15/08/2016 BBC Newsline

This is BBC Newsline and these are the headlines this Monday

evening: The conclusions of an investigation

into a child protection body are described as shocking.

Relief for farmers over EU funding but fears continue over peace

A rural Orange hall is badly damaged by arsonists.

A row over an inquiry into alleged Irish ticket touting

And a big shock for team Ireland as the Golden girl from London 2012,

boxer Katie Taylor, is out. You know, I came in here prepared very

well, I gave it my best shot and it just didn't happen.

I'll be back with a look at how the rest of the week is shaping up.

Social workers have described as shocking

the content of a report into child protection.

The report follows an independent review of the Safeguarding Board

It has been criticised for not sharing vital information

in some cases and for failing to set up a panel

Our health correspondent Marie-Louise Connolly

Protecting children from harm is a huge responsibility from the -- for

the Department of Health. To improve how that works, the safeguarding

board was established. Made up of representatives including the

police, health trusts and social services, it aimed to establish

greater communication between groups sought to better protect children.

However, an independent review led by Professor Alexis Jay said the

board failed and what it was asked to do. Now appointed to lead the

National inquiry into child sex abuse, her findings here have caused

alarm. The report, I have to be honest was quite shocking, firstly

with the clarity, and it was very clear the concerns, but also Alexis

did not hold back from things difficult things that were hard to

read as a professional social worker. It is a highly critical

report which I led to the board spent too much time on wrong issues.

But tensions existed between those at the top and a lack of structure

provided, prevented vital information being shared. For

example, on that board, if the medical profession agreed to share

with the trusts, everybody else, for example the mental health and

well-being of the parent, and then the becomes unwell, they can share

that information with the social worker who can take preventative

action. It is that critical sharing of information that helps us to work

preventively rather than waiting until the incident happens. While

the review does not the children were harmed as a result of poor

practice, it does say that the proper mechanisms were not in place

for properly recording children's deaths. We do have children who die

in unexpected circumstances. Particularly our adolescence. And

what she says in this report is that the overview panel had not been set

up but there is too many processors and a lot of confusion about who

gets what information when a child dies, particularly when it is

unexpected. That has to be streamlined and it has to be clear

what happens. One of the running themes in this review is the lack of

communication that existed between the various organisations in place

to protect children. But perhaps equally shocking is the fact that

very few people who work in this area have been informed of the

review's recommendations, or have even been told that the report has

been published. The review makes 11 recommendations, including that the

board is notified of all deaths and children who have been significantly

harmed. Job protection must be prioritised. A review of staff roles

and grades should be undertaken immediately and learning must be

disseminated more quickly. The Department of Health says it has

asked for all of the recommendations to be fermented without delay. --

implemented. Farmers were given some good news

over the weekend as the Treasury gave a commitment to guarantee

direct payments to them until 2020. The move has been welcomed

by the Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen as a positive step ending

uncertainty over the UK's departure from the European

common agricultural policy. However, the Finance

Minister Mairtin O'Muilleoir has voiced his concern

that peace and cross border projects not approved within the next

three months could be in peril. Here's our political

editor Mark Devenport. Northern Ireland gets ?230 million

in direct farm payments from the European Union every year. That is

around 10% of all such agricultural support across the UK. So the

Treasury's guarantee that it will cover those payments until 2020

provides vital short-term relief for local farmers. It does get some

securities into former's businesses through to 2020, but of course,

then, the big challenge after that is certainly what happens next. But

hopefully in the interim period we can try and devise some sort of

support system which will sit UK agriculture. The European Union's

peace fund bankroll high-profile projects like the peace Bridge

across the river Foyle, whilst it is cross-border programme financed

ventures like the goblin's walkway along the Antrim coast. The

Chancellor has guaranteed his approval for Project signed off

before his statement due in November, but after that he will

look at future schemes on a case-by-case basis. I have asked the

Irish Government -- have asked, the Irish government an Executive at

last to have a guarantee that all peace funding would be fulfilled and

honoured between now and 2020. He has fallen short of making that

pledge. If we are not want to get proper consultation and I can see

problems going forward. Really the Executive need to up its game. Put a

real plan in place and go across and negotiate with Westminster to get

the best deal for Northern Ireland. Stormont ministers want to be fully

engaged in the brick that negotiations. But given the number

of competing interests in play, this probably will not be the last year

then complaining about not being kept in the picture. -- in the

Brexit negotiations. An Orange Hall near Ballyronan

in County Londonderry has been badly

damaged in an arson attack. It is the 21st such

attack on Orange Order It is now a familiar story, a tiny

rural Orange Hall empty unblocked for the night is set on fire. In

remote areas, it is lucky if is spotted before it doesn't do much

damage. And, indeed, a neighbour on this road out the smoke alarm. The

extensive damage to the building and its content has shocked the large

master. A banner, and a variety of musical instruments were destroyed.

