the hearing itself

will be in secret, and even when the coroner reaches his decision he may

not be able to say much about it in public, whatever decision he

reaches. In a statement, the Northern Ireland Office said some

documents omitted to the court were subject to reductions, which the

police said would compromise their ability to bring rapists, murderers

and other serious criminals to justice in the future.

The number of women being treated for breast cancer has dramatically

increased over the last 20 years - figures from the Northern Ireland

That's being put down to us living longer, more screening

The doctor who led the research warns the health system needs

to prepare itself as those figures are set to climb further.

BBC Newsline has been speaking to a woman who has been diagnosed

with two different types of breast cancer -

one of which can go undiagnosed or be misdiagnosed.

Our health correspondent, Marie-Louise Connolly,

Next week 37-year-old Lynette McHendry is facing

She's in the unusual position of having invasive or regular cancer

in one breast while inflammatory cancer in the other.

The latter went undetected for over a month -

that's because no lump showed up on the mammogram.

I definitely think there needs to be more awareness.

In the medical profession, people need to be advised that this

The symptoms I had was a pain in my breast,

I had a breast that was maybe twice the normal size.

it goes very red and inflamed and the skin can go dimply,

so those are the symptoms and there is no lump.

Her call for greater awareness of the disease is timely.

New figures reveal an overall 53% increase in the number of breast

Those who collate the data warn that figure is set to rise further

and that the health service should prepare itself.

I think the services need to gear themselves up because we have done

some work looking at past trends and we see that in total the cancer

number is expected to increase by about two-thirds again,

After October and the annual breast cancer awareness campaign,

services have been under tremendous pressure as more women take up

We see a large number of women, nearly 3000 women came to the breast

clinic last year and most of those did not have breast cancer and could

be discharged quickly. The vast majority of women who are seen with

breast cancer are diagnosed and treated well within the 62 day

target set for the hospital. According to Lynette,

the health service must plan for the expected increase

in cancer cases. And as she's experiencing,

timing is crucial. Four weeks ago today is when I was

diagnosed with the new lump in my right, which was the size of a pea.

Last week when I met my surgeon, he examined it and it is now the size

of a large grape. How do you feel about this? This new lump has grown

and because I know the aggressiveness of the other one, I

just want them off, I want surgery now.

Lynette says by sharing her private story she's hoping

The Assembly Commission says Sinn Fein Assembly Members did

nothing wrong when they claimed almost ?700,000 in expenses

for research from a company run by the party's finance managers.

The Assembly Commission has also cleared the party of wrongdoing

in paying office rent to three cultural societies.

The police examined allegations made in two BBC Spotlight programmes

Sinn Fein had denied doing anything wrong.

Here is our political correspondent, Stephen Walker.

The Spotlight programmes were broadcast in November 2014.

One of the BBC programmes reported that 36 Sinn Fein MLAs claimed

about ?700,000 in total through Stormont expenses to pay

Research Services Ireland over a ten-year period.

However, the programme-makers were not able to find any evidence

of research that had been carried out by RSI and one Sinn Fein MLA

was reported to have said they had never heard of the company

until they saw it on their annual expenses.

Jim Allister asked the Assembly Commission how much of the money

In response the commission said its review "confirmed that

payments for research services, as reported in the programme,

were made for admissible expenditure up to and including

As such, no recovery has been sought.

I was hoping there would be a serious effort to recover the

?700,000 of taxpayers money and non-that has happened, whether

because of logical inconvenience or not is a matter for speculation but

it is appalling that nothing has been done. -- the logical

inconvenience. Jim Allister also asked

about the disclosure that former DUP assembly speaker William Hay's

office claimed more than ?4000 The Assembly Commission said

"the judicial process is ongoing". Jim Allister also asked

about travel expenses. A former Sinn Fein MLA, Davy Hyland,

told Spotlight that a party expenses claim form for mileage,

amounting to almost ?5,000, The commission found the claim had

not been processed "and as such, It added that the PSNI had concluded

the matter should not be referred Spotlight also reported that

Sinn Fein had paid office rent to three cultural societies

even though the BBC could not establish what the societies

were or who was behind them. The Assembly Commission

said its review confirmed the money was for "admissible expenditure",

adding, "as such, no recovery A BBC spokesperson has said:

"We stand by our journalism. We believe the investigation

was of significant public interest." The Lord Chief Justice says

remaining legacy inquests can be dealt with within five years

if he gets the necessary funding. Sir Declan Morgan was speaking

after meeting families of some More than 50 stalled cases

were reviewed last month The Lord Chief Justice has proposed

setting up a special unit to deal with Troubles-related inquests

as he says the existing Coroners We need to establish a new Legacy

unit as a matter of urgency. By intention is to start listing cases

from September onwards that this will be predicated on the ability of

resource. If we are in a position to make progress on this long-standing

issue and if we do, it will provide a signal of hope to all victims and

survivors that the remaining issues involved in dealing with the past

can finally be resolved. Still to come...

The farmer who says he had to shoot hunt dogs

A majority of Northern Ireland households are set to benefit

The Utility Regulator has welcomed a cut in tariffs of

Here's our business correspondent, Julian O'Neill.

