05/05/2016 BBC Newsline

Good evening, the headlines on BBC Newsline: 15 men are arrested

at a dissident republican funeral in Strabane.

The widow of Michael McGibbon appeals

to her husband's killers to tell her why he was murdered.

Political parties are hoping the good weather will get the voters out

today. How many dads are taking advantage

of a change in the law to stay at home with their little ones.

It may be chilly in places tonight

but tomorrow is shaping up to be another nice one.

15 men were arrested after the funeral of dissident

republican Michael Barr in Strabane this morning.

The 34-year-old was shot dead in Dublin ten days ago.

The men detained by police are being questioned about alleged

membership of the dissident republican group referred

Michael Barr was a member of the organisation.

Here's our North-West reporter, Keiron Tourish.

Around a dozen men in paramilitary-style uniform

led the cortege as it slowly made its way along

Relatives and friends of Michael Barr helped

carry his coffin as it made its way from the village of Clady,

It's on the border with Donegal and this morning Gardai manned

checkpoints in the village of Lifford, a mile from Strabane.

In the town itself there was a noticeable PSNI

34-year-old Michael Barr was shot dead at the Sunset House pub

near Croke Park on the 25th of April.

Two men, described as skinny and wearing masks, entered

the North Inner City bar and fired a number of shots around 9:30pm.

Michael Barr had been living in the area where he was shot dead.

He was known to Gardai for his involvement

He'd also appeared in court on IRA membership charges.

Several hundred mourners joined the cortege as it

made its way for requiem mass at St Mary's Church in Melmount.

Here too there was a noticeable PSNI presence.

Officers maintained a discreet distance throughout.

The coffin, which had earlier been draped in a tricolour with black

beret and gloves on top, was then taken inside the church.

Several hours after the funeral, the PSNI mounted a major operation and

arrested 15 men. The context behind that is that we have had some public

commentary around the fact the deceased was allegedly the member of

a violent dissident republican group known as the new IRA, and that the

funeral with take place in a fashion in line with that. What we saw this

morning on the streets of Strabane was what appeared to be a

paramilitary style display, and as a result the subsequent leasing

operation we have arrested 15 men in arrested with suspected terror

related offences. been several occasions in which men

and women in paramilitary style uniform paraded on the streets.

There was a large turnout for Peggy O'Hara in July last year along the

streets of Derry before the funeral of the mother of IRA hunger striker

Patsy O'Hara. The PSNI released feud details about their operation today.

It's understood the men arrested have been taken to Musgrave Street

early station for questioning. The widow of Michael McGibbon,

who was murdered in North Belfast last month, has appealed

to his killers to explain The father-of-four died

after being shot in the legs Dissident republicans were blamed

for the murder. Joanne McGibbon has been left

to bring up her four It's three weeks since her husband

Michael was killed. The 33-year-old taxi driver was shot

by a paramilitary gang, believed I'm just saying that

I would like to have more answers. I don't know what way they can get

answers to me, But just the reason, why they did

this to our family, to Michael. Just to be clear, do you want

answers for your own peace of My priority is to get answers

for me and my family. I know someone was ordered to shoot

him, but they worked together. I really don't believe there is any

way of getting any of them. She has heard one possible reason

why her husband was targeted. There was an argument between Michael and

a girl who got into his taxi, she didn't want to pay for her affair

and she had no money, and I reckon she was related to one of these

dissidents, as they call themselves, and she said, do you know who I am?

He said, I don't care who you are, so I think they said, let's show him

who we are. I don't know, I could be wrong. Her focus now is on her

children, but family life is very difficult.

My son showed me a picture that his sister had drawn

of how she was going to kill her father's killers.

That hurt me, but at the same time that is reality.

This is what my kids are going through, and this is what she feels,

so I let her draw the picture and explain to her,

Joanne and her family will soon removing out of the area. She says

it has too many painful memories. A man charged with murdering prison

officer Adrian Ismay in East Belfast was back in court today,

less than 24 hours after Adrian is made died 11 days after a

bomb exploded under his van in March.

The police said Christopher Robinson failed to respond to a curfew check

when they called at his home in Aspen Park in Dunmurry

and a defence lawyer indicated that his client had taken some

alcohol after spending weeks in custody.