All through the trouble is, when they were very bad, we never had any

problems. It is out of the Road down here and you would have to come down

here looking for it, other than that he would not find it. There has been

no bad feeling between neighbours or anything like that, Protestants and

Catholics, we always got one the best. This is the latest in a long

line of attack on Orange hall. There have been 21 reported in the last

year alone. The Orange Order is so concerned that its officials are to

meet the police in the next three days to discuss the trend. Only two

years ago, there is an hundred and 20-year-old hall was completely

renovated. Now, they're faced with picking up the pieces of a wrecked

building. -- is 120-year-old Paul was completely renovated. Now,

they're faced with picking up the pieces of a wrecked building. --

this 120-year-old hall. A fire at a derelict

building in Sion Mills The blaze at the former

Herdman's Mills last night lasted for about three hours

and caused significant damage. There has been a series of arson

attacks at the site in recent years, including two fires within the space

of two days in June. You're watching BBC

Newsline and still to come: The latest on a story about claims

of a huge fraud in renewable energy. An alleged ticket touting scandal

in Rio has led to a row between the Republic's government

and the Olympic Council of Ireland. One wants independent

representatives involved in an inquiry into what happened,

the other doesn't. BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson

has the latest. All the countries competing at the

Olympics are allocated tickets. Part of the Irish allocation was seized

by police investigating a ticket touting scam in Rio. They were being

sold for inflated prices. Tickets for the opening ceremony were

allegedly being offered for four times their face value. Leaving the

Olympic Council of Ireland with questions to answer. They have

insisted they did nothing wrong. They are investigating what happened

but have rejected calls for an independent inquiry. , I can tell

you that only senior council's advise we are carrying out her own

investigation, which have already started. -- that under senior

counsel's advise. We are not investigating ourselves, we are

investigating the trail of the tickets and whatever happened and we

have to get the answers. The Irish Sports Minister tried to change his

mind during an hour-long meeting in Rio last night. But he did not

succeed. I am absolutely stunned by the reaction. I cannot believe that

the... Will refuse to take an independent on inquiry. We are

certainly looking at the prospect of a different inquiry that is not been

ruled out. While the dispute continues between the sports chief

Andy Sports Minister, the authorities in the sale are

continuing their investigation. An Irish businessman was arrested last

week and this evening a Brazilian judge ordered the arrest of four

other people. All believed to be executives from an international

sports hospitality company. It has been a difficult Olympics for the

Irish team, and there is no sign of the ticket controversy going away.

Mike Simson, BBC Newsline. Stephen Watson will be live from Rio

later in the programme. He will have the latest on the

sporting action from today. Next an update on

a BBC Newsline story about the alleged abuse

of a renewable energy scheme. A whistle blower claims some

companies have defrauded the system Well, experts have begun checking

those who took advantage although the Department

of the Economy says it has no plans to publish an internal

review of how it was run. Our agriculture and environment

correspondent Renewable heat was good business for

John Martin's company. He put wood burning boilers into nursing homes,

golf clubs and factories, which wanted to switch from oil and were

attracted by a generous government subsidy. But the whole scheme was

loosely run and open to abuse. With no cap on payments, the more you

burned, the more you earn. A whistle-blower claimed some

companies put in boilers they did not need, that a farmer was eating

an empty shed. Each was hoping to rack up ?1 million of profit over 20

years. The tax payer you would have to foot the bill. Auditors said that

could be up to ?150 million over the next five years. That prompted

several investigations, including a joint one by the Department of the

economy and the regulator Ofgem. It helped run the scheme here. With

being an industry, we have heard rumours were some of the

installations may not be to the scheme requirements. We welcome the

fact that Ofgem are now doing audits and accreditations on the schemes,

which will identify those which are not eligible to be in the scheme. It

was designed to be energy saving, not a scheme to make money. The

economy department have already been given pride of the review commission

to identify potential abuses but says there are no plans to publish

the report when it has been finalised. That just leaves a second

defendant audit commissioned by the economy minister. Auditors are

already on the ground checking a percentage of the installations.

Amongst the abuse they are looking for suggestions that empty sheds

were be needed just for the sake of the subsidy and that in some cases

he was being diverted to people's homes. It will be September before

the Minister's independent audit is complete. Only then, and only if it

is published, all taxpayers here get a truer picture of how much public

money has gone up in smoke. Also coming up:

Four wins from Ian Hutcheson at the Ulster Grand Prix. We will not all

of the action. -- we will have all the action.

Two riders seriously injured in this year's North West 200

have returned to the spot where they crashed for the first time.

One of them has just got out of hospital

while the other is out of competition for two years.