Power Nite supplies around half a million houses, and a cut in Paris

will reduce average bills by about ?50,000 a year. The reason is

falling fuel prices, making prices cheaper. We're seeing a fall in

wholesale oil and gas prices and have captured the benefit of that.

Competition is fierce, customers shop around among six suppliers.

Power Nite is not the first to adjust prices recently that this is

one of the biggest decreases in the UK and Ireland. We are reassured by

the fact we still supply 67% of the market. We are one step ahead of the

competition with this cut. Business and farm customers will see

reductions as well but with prices set to rise later this year, the

next announcement could be different.

Julian is with me now to talk about news involving one

of our major retailing businesses, Chain Reaction Cycles in Ballyclare.

We are talking about a rags to riches story, from a small bike shop

in eight provincial town to worldwide sales online. It is

described as a merger, it looks like Chain Reaction Cycles will join

forces with its main British rival, to gather they would create sales

annually of about ?300 million across the world. They say that they

would complement each other, Chain Reaction Cycles specialising more in

mountain bikes, wiggle in road racing. It has to be approved by the

competition and market authorities so we may be months away from a

deal. It employs 450 people, and wiggle

employs those numbers as well. Nothing yet giving commitments about

employment jumpers so you imagine there would be uncertainty among the

workforces in the months to come. Chain Reaction Cycles described this

as an exciting new chapter in its history, a long way away from that

first sailed back in 1984 they bike chain for 11p.

Good news and bad news tonight for Northern Ireland fans hoping

to go to the Euros in France this summer.

Today was a big date for Republic fans as they discovered that their

applications were successful. An extra 437 tickets have been made

available for the opening match But as BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson

reports, Uefa are refusing to hand Northern Ireland's first

match will be crucial. The game in the south of France

is also the most controversial, with many loyal fans

missing out on tickets. After a wave of complaints,

an extra 800 were made available on Tuesday, then just

over 400 more today. No more tickets for the Poland game

in Nice or the other matches Never say never, we will carry on

talking to Uefa but at this point 1276 for the Poland game is a good

result. But you will keep squeezing Uefa headquarters? We will carry on

talking but I would not promise anything extra.

It's been hit and miss for a lot of fans this week -

including those on the DUP benches at Stormont who applied for tickets.

David Hilder Scott is. So did Stephen McCree. As did Michelle

Michael being, but Jim Wells didn't get his ticket, and neither did

William Humphrey. So is there now a split in the party? No tension, just

jealousy, but I wish all those supporters all the best, we need to

expand the support base for Northern Ireland. In total Northern Ireland

fans have about 30,000 tickets for the Euros in France. Many of those

without tickets will still go, they may not get into the matches that

they will probably get better weather than at home.

It's the same for Republic of Ireland fans.

They started finding out this afternoon about tickets.

Tens of thousands are going to be left diappointed, but it won't stop

The sentencing of the prominent republican Thomas "Slab" Murphy

for tax evasion will be on the same day as the Republic's election.

The alleged former IRA chief of staff, seen here in the cap,

was convicted of nine charges at the non-jury

The new date means that because of election restrictions,

any comment by Sinn Fein about the decision is unlikely

The police say local criminals, gangs and others, originally

from abroad, are supplying heroin in Northern Ireland.

While some people have told BBC Newsline they believe there's

a growing heroin problem, the police say there's no evidence

This is what a 25 pounds heroin hit looks like. A typical addict uses

two of these a day. Police estimate 1500 people here are taking the drug

and ten criminal gangs are supplying them. Of the small number who supply

heroin, they often work with gangs across the border and most of the

heroin that finds its way to our streets originates in the Irish

Republic. A combination of local criminals and some from abroad are

involved. There were various titles and tag names given to people around

these groups, there are foreign national criminal gangs involved in

heroin as in other criminality but the myth that that is all who is

involved is absolutely false, there are more than enough home-grown

individuals are involved, and our commitment is to tackle it. Some

organisations believe the heroin problem is getting worse. From a

starting point of a static user group we have seen an increase and a

new, younger user group coming through, people who might not have

become involved are now becoming involved with it. One pharmacist who

runs a needle exchange for drug users things heroin is a growing

problem. The needle exchange is a dizzy part of our service. My

experience is that it shows no signs of decreasing and in the last number

of years has pretty significantly increased. But the police say they

have no evidence to suggest that trend is a pod. In terms of an

escalating problem in Belfast, I don't think that is the case.

Figures over the years in terms of people using the drug in the drugs

we have seized in the last five or ten years it has pretty much

remained constant. In the past four months the police say they have

arrested dirty people suspect that of having or supplying the drug. --

30 people. A County Down farmer says he had no

choice but to shoot several dogs involved in a hunt

to protect his sheep. The incident on Alan Sloane's land

is being investigated by the local council and the organisation

which represents huntsmen. This report from our agriculture

and environment correspondent, Conor Macauley, contains

images of the dead dogs These are the sheep that the hounds

hunted in the field. I have let them out that morning to clean the pen.