The judge released Christopher Robinson on bail again

but warned him that he must get up any time police call.

A man charged with a murder in south Belfast was identified

by the victim's partner as a person who came into their home carrying

Stephen Carson was shot in the head at his home in Walmer Street off

Police said he was eating dinner with his partner and nine-year-old

son when at least three men carrying a hammer and a shotgun burst in.

Michael Smith, from Ardmonagh Gardens in Belfast,

who has been charged with the murder, was refused bail

A detective said he had been identified by

The judge said he was concerned about intimidation of witnesses

and Michael Smith's record, which includes violence.

We head to the north-west to visit of a few remaining ancient

woodlands. The head of the teaching union has

come under fire after she described some preschool staff as well-meaning

amateurs. The comments followed the publication of a report which stated

every nursery should have a qualified early years teacher to

help toddlers develop speech and language skills. Helen Jones

reports. All very happy

the children they should be because the grown-up is a qualified teacher

and 41 teaching union, anything less is not good enough. They labelled

hundreds of preschool classroom staff as well-meaning amateurs.

Those who work in privately funded playgroups and nurseries. Things

like speech and language and learning difficulties, teachers are

trained to pick up on those and that is why we feel they shouldn't be

allowed to do those jobs. You are standing by comments that teachers

in private nurseries are well meaning parameters. Not all of them

but a feud don't have the qualifications we think are

necessary. This is one private day nursery, but is it wrong by

well-meaning amateurs? Every parent wants their child to get the best

start in life. The Ulster teachers union says children like these have

been left in the hands of people who lack the necessary skills. How many

teachers out there would know that a child or a two-year-old had delayed

development or a child of a year and a half? Not many teachers would be

qualified in the early years to spot signs of autism or speech and

language. Our staff are very highly qualified and skilled. And your

reaction to this comment that the school is run by well-meaning

amateurs? I'm horrified. I feel she needs to come into the settings to

see the valuable and amazing work being done with children, and I feel

she needs to retract her statement. You know what they say, your school

days are the best days of your life, and certainly the children here seem

to be more than content. Voters are deciding today

who should represent them Counting begins tomorrow

and will last two days. In a moment we'll hear from our

Political Editor, Mark Devenport. But first our political

correspondent, Stephen Walker, Polling stations opened at 7am

this morning and will The parties hope the good weather

will enhance turnout. Early reports from a number

of polling stations said voting was steady and election officials

expect turnout to pick Party leaders and senior politicians

voted early in the day. DUP leader Arlene Foster voted close

to her home in Fermanagh. Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness went

to his local polling station this morning in Derry,

as did the SDLP's Colum Eastwood. The UUP leader Mike Nesbitt voted

in Belfast, and the Alliance Party leader David Ford cast his vote

at a polling station in Ballyclare. 276 candidates are competing for 108

seats across 18 constituencies. And 2200 counting staff

have been recruited. This count centre in Belfast is one

of eight that will be in operation. Tomorrow this will be

a hive of activity. Two days have been set

aside to count the votes, And the first results

are expected in the afternoon. It will be Saturday before

we have the full picture With me now is our political

editor, Mark Devenport. We heard a lot about turnout. Any

indications of how things are looking? At the polling stations,

they posted the turnout at noon and then at 5pm, so we have seen on

social media pictures of those turnouts. Some polling stations

around ten or 15% around noon, at 5pm it is more like 25 or 33%, so

the numbers develop and one rule of thumb that some observers used is to

double the 5pm figure to give you the final figure. If that is the

case it is reasonably healthy and that will bear the notion that the

sunny weather has made up for what some people saw as a lacklustre

campaign. What do people need to remember? This is a PR election so

they should mark their ballot papers with a one, two, three, and so one.

They can go all the way down the list and in some places that is a

very long list, or as few as they like so they can stop after one, so

there is no set number, just do not put an X or another number on that

paper. You do need your polling card but you need some form of ID, a

driving licence, a passport, and an electoral affinity card or a smart

pass. And elections across the water, they are counting overnight

but we aren't. Because of the single transferable voting system, McCain

will be a long business, taking at least two days, so even though we

have more than 2000 staff, the organisers think there is no point

getting them tired overnight if the finishing line will not be inside,

so they will start at 8am, carry on tomorrow and we will not get the

final results until Saturday. Thank you. And on the view tonight, Mark

Carruthers will ask what it's like to run an election campaign and how

this compares to others down the years.

