09/08/2016 BBC Newsline


09/08/2016

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Figures show one of Northern Ireland's newest tourist attractions

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has been closed for virtually half of its first year in business.

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The Gobbins, a ?7.5 million coastal walk

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in East Antrim, is currently missing out at peak season because

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

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The Gobbins cliff path is breathtaking, but bare

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It's currently enduring its second shutdown.

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This one began in June because of rock falls.

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The discovery centre at its Islandmagee base is open,

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but the main attraction is off-limits as the first anniversary

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Today's the 160th day of lost business this year.

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Financial projections have been ripped up.

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On top of thousands of unsold tickets, there are the unspecified

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This closure, and one caused by storm damage earlier this year,

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have put a big dent in visitor numbers.

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The goal is to draw 70,000 people annually.

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But year one will fall short at just under 24,000.

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I would expect no one expected this at the outset.

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I think the important thing is we deal with the issues at hand

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The number of visitors that have gone through on the days

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we have been open have been quite impressive.

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The scale of the problem is unclear, but there has been no quick fix

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and no end to tourists turning up to be turned away.

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We didn't know that it was closed, and we were very disappointed,

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Before coming, we prepared our travel, and we wanted

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Mid and East Antrim Council operates the Gobbins, but one

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of the area's MLAs wonders whether it's up to the job.

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Is this project too big for the council to run?

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Should we be looking outside of the box here to give it

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to somebody who can really run it, promote it and expand it?

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Initially the council said this current closure

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But it now spans three months, with each lost day

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A pipe bomb has been made safe after a security

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Army technical experts were called to examine what police

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described as a viable device, which was found in

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A number of families had to be moved from their homes during the alert,

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which began at around seven o'clock this morning.

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The bomb has been taken away for forensic examination.

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A 42-year-old man is still being questioned

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A 42-year-old man who was being questioned

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about the murder of a prominent member of the UDA in north Belfast

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on Sunday night has been released unconditionally.

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John Boreland, a 46-year-old father of three,

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died after being shot close to his home in Sunningdale Gardens

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Detectives say tensions among loyalist paramilitaries

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and criminality are among their lines of inquiry.

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The chief executive of Sport NI, Antoinette McKeown, says she's

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still waiting for a formal explanation for her

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It's almost a year and a half since she was suspended.

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She spoke to our reporter Mark Sidebottom.

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Earlier, he told Mark Carruthers what she'd been saying.

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Sport NI is the body responsible for the development of sport here. In

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early 2013, Antoinette McKeown became its chief Executive,

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incidentally the first women to lead the organisation. In 2015 she was

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suspended for, we believe, a series of grievances lodged both by her and

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against her. Why has she decided to speak out now? NSX, she is saying

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she has nothing to hide. She is saying to Sport NI, put up or shut

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up. She preferred not to record a broadcast interview, but she was

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very candid and on the record when she spoke to me. Here is the bones

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of what she said. She said she respects the process and the bus

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majority of Sport NI staff and looks forward to working with them again.

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She adds, I was brought in to do a difficult task, to lead change in

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Sport NI, and that is a task which I began and intend seeing through. Is

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she so being paid for doing the job? Interesting question. When

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advertised, the salary bracket was ?75,000 to ?85,000. Sport and I will

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neither confirm nor deny it Antoinette McKeown is substandard

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uncle salary, but it is my clear understanding that she is suspended

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on full pay. -- is suspended on full salary. Sport NI will not comment on

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specifics. The only thing they will say is that they can confirm that

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Antoinette McKeown remains impulse. Has the Stormont department

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responsible for Sport NI had anything to say about this latest

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development? That is the Department for communities, shored up by Paul

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Gibbon. They issued a brief statement this afternoon which kicks

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the bowl back here. The key lay in the statement

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NSX, they are saying, sort of this one out yourselves, and if there is

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not a solution soon, this could end up in the courts. Rather messy.

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A new system for making appointments with a GP is being trialled

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It sees patients being offered an assessment over

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the phone and then advised whether they actually need to come

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Our health correspondent Marie-Louise Connolly has been

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to see how it's working for a surgery in Londonderry.

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Hello, Abby Medical Practice, can I help you?

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First thing this morning, and the receptionists start fielding

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calls from patients looking to see a GP.

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There is no need to give me any symptoms.

