05/10/2016 BBC Newsline

Minister Theresa May has sat at a vision of a fairer

David Ford is to step down as Alliance Party leader tomorrow.

We hear from the man who blinded himself after self harming

You try to wake up with positive thoughts but it's hard.

Robust exchanges as the Finance Minister

appears in front of a Stormont committee.

What part of no knowledge of dust the committee not understand?

people from Northern Ireland have applied for an Irish passport

at the new Magherafelt By-pass ahead of its opening tomorrow.

Tackling mental health through Sport - Irish rugby international

feel to the air as well but still largely dry.

David Ford is stepping down as leader of the Alliance Party.

The South Antrim MLA is the party's longest serving leader.

He also served as the first Justice Minister when policing

powers were devolved to the Assembly in 2010.

Here's our Political Editor, Mark Devenport.

I hope you'll be voting for Alliance.

A social worker before he entered politics,

David Ford has represented South Antrim for 18 years.

For the past 15 years he's been the Alliance leader and in 2010

he made history by becoming the first local Justice

12 years and two days ago the politicians of Northern Ireland, the

Prime Minister and the Taoiseach stood on the steps to record a

significant step forward in the peace process. To date we have seen

another significant step forward in the police and political process as

we see further entrenching of the in situations agreed on Good Friday.

As minister he tackled the high cost of legal aid and tried to reform

At times, the pressure seemed all too clear,

such as when he was asked if the Prison Service director

should resign after a highly critical report on Maghaberry jail.

I said to questions, that was three. Should you resign? Is that on your

mind? You were told I had time for two questions and I had to see the

Secretary of State, and I will not be resigning.

A high point came when Naomi Long became the first Alliance politician

to be elected as an MP in East Belfast.

But Mrs Long and other Alliance representatives suffered

intimidation after the party voted to limit the number of days

the Union flag should fly over Belfast City Hall.

at one level but it really was a high point to see the way

in which my colleagues stood together supporting

each other, stood absolutely firm by our principles,

and I think that shows the kind of strength we have in Alliance.

We may not have vast numbers compared to

some other parties but we have a cohesion,

we work together and we support each other well.

The 250 members of Alliance's ruling council will meet in three weeks'

Any of Mr Ford's seven MLA colleagues is entitled to stand.

That said, party insiders predict that Naomi Long could be the only

candidate. Mrs Long becomes acting leader

tomorrow when Mr Ford formally stands down,

and she is without doubt the clear A Londonderry man who blinded

himself after self-harming in Maghaberry prison says he misses

seeing the joy and happiness 23-year-old Sean Lynch inflicted

what was described as "extreme and shocking" self-harm over

a three-day period in prison. A Prison Ombudsman report found that

two prison officers stood and watched for over an hour

as he injured himself Two years on, he's still extremely

distressed about Here's our North-West reporter,

Keiron Tourish. It's all right, it's a fresh day.

Even a simple trip to the park can present problems for Sean Lynch.

Each day when I wake and is a lot tougher than it used to be. I used

to be able to get up in the morning and get dressed and get out on my

bicycle and go on a run, and since this happened at Maghaberry, I can't

get none of it done. From an early age Sean Lynch sowed enthusiasm for

sport and had a number of cross-channel sports after his

signature that is like she took a different turn and he developed a

history of drug and alcohol abuse. Mental health in this followed. It

was well in Rick -- Maghaberry prison that he blinded himself and

injured his groin area. The ombudsman said he inflicted extreme

self harm. They said CCTV cameras showed Sean Lynch shouting in pain

and banging his cell door but two officers watched and did not

intervene. They watched self harm for 67 minutes and didn't enter the

cell because the security of the present might be at risk, so they

thought Sean might have got the keys to escape from jail and they let him

carry on until he blinded himself. All they had to do was walk in and

handcuff him and he would have his site today. The family of Sean Lynch

says the way the authorities reacted to the report caused great anguish.

There's been no sympathy and no apology from anybody. Sean lives

from day to day now, and life is difficult for them. He lives in

darkness everyday. What do you missed the most when you hear your

family's voices? I miss being able to set and have a one-to-one

conversation face to face. I miss seeing them smiling. The happiness.