The High Court has been told that a man accused of raping a woman in a

park near Dungannon try to harm himself in prison last night. The

details emerged during a bail application by the defendant earlier

today. Mervyn Jess reports. The victim was raped in this

popular walking and cycling She had been walking her

dog when was subjected to what the police described

as an ambush-style attack. The accused, James Wright

from Derrylee Road in Dungannon, appeared at a court in Omagh

earlier this week charged with the sexual assault

after a psychiatrist assessed him as being fit to be interviewed

by police and charged. Today the defendant's legal

team applied for bail During the hearing the court

was told the victim had resigned herself to the sex assault

amid fears that she would be killed. It also emerged that the man had

attempted to The High Court was told that the

accused man had tried to strangle himself while in custody. A defence

barrister said the 23-year-old had an IQ of 44 and he had never come

across a criminal trial involving someone with an IQ of less than 50.

Opposing bail, the prosecution said the rape had taken place in the

middle of the day in a public area frequented eye cyclists, children

and dog walkers. The judge said that while it was the obligation of the

court to protect the public, there is also an obligation come given

court to protect the public, there limitations and IQ, to protect the

accused. The application was adjourned pending further reports to

the judge. News regarding next week's Northwest

200, plus we will have action from the Cookstown 100, including

dramatic footage from this crash in which the writer thankfully emerged

unscathed. The law that allows parents to share leave after the

birth of a baby has been in place for a year, but how many parents are

taking up the chance? Things have changed

a lot over the years. It used to be that men waited

outside the delivery suite. And they certainly wouldn't have

been taking time off But things are different

now - or are they? Since 2003, fathers have been

entitled to take up to two weeks of paid paternity leave to spend

time with their new baby. But since last April,

legislation went even further and gave fathers the option

of taking up to a year off by sharing parental

leave with the mother. Before that can happen,

the mother must take the first two weeks,

or four if they work in a factory - after that, it's up to the parents

how to share it out. That can take any number of

different forms. They can take it in three blocks. Interestingly, the

parents could decide between themselves to take six-month leave

together, but they must make sure they comply with the statutory

requirements to give notice to their employer and provide documentation,

but once they have done that, the employer cannot refuse.

The question is - have many fathers taken advantage of this new law?

But we have obtained figures from one of our biggest employers -

They show that 304 men took paternity leave in the 12 months

after the introduction of the scheme last April.

Of those, just nine took shared parental leave -

When it comes to women, 928 staff took maternity leave.

Out of those, only one took shared parental leave.

That figure equates to just 0.1% of the overall number.

Well, these mums at this toddler group weren't.