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A name and number is taken and a brief reason why the patient

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After a telephone assessment, they will decide whether the patient

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needs to come in, or perhaps advise that a visit to the local

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Another difference is that patients cannot make appointments in advance.

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It is all about what is happening on the day.

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Life before the new system was hectic, very, very busy.

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a doctor and possibly longer for a named doctor.

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Life is busy still, but manageably busy.

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Like many surgeries, Abbey Medical simply

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does not have enough GPs to meet growing demand.

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According to the British Medical Association,

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We have asked for the department to implement its own workforce review,

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which said there should be 111 GPs trained each year.

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We are training 85 this year. So up to 111.

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If we trained as many as Scotland we would be training 143.

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Are they being denied that sometimes crucial face-to-face contact

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What I need from Abbey Medical I still get.

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This morning I ran to see if I could get an appointment.

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They talked me through what was wrong.

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And here I am having had my appointment.

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Since 2014, hundreds of millions of pounds has been invested

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in general practice here, but the BMA says it is not enough.

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The introduction of this new appointment system

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Firstly how a growing number of practices across Northern Ireland

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But it also shows how the public and the health service can change

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Something we are probably going to see a lot more of.

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The Irish boxer Michael O'Reilly, who was provisionally suspended

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from the Olympics for failing a drugs test, has admitted

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he unintentionally took a banned substance.

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For the latest, let's join Stephen Watson live in Rio.

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The Olympic Council of Ireland has tonight confirmed that boxer Michael

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O'Reilly will not be contesting that provisional suspension. It was

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imposed last week because of a violation of anti-doping rules.

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Riley was dropped to the before he left for Brazil, but a statement

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said he unintentionally took a supplement that may have contained a

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prohibited substance, given by him -- to him by someone unrelated to

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his team. He apologised to his team-mates and the association, and

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will now be sent home from the Games.

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Elsewhere, one of NI's big medal hopes made an early

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Add to the end of the race, exhaustion and disappointment. Peter

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Chambers's Olympics was over. His crew were strongly tipped to repeat

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the success of London 2012. Great Britain have to wake up your, they

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are in danger of going out. They needed to finish in the top three,

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but they could only manage fourth, and were knocked out. We did pretty

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much everything we could. We just not could not hang onto that or

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third place when the pace was getting too hot. That is what we

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signed up for. Olympic racing is not easy, and it is obviously hard to

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take. You can take for granted that you will do well. But there was

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better fortune for Alan Campbell, who cruised into the last four of

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the men's single sculls. What I have got to do is put everything out for

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the semifinal, and I think there will be a lot of people bringing out

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the big race for the semifinal, just to make sure they get themselves in

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that race for medals. If I can get into the race by the medals, we will

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discuss it then. I am ready. Elsewhere, T Marilyn's hockey

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players were in action against Germany. The work one -

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-- T Marilyn's hockey players. We have battled against them and prove

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that we are here to complete. Obviously they are a bit more

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clinical than us at the minute, but it is something we have to work on

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for the next games. Ireland have two games left, and they will probably

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have to win both to reach the quarterfinals. More like from Rio

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tomorrow. Let's get a look at the weather

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prospects now with Geoff Maskell. Good evening. After a couple of days

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of sunshine and showers, it really is all change tonight. A much

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greater and duller fielder weather over the next few days, and quite a

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lot of rain over the second-half of this week. This is the picture

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overnight tonight. Briefly dry before workload and rain moving in

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from the Atlantic. The upside is it means things will be a bit more

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miles than other recent nights. Tomorrow a different feeling day.

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Dull, grey, rain setting over us pretty much throughout the day. A

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bit of a north-westerly breeze as well, and that conveyed with clouds

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and rain mean temperatures for Wednesday are really not getting

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much out of 14 or 15 Celsius, so well down on what we would expect

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for this time of year. You can see what is going on year. Sites are

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quite dry across eastern half of the UK, but increasingly cloudy and that

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band of that Green works this way. That is during the day. It clears

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overnight Wednesday into Thursday, but that brings its own challenges.

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This area of high-pressure sinks away and you can see how tightly

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packed the isobars are around it. That means stronger breeze before

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the next band of rain works its way in on Friday. A few showers on

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Thursday, but the moves through quite quickly on that breeze. A

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little bit warmer. Temperatures into the higher teams. Things do improved

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as we moved through weekend and into the start of the next week.

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Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25am during Breakfast here on BBC One.

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You can also keep updated with News Online.

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