The head of the prison service, Sue McAllister, defended her staff and

said they had looked after Sean Lynch in a caring and professional

way, and it should not be about a portion in claim or apologising. In

the face of the report compiled by the ombudsman that is nonsense

because her staff watched for 67 minutes as Mr Lynch inflicts

grooviest injuries on himself. Sean Lynch knows his life will never be

the same again but says he is determined to move on, and he says

he knows he can depend on the hill, love and support of his family. --

help. There were some heated exchanges

at Stormont today as the Finance Minister Mairtin O Muilleoir

was questioned about secret contacts between a former Sinn Fein MLA

and a loyalist blogger. Mr O Muilleoir denied he had any

knowledge of the back channel correspondence between Daithi McKay

and Jamie Bryson ahead of Mr Bryson's appearance before

an inquiry into Nama. The Minister was appearing

before the Finance Our political correspondent

Enda McClafferty was watching. So what did the Minister

have to say? The minister was adamant that he had

no questions to anchor surrounding these coaching allegations. He said

he was in Spain on holiday when the story broke and his conscious was

clear that this was a pretty bad tempered meeting, and pretty

bizarre. At one point the Minister attempted to question the committee

chairwoman, a little pain Kelly, and she pointed out he was there to

answer questions and not ask them, and that set the tone for what was

to follow, and the Minister, when he was pushed about his relationship

with the three central players, said this. Any linkage, any connection,

any thread which can link me to the affair surrounding Mr O'Hara, Mr

Bryson and Mr MacKay, and here is the rub. It's been a long time since

I was in San Sebastien but those who were throwing the mud have not been

able to get any scintilla of evidence, any little patch of

evidence linking me to this disgraceful and inappropriate

behaviour. Jim Allister has received

copies of the exchanges Yes, Jim Allister said he had

received a transcript of the exchanges between the three central

players, although it was pointed out either committee chair that this was

an edited transcript and there were parts missing, and she said the

committee could not read much into this because of that, but Jim

Allister had a chance to put some of the contents of what he received to

the Minister, and this is what the Minister had to say when Jim

Allister accused him of being in denial about what had happened. I

admire Chris Sandow, it's like the end of Colombo when Colombo says

just one more thing and he has some evidence, but well we have been

dancing around this, you haven't done that. Sometimes those who were

highest fall the hardest. And in a surprise development,

the police also addressed Yes, we learned late on that one of

the committee meeting was delayed for over an hour, a senior police

officer was talking to members, impressing on them not to say

anything that might hamper a future police investigation. The police

asked to bring out this inquiry to see if any offences have been

committed but we expect to hear back from them to find out what their

next move will be on this one. Thank you.

Belfast Crown Court has heard how one of the defendants accused

of murdering an Armagh man and dumping his body in a bin blamed

his co-accused for the assault during a conversation

Stephen Hughes spoke to his mother from a police station

Stephen Hughes and Shaunean Boyle face charges of murdering

Owen Creaney's body was discovered in a wheelie bin at this house.

A postmortem examination revealed it had taken him two days to die.

25-year-old Shaunean Boyle and 29-year-old Stephen Hughes stand

In court today, the jury heard that after Stephen Hughes arrived

at Antrim Police Station he asked to be able to call his dad.

While on the phone, his father said his mother wanted

This is part of that conversation - listened to by the custody officer.

Stephen Hughes' mother asks him, who put Owen Creaney in the bin?

He answers, "the two of us" - a reference to his

His mother then asks her son what he had done.

He answers that she, again referring to Shauenean Boyle,

hit him, put him up the stairs, she cleaned him up, saying

that she had checked on him and found him dead,

adding that it was Shaunean Boyle who had stood all over him.

The court also heard the details of a police interview

with Stephen Hughes, In it he gave his account

He alleged Shaunean Boyle had argued with Mr Creaney while

the three had been drinking on the night of the assault.

He said they'd argued about how a friend of the deceased had

in the past broken Shaunean Boyle's father's legs with a sledgehammer.

He went on to say he then heard a thud, and when he looked up

Shaunean Boyle was kicking and stamping on Owen Creaney.

He told the officer that she'd begged him not to call an ambulance,

saying she was worried they would take away her child.

He said it was Shaunean Boyle who suggested putting Mr Creaney's

body in a wheelie bin, describing then how they'd

brought the bin upstairs, put the body in it together

and that he then brought it down the stairs.

Near the end of the police interview he said Shaunean Boyle had put him

under pressure to clean up the mess she had got herself into.