They get kind of bored in the house, it is newborn babies, they just

sleep all day and it's easier going back to work. Could have done with

it because I had Caesareans with all my children, but we never considered

it. We thought about it but then we worked out my husband's wages and it

wasn't going to be good for us because he would lose more than I

would have lost. The father will not even paid the mother for the first

six weeks after the birth, and not everyone wants to give up her

maternity leave for the father, but that wasn't the case in this

household. Paul is currently taking 14 weeks

of shared parental leave. It's a great initiative

by the government to offer this but I feel a lot more

could be done to promote it, both by the government

and by employers. So, one year on from these

new changes in parental leave and it's still very much a case

of baby steps. The countryside was once

covered by large forests. It was said a squirrel could travel

from one the length of the country Much of that ancient

woodland is gone. But in a few places it is still

possible to find it. Our agriculture and environment

correspondent, Conor Macauley, went to Londonderry to visit one

such corner which hasn't changed On the outskirts of Derry, pretend

would is 1 million miles from the bustle of city life. It has stood

here since the 1600s. It's 20 acres for all that remains of what -- a

once mighty forest that stretched to Strabane. Bluebells indicate would

land of which we only have a few pockets left. It would land that has

been in continuous existence for 400 years. It is owned and protected by

the Woodland Trust, whose job it is to conserve places like this. We

look at all the old places in Ireland and see the word Derry

coming in like Edenderry and Alan Derry, which signifies that these

were woodlands. Many of those have now disappeared. There's a carpet of

bluebells in this little late and these are the native plant, but some

bluebells you see in people's gardens, they are a foreign

interloper. This is typically aren't native bluebell. The head is turned

over on one side and it is a lovely deep purple blue colour. In

Brookhaven, I meet an ecologist who knows how to tell the native and

Spanish bluebell apart. It is a beautiful deep blue colour, whereas

the Spanish lube up is bigger and bolder, that flower is right around

the stem, it tends to be paid and it is a bigger plant. Would land like

this will support many mammals and birds, and Bobby is pretty good at

spotting them. That's another robin singing. There is a rent in the

distance over here. And what we can hear in the distance is a willow

warbler. Their song starts at the top of the scale and twitters down.

warbler. Their song starts at the The bluebells are at their best now

but they will only last for The bluebells are at their best now

the canopy, they will begin to weather, so now is

the canopy, they will begin to out and appreciate them.

the canopy, they will begin to 100, attention now turns to the

north-west. BBC Newsline will be

at the North West 200 all next week, In a last-minute development,

the Dungannon rider has told us that he will be on board

the factory BMW Superbike. At the age of 40, Ryan Farquhar

is still pinching himself at the opportunity to race as part

of the Tyco team in the North Today he was busy testing

at Kirkiston, trying to get everything right

on his new machinery. If you had told me five or six years

ago that I would be writing a factory supported bike for Philip

and Hector, I would have said that would never happen, to be in a

situation now to be part of the team is great, so excited. It's fair to

say I have never had an opportunity on a proper superbike, so hopefully

this year with the experience, I'm not getting any younger, with the

experience I have an if I can get a good setup Abbey fit to run with the

best. At the Cookstown 100,

Derek Sheils and William Dunlop shared the top honours,

taking two wins apiece. Dunlop won both Supersport races,

although the opening contest was reduced to five laps

after second-placed Malachi Mitchell-Thomas lost

control of his bike. Dubliner Sheils had earlier

triumphed in the Open race, I good race, I got into the

art and had a controlled race, kept my head down and kept it steady. A

bit of drizzle on the visor, it was unnerving but worked out OK.

Room McIlroy recovered from an uncertain start to his defence of

the Wells Fargo championship at Quail Hollow. At one point he was

out for a four over par but rallied with eight birdies in the last four

holes to finish the day one boat -- fought over, still one shot off the

early lead. Now the forecast. The bright weather is back, nice to see

sunshine again and the Giant's Causeway was our highest

temperature, 16 degrees. We have been between weather fronts today,

the first was yesterday's that brought cloud and patchy rain, one

or two showers but for the most part it was fair weather cloud, much as

you can see at Glenarm, not spoiling a fine and dry day. We end the day

with one or two light showers that generally dry, a bright end and it

stays dry with clear spells overnight. There is likely to be

some medium and high cloud across the eastern counties, so

temperatures are not too bad but where we get clearer spells in and

towards the West, temperatures could get close to freezing, so rural

green frost is likely, maybe the odd pocket of mist and fog. They will go

fairly quickly tomorrow and it is another fine day, dry with spells of

sunshine. It could be hazy where we do have medium and high cloud across

eastern counties, so did their sunshine is likely to be further

west and towards the north-west, but we have a little bit of a northerly

breeze coming onto the North Coast, so I don't think we will see 16 like

today, more like 11 or 12, and inland and further south

temperatures getting up to 14 or 15 degrees. Tomorrow night is dry,

variable cloud, temperatures in the countryside dipping to three or

four, so maybe low enough for the odd pocket of frost, then on

Saturday we have a weather front moving in from the site. You can see

the isobars hiking in, indicative of the wind picking up, but even though

it will be breezy and gusty on Saturday, the first half of the day

does not look bad with some sunshine, during the afternoon

showers will edge in from the south and there is the potential for some

to be sharp. They clear away to the north-west, and then Sunday into

Monday, that warmer air is heading our way, so on Monday we could see

temperatures around 20 in places. I'll be back with full coverage of

via Facebook and Twitter. I'll be back with full coverage of

the election results from 3pm on BBC One tomorrow afternoon.