Returning to the crash site where he almost died just three months ago,

Ryan Farquhar says he is lucky to be alive. The writer says his thoughts

were of a fellow racer killed in almost the same place just two days

later. It is one thing, because I have crashed and hurt myself pretty

badly, but with Mitchell having a similar crash to myself and sadly he

did not make it, you know, it puts it into even more perspective how

lucky I am to be here. Despite what he has been through, Ryan said he is

not ready to quit racing. I am hoping that I do not have to, you

know, hang my leathers up. Do these circumstances. I do not want to

finish my career that way. So I will be very, very determined to get my

racing licence back and take part in a race, maybe even a classic race or

some sort of race, but my career is not finished, I hope. This was

difficult to hear for the North West 200. Competitor Ben Wilson broke his

leg so badly at this friend there were fears he had lost it. It was

only 45 minutes from losing a leg, because it was the a severe break.

The blood flow to it was not great. But the surgeons sorted that out and

I have still got my leg and we are trying to get everything sorted so

that we can get back on the bike as soon as possible. Race organisers

admit that whatever safety precautions are taken, the North

West 200 can never be deemed totally safe. It is a road race. It is high

speeds. It has to be realised that that is what it is, at the end of

the day. But from an organiser point of view, or you can work as it is to

make it as safe as you possibly can. Plans for next's Road race are

already underway but for now this will go ahead without Ryan Farquhar

and Ben Wilson. An incident that involved a lorry

getting stuck under a bridge has led to a campaign to try

to protect one of Ireland's medieval

fortifications. Saint Laurence Gate in Drogheda

dates back to Norman times. Our Dublin correspondent

Shane Harrison has more. At the most of the River Barrow,

this -- River Boyne, this town is steeped in history, with many iconic

sites. The town was worse, once a fortress and some of those

fortifications remain, including Saint Laurence Gate, built on the

13th century. At the moment, traffic can pass on to the gate but an

independent councillor hopes that will soon change. We have never been

able to get the full support of the Council and when you look at the

structure, and you look at its history, it was there to protect

from the invasion for the town. It withstood Cromwell and many

invasions and, really and truly, to have it damaged by a truck, which

could close it after 800 years, would be a sin if we were to let

that happen. Sin or not, a truck recently got stuck trying to pass

through the arch. Since then, thousands had signed a petition

demanding that the date be closed to traffic. Our idea is to protect the

gate and all of the medieval architectural structures in the town

and make the gate at the gateway to the north-east. And for this to be

the jewel of that. It is a laudable goal and one that seems to have the

support of most of the townspeople. It should be closed. From a

practical point of view, it is really dangerous for traffic as it

is anyway. And apart from that, as a tourist attraction, we cannot really

use it. People cannot get near it and cannot get up on it because it

is dangerous. It should been closed to traffic years ago. It is

no-brainer and if the will was there in the council, it would have been

closed years ago. So who might be opposed to the campaign? Taxi

drivers, I was told, because they believe it would add to the already

bad congestion. But amongst them, there was divided opinion and nobody

wanted to see anything on camera. If the campaigners get their way, Saint

Laurence Gate might see the last vehicle pass on to it later this

year. -- pass under it. Now sport, and there was another

shock for Team Ireland's Stephen?

Thank you. Team Ireland's Olympic boxing story started badly before a

punch was even from, when Michael Riley failed a drugs test. He has

since admitted that he took a supplement that may contain a banned

substance. And then his team-mates started exiting the competition won

by one. Starting with the most experienced fighter, Paddy Barnes,

who lost his opening fight. He was of course a double bronze Olympic

medallist. And then, today, Katie Taylor, London 2012 gold medal

winner, was the latest to fall. A decision which left the team very

unhappy. Distraught after a disappointing

defeat. Katie Taylor was the Golden girl of team Ireland four years ago.

But she was dethroned after a tough first fight today. A split decision

and a hard one for her to take on. COMMENTATOR: The reigning Olympic

champion has been eliminated at the quarterfinal stage. It has been a

very tough year. I suffered it, you know, a lot of losses this year and

it is very hard to take but the Olympics was really it for me and

I... I came in here prepared very well, I give it my best shot and it

just didn't happen. So that just leaves Michael Conlon to fly the

flag for the boxers. The Belfast man says he can handle the expectation

and is confident of still delivering gold. COMMENTATOR: Conlon stood toe

to toe and box... A lot of pressure and I love what it brings. It was a

tough contest. My legs kind of didn't do what I wanted them to do

today. They wanted to go to war and I wanted to box. I got into a war

and it is what it is. I got the win as I progressed to the next round

and I will get better. And Conlon is back in the ring tomorrow.

Yes, Michael Kohlmann will try to salvage these Olympic games for the

boxers. Team Ireland retain medal

interest in two classes. Annalise Murphy starts today's medal

race in the women's Laser Radial in third position and is still well

placed to contest for gold, while Ryan Seaton

and Matt McGovern are going well They will start today's racing lying

in fourth position overall. We will hear from both of them

tomorrow. No to something slightly faster.