Alan Sloane shows me the pregnant ewes that were caught up

in the incident on his Rathfriland farm.

He heard the dogs baying and ran to get his gun.

By the time he reached the scene he says 15 sheep were cornered

in a field, a large dog making for them -

one of ten he says that had come onto his land.

There was a big black dog coming across here, heading into corner the

sheep and I shot him here. He says the dogs were part of a pack

out with a hunt Alan shot two more in them

in an adjacent field, where his ?1200 ram and some

pregnant horses were. He says he was well

within his rights. I had no option. It was let my stock

that hunted or should the dogs and the only option was to shoot the

dogs. It's the same with any farmer who has livestock in a field, they

have to look after their livelihood. Stag hunting has proven

controversial in the past, with complaints that the animals can

be chased through private property, to the point of exhaustion,

and claims that deer are being brought into an area to be

released and chased. Two of Alan Sloane's

ewes aborted their lambs He fears more of the pregnant

ones may do the same. He says his costs could run

to a four-figure sum, and he's going to

court to get it back. The countryside Alliance, which

represents the hunting fraternity, says investigating this incident but

because it is awaiting a report on that it cannot comment further. It

says it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ulster

farmers unions about access to land for funds and this is the first

incident since that was signed. Now sport, and Ireland are in Paris

this weekend for their second match of this year's Six Nations

rugby championship. Yes, and Ireland coach Joe Schmidt

has an unbeaten record But this French side is playing

under a new coach promising a return to the old flamboyant

swagger in a city in need Paris is a city still coming to

terms with the terror attacks in November. The stadium was caught in

that horrific Freddie evening with an international football match

abandoned as loud explosions were heard in the stadium. The scars

remain but sport has been a unifying influence as the country recovered.

We have not forgotten what happens still it is the biggest place to

late something in France, it is a symbol where people can go and trust

security and still enjoy themselves, that is how French art, it happened

that we are showing the world we can smile still. With a six-day

turnaround after the draw with Wales, Ireland has bent limited time

on the training pitch. We major the stuff we did on the pitch would be

relevant and we haven't wasted any time, we knew it was a six-day

turnaround and used a time as best we can. It may be only week two of

the tournament but having dropped point against Wales, the result of

this game could define Ireland's championship. Crucially Joe Schmidt

has never lost to the French during his coaching tenure but the visitors

have found this a difficult race to come, in fact Ireland have not

achieved back-to-back victories in the French capital since the 1920s.

Ulster kick off shortly against Pro12 champions Glasgow -

there's live commentary over on Radio Ulster from 7pm.

In Gaelic football, Crossmaglen face Castlebar in an All-Ireland club

semifinal at Breffni Park tomorrow night.

The Armagh side are chasing a record-equalling seventh title

and Carrick and Dungannon fought out a 2-2 draw last night -

a result that keeps both clubs stuck in the relegation battle at the foot

A late Douglas Wilson volley rescued a point for the Swifts.

There are four other games tonight with full coverage on

Tomorrow sees the JBE League Cup final between Ards and the holders

Cliftonville looking to win a record fourth in a row.

It will be massive, there is no club in the Irish League that has

achieved that and all being well, we will be the first ones to do that,

so it is a massive incentive for our boys and for the club to be going

for something like that, it is partial. The achievement of getting

there has been wonderful, the players deserve credit and we hope

they can go out on Saturday and play with freedom and express themselves

and worked their socks off. Michael Dunlop will race

for the Hawk Racing He will again ride the BMW Superbike

on which he dominated the TT two years ago, which included

a Superbike double. And news just in on that ticket

front for the Euros, the FAI have just announced a number 832 tickets

for Republic of Ireland fans. The weather now. What ever you are up to

this weekend you will need to wrap up warmly, it will be cold and today

the cloud came in with rain in places, especially across eastern

counties and earlier we had snow on the hills, slushy deposits to low

levels and this was the scene on cave help. For anyone at that time

span stadium for the Ulster Glasgow match, it is cold so you will need

to wrap up warmly. Showers starting to ease away at their could be a few

in the first part of the maps. We have a breeze pushing those showers

north and west as we go through the first part of the night, still snow

on the hill is not low-level is a mix of rain and sleet and later in

the night as those showers use of, we could see temperatures close to

freezing and could get some icy patches around into tomorrow

morning. With those showers easing away as we go into the weekend, it

is looking drier, variable, often large amounts of cloud and we still

have a cold wind, so whether we have icy patches tomorrow morning or not,

it will feel utterly cold, a lot of cloud and it will feel cold if you

work on the East Coast, that breeze coming in from the east so a bitter

wind here. You might get the odd bright spell but more cloud than

sunshine, though at least it is drive but those temperatures

struggling around 5 degrees. Tomorrow night we could see some

more breaks in the cloud, we could see temperatures fall that it

lowered down to freezing or below, so some frost and a risk of ice on

Sunday morning, it will be a cold one, we still have that breeze which

swings around from the north-east, a better chance of some bright spells

but temperatures still around 5 degrees.

Our late summary is at 10:30pm tonight. You can see more stories on