I suffered with bulimia and self harm when I was a young teenager, 12

or 13, and just felt like I wasn't good enough. Tackling the stigma

surrounding mental health, and Irish rugby international tells us her

story. Some of today's other news now,

and a number of people have escaped injury when shots were fired at two

houses in Lurgan last night. It happened at Woodville Street

and Victoria Street. The police have appealed

for witnesses to contact them. A Fermanagh man has been sentenced

to six years for causing the death of a passenger in his car

by dangerous driving. 20-year-old Conor Jeremiah Briody

from Ferney Rise in Enniskillen was almost two and a half times over

the legal alcohol limit when he crashed his car

into a roundabout in the town. Police witnesses said he was driving

at up to 90 miles per hour One of his five passengers,

Vaidas Urbonas, died in hospital Two 18-year-old men have been beaten

with baseball bats by a masked gang They were attacked by three men

at around 8:30 last night as they locked up premises

in Balmoral Avenue. One has since been discharged,

the other is still being treated A teenager was hit on the head

and an away supporters' bus vandalised after last night's

football match between Derry City Derry City have apologised to fans

caught up in the trouble and have warned that if it continues it

could have grave implications for the club's status

in the league of Ireland. Our best wishes go to those people

and our apologies for events that are outside our control, but we have

to be big enough to apologise. We have a great reputation, Derry City

fans, we are welcomed everywhere and would like to extend the same

welcome to visiting fans. We do that in the ground, the Stewart Cink

arrangements were first class, Dundalk fans were well-behaved,

Derry City fans well-behaved, but these problems happened outside the

ground and we have to find a way of dealing with them.

It's been claimed that "no full stop, no comma, no phrase"

of the Good Friday Agreement could prevent Northern Ireland

The Attorney General John Larkin made his comments during the second

day of hearings for legal challenges to the government's

More voices at the High Court - opposed to taking Northern Ireland

out of the EU along with Great Britain, more people

supporting the legal challenges being heard at length inside.

One of them working with a learning disability group,

The Human Rights Act underpins all the quality legislation and

discrimination legislation that gives people with disabilities the

rights and ensures their rights. Then those bringing the legal

challenges, the victims campaigner Raymond McCord, and some

of the cross-party group of MLAs Whilst the whole of the UK might

have voted to leave Europe, Northern Ireland voted to remain. We want to

challenge the legal standing of that decision. We believe Northern

Ireland should remain part of Europe.

But as hearings progressed, the court heard the views of

Barristers for the two legal challenges had argued that including

Northern Ireland in Brexit was unlawful, and that the process

But a barrister for James Brokenshire said the process

the government is planning is "not illegal, unorthodox

Later, the court heard from the Attorney General,

John Larkin, QC for the Stormont Executive,

suggesting the Good Friday Agreement is no obstacle to an EU withdrawal.

Could the Belfast Agreement work if any of the players weren't

The answer is inevitably yes, he said.

And he cited the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, none

These hearings have now been extended into a third day.

More than 37,000 people from the UK have applied

for an Irish passport since the vote for Brexit.

Almost half of them have come from Northern Ireland.

BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson has been looking at the numbers.

The rush for Irish passports began the day

So many people wanted to pick up an application form

from a Post Office that some in Belfast had to put up notices

So we knew there'd been an immediate increase in applications.

Today we got the figures for the past three months.

Across the UK, a total of 37,306 people applied

And that included more than 15,000 from Northern Ireland.

That's a lot more than during the same period last year.

However, there is some evidence that the real rush is now over,

and applications are now slowing down.

Right, what about across the water, in England, Scotland and Wales?

Well, the total number of UK applicants included

That's a 97% rise on the same period last year.

And there seems to be no end to the rush over there -

month by month, the numbers keep going up.

According to The Times newspaper last week,

at least ten MPs or peers at Westminster have applied

for Irish passports since the Brexit vote.

That's the downside of the new figures.

We don't know exactly who the 37,000 new applicants are.

Still to come, the plush surroundings of carbon house in

County Kildare. Northern Ireland's footballer seemed to approve of

their new training base ahead of their World Cup qualifier.

A ?35 million road scheme, which will take 7000 cars a day out

of a busy regional town, opens tomorrow.

The A31 Magherafelt Bypass has been completed several

Here's our agriculture and environment correspondent,

The new bypass runs through four miles of countryside

It cost ?35 million to build and will open

It's single-carriageway with passing lanes at either end and should cut

Work began last April, and the finishing touches

are still being applied to what was a big project.

We have during construction moved 500, half a million cubic metres of

Earth and that included 25,000 cubic metres of little rock, a lot of

which was sourced locally. Part of this road scheme is about improving

access of people in the west to the big cities of Belfast and Derry, but

it's also about the town of Magherafelt, which is so choked with

traffic at certain times of the day that people will not go into it.

Magherafelt is a busy trading town, but at certain times of the day

25,000 vehicles a day go through, many of them passing

It can get quite bad in mornings and afternoons especially, UQ half an

hour to get in before you think about car parking, maybe longer

depending on what is happening with the traffic.

Some traders are concerned at the loss of passing trade,

but the consensus seems to be the new road will bring benefits.

So what about other regional towns crying out

Decongestant these towns, getting the bypass in place is important.