Ian Hutchinson dominated Saturday's Ulster Grand Prix meeting

as the Englishman had four wins, including both Superbike races.

Gavin Andrews reports on the action at Dundrod.

Michael Dunlop started on pole position as the superstock race

opened proceedings. But he lost that initiative at the very start and had

to work his way back into contention. Eventually passing race

leader Ian Hutchinson at the sweet. But on the last lap, hesitation

behind a back markers for the English raider retain a decisive

advantage for his first win of the day. Just had to be patient and make

a plan. Obviously the only thing that could go wrong it was red

flagged, because I wanted to do that on the last lap. It was tight, we

came across the back marker and it was who ever came across it first

would win so I had to make sure I was pass first. There was an

exciting tussle in the first a good sport race as he battled with Bruce.

A red flag for a premature end to proceedings, leaving antsy as race

winner. After a first ever Super Pole qualifying lap around the

circuit, there was a 3-way battle as Ian Hutchinson finished ahead of

Dunlop and Ansti. And two more victories would follow in the super

sport and Superbike races. Quite a day for the Yorkshire man.

And you can watch a special highlights programme of the action

on BBC Two tonight from nine o'clock.

In the Danskebank Premiership, champions Crusaders and last

season's runners-up Linfield both remain unbeaten

after their clash at the weekend ended in stalemate.

The first real heavyweight clash of the season was in truth a bit of a

disappointment. Linfield went down to ten men when Steven Laurie got a

second yellow. Buddy David Healy's side were able to repel all of the

champions -- all the champions could throw at them in a scoreless draw. I

felt it was a nothing game. The ball was in the ear too much. Both sets

of defenders on top when the headers out of there. There was very little

football played in the game. It was hurly-burly and all that type of

stuff but for me it was not a great game of football to watch. In stark

contrast to mourn Viewpark, where Cliftonville got a 2-1 lead, only

for yet another dramatic comeback with two late goals and a 3-2 win.

Character snatched three points at the Oval, courtesy of McGill.

Well Dungannon ran a comfortable 4-0 winner.

A Tony came penalty got this team their first victory of the season.

And this late winner against Portadown leaves their team on

unbeaten. we'll have the result

on our later bulletin. Which of our local competitors do

you think we should be keeping an eye on at the Olympics, with just a

week to go? Team Ireland are sadly running out

of medal opportunities but tomorrow all eyes will be on Belfast boxer

Michael Conlon. Seven of our boxers have lost, he is the only one

remaining in the competition. He has a tough fight against a Russian

opponent who has beaten him before, but Michael is a European and world

champion and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that he can bring

home cold for a team Ireland. Lets hope so. We will talk to you

tomorrow again. Thank you for now. The weather forecast

is next with Cecilia Daly. We had 23 degrees today and tomorrow

we could see temperatures a degree or so higher. It has been sunny

across practically the whole of Ireland, hardly a cloud around, for

a perfect day for the beach for those on their holidays. That is

what some people did today so I can tell you from personal experience,

last week there were very few people in the water! If they were, they had

wet suits on rather than bathing suits. It is great to see some rain

is on the north coast today. Another taste of summer to come tomorrow but

cloudy weather moves in on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing some rain but

still of warmth throughout. The end of the week, however, will be more

unsettled. Hopefully you can get a sneaky day off tomorrow and enjoy it

enjoy it. It is a fine evening and clear night to come to stop

temperatures will drop away, possibly just dipping into single

figures in one or two spot in the countryside. First thing tomorrow,

for those up very early, it will be a little bit cooler, perhaps some

early morning mist, but it will rapidly warm and any mistiness will

disappear because there were once again be lots of blue sky and

virgin. The breeze makes all the difference and, again, it is from

the south or sites so that means that temperatures could will peak up

towards the north coast. -- site or South East. We may well see 25

somewhere tomorrow, so it will feel warm at those beaches on the north

coast. A little bit cooler on our beaches at the East Coast, with the

breeze finally and off the sea, but still quite nice. Temperatures in my

team. A lovely day with strong sunshine, which we are not that used

to over the last weeks! Later in the day, we may well see a couple of

showers moving in from the West. Particularly tomorrow evening and

tomorrow night. It will be a warm one tomorrow night, temperatures in

many places in the teens. This area of rain behind me as a weather front

which will struggle to come eastwards through Wednesday and

Thursday. It means eventually cloud and some rain coming in and then

this area of low pressure is what we need to keep an eye on for next

weekend, bringing some fairly blustery winds and somewhat

persistent rain. On Wednesday, still someone's around, not as sunny. Some

wet weather, mainly in the West. Temperatures gradually drop towards

the end of the week. You can also keep in contact with us

via Facebook and twitter.