It's a great way to use this money and we are now looking at other

places across the North, how best we use this money to have the same sort

of impact. Around 30 farmers had to sacrifice

ground to let this scheme happen. They've been compensated and some

bridges and underpasses put in to allow them continued access

to their land. The sport of rugby has

been tackling the stigma surrounding mental health -

Mark has more. Yes, Tara, the Irish Rugby players

association is saying it could be you, it could be me -

mental illness does not respect gender or profession,

and as role models they've decided to tackle the issue head on -

Hannah Tyrell is one She was in Belfast last night -

this is her story. Physical injury is part and parcel

of contact sport, broken and bruised limbs he'll but it's more difficult

to identify and treat emotional pain and anguish. I suffered with bulimia

and self harm when I was a young teenager, 12 or 13, and I felt like

I wasn't good enough at sport, at school, I wasn't pretty or skinny

enough and I felt like maybe if I was skinnier I would do better in

school, people with like me more, all around my life would be better.

But things didn't get better. Unable to communicate her emotions, aged

18, Hannah was another to a psychiatric hospital for six months.

Sport was a big deal, I had G8 or soccer, then rugby, and I was able

to go to that and forget about my problems. There was always someone

there willing to listen, especially if you can call them a friend, and

as soon as you talk to someone the relief you feel is massive. What

ever your gender, it seems talking is the key to unlocking. They say

women talk face to face and men shoulder to shoulder and maybe the

men of rugby talk in the ruck but we are asking people to have that

conversation and open up. Next up for Hannah Terrell, England in the

November internationals, and she still gets bad days, but it seems

now the Ireland winner is better able to tackle them.

To football. Derry City are out of the FAI cup -

beaten 2-1 by holders Dundalk is last night's semifinal replay,

the biggest crowd of the season to date at the Brandywell ground saw

Ronan Curtis steer the candystripes into an early lead -

then a moment which caused much debate as Dundalk's Robbie Benson

adjudged to have been brought down in the box -

the penalty was awarded and ciaran Dundalks winner came compliments

of a Ronan finn header to set up a meeting with cork city

in the final. Michael O'Neill has called Aberdeen

defender Callum Morris and Saint Johnstone midfielder Paul Payton

into the squad for the World Cup qualfiers against San

Marino and Germany. It seems the Northern Ireland boss

has settled on Carton house in County Kildare as the preferred

training base for this campaign. We are about 50 yards from our room

and our team base, in other destinations we would be 25 minutes

or half an hour away, so out in the countryside away from the hustle and

bustle and you can focus on football, which is a key thing when

you're away for so long, and it forces you to make sure your team

are bonding and doing stuff together and you aren't wasting time. More

from the camp as the week progresses.

Republic of Ireland midfielder James McCarthy who recently

underwent surgery for a groin complaint has been declared fit

ahead of tomorrows night's World Cup qualifier against Georgia in Dublin

It's a timely boost for Martin O'Neill. I would listen to the

players and if the player hasn't played for a couple of weeks, you

would ask if fitness is a concern and if the match is a concern, and

if the injury is cleared up, I wouldn't see that as a problem. I've

been involved in club management for quite some time, less so as an

International manager, and I have never played anyone who has arrived

and not been properly fit. We know a lot about them from the last

campaign and when you got a little bit of magic out there and at home,

Johnny got his goal and they beat Spain not so long ago in a friendly

match and they ran in Germany and Austria are close, so it's a tough

game, it will not be a walkover and we will have to be on our game to

get a result tomorrow night. Thomas Kane will be at the game and we will

get the result tomorrow. And she is here with the weather. We have a

large area of high pressure sitting over Scandinavia, keeping all those

weather fronts away from us, but it was quite breezy today, quite big

waves, a large sea swell. Earlier on we started with cloudy skies but the

best of the sunshine was out towards the West, are much better and drier

day for western counties after some wet weather. That brisk

south-easterly wind pushed the cloud inland towards the West so it

brightened up nicely with sunshine and even that cloud over inland

parts of Northern Ireland has been breaking up, so there will be some

nice sunsets this evening. We should hold onto those clear skies into the

first part of the night, becoming quite cool, temperatures in the

countryside may be in single figures, then later in the night the

breeze brings or cloud in and tomorrow will generally be a cloudy

day, but not all bad news. There's still a lot of dry weather forecast

but we will lose any early brightness as that cloud creates its

way in on the breeze, but even then it will hopefully not be too solid

and as we go into the afternoon the breeze will churn it up, we'll get a

few bright intervals, a few glimpses of sunshine as temperatures crook

downwards without south-easterly breeze, a cooling effect around 13

degrees. Tomorrow night is still breezy, mainly dry, variable amounts

of cloud but clear spells and temperatures dip to seven or 8

degrees. Later in the night we could see some thicker cloud which could

threaten a few showers towards eastern counties and as we go into

Friday the breeze eases but it may still some of those showers across

during the morning but they will not all day, the emphasis still on dry

weather. Good news for the farmers, failing barley here in Richhill and

the mainly dry theme continues into the weekend. I'll be back with our

late news at 10:30pm. From