28/02/2017 BBC Newsline

The five main political party leaders have clashed over

the renewable heat incentive scheme in their last big debate before

It was the first issue raised by a member of the studio audience,

who also posed questions about cross community voting transfers,

Brexit and whether direct rule was inevitable after the election.

Our political correspondent, Gareth Gordon, watched the debate.

Five litres, two days to go and a final opportunity to persuade voters

and soon we sought the deep decisions over the issue which

caused this election, RHI. People are angry about the contempt for the

public and the fact the DUP cannot recognise that they did something

wrong. Arrogance, disrespect and contempt? I have to do with

allegations of corruption. There have been plenty of allegations,

nothing more. There is no evidence. Here is the reality, would it not

have been more intelligent, would not have been better to have fired

the public enquiry first and then had the election? Then we would have

had the full facts for everyone to make a judgment. Instead, what we

have had is political menu frame by Sinn Fein and what about a wee bit

of respect, Michelle? What about respect for the public? The alliance

leader joined the attacks on Arlene Foster. At the last election we had

a strong leader for unionism but that seemed strong leader presented

the chaos within this scheme, presented the chaos in terms of how

it was handled and didn't the... This is chaos with hindsight. It is

chaos here and now. Then there was the question of the UUP later

transferring his vote to the SDLP. People voted for you last time and

they got Martin McGuinness and keep letter. Mike Nesbitt said he had no

regrets. The still be leader said he had been brave. Arlene's Unionism is

so strong and so secure she is putting up with that with a darkened

picture of Gerry Adams in it. She talks about Gerry Adams more than

anything else. These scare tactics or what people are so fed up with. I

haven't mentioned Gerry Adams tonight. You mentioned him 32 times,

12 times and Sinn Fein 32 times in your manifesto launch. I haven't

mentioned here tonight but thank you for doing that for me. The Sinn Fein

leader was asked who she would recommend her voters to transfer to.

I would say food for Progressive parties. My values of a new and

agreed Ireland, my values of anti-corruption and my values of

respect in government. I want to come back. What do you have to fear

from Sinn Fein? They want to implement radical Republican agenda.

Nothing to fear in a united Ireland. At what of them at my positive plan

for Northern Ireland. This was an opportunity for the party leaders to

engage at the end of what we were told was a brutal campaign. Soon it

is over to the voters. Also watching the debate

were Jim Allister leader of the TUV, Fiona Ferguson

from People Before Profit and Steven Agnew leader

of the Green Party. We have seen those parties which the

opportunity. They have twisted ten years in government them and they

have wasted the opportunity to stabilise politics. We were the

first party to raise the problems with RHI, we are the only party to

propose a workable solution. Transparency, we are the only party

publishing divisions over ?500 and equal marriage, we were at the party

to bring that forward and we have brought other parties with as to the

point where we are working on legislation together. It is a shame

that we were not on the debate to make those points. Jim Allister,

many would say the questions were predictable, or the answers

breakable? Yes and the audience saga is no prospect of those five parties

providing durable, workable, good government. Just as they have failed

for the last ten years. They will fail again. There is a fundamental

reason why this system of government is failing and it is this. Sinn Fein

is not in Stormont to make Northern Ireland work. Any system that

insists on putting them in the heart of government will never work.

Unless we fix that we cannot fix Stormont. Then what is the point in

having it? What we saw tonight is that if you vote for these five main

parties, you get more of the same. The very thing that isn't working.

Fiona Ferguson, is it same old same old? I think so. This reaffirmed the

need for a radical alternative. That needs to be a radical socialist

alternative. Whatever it is, what we sought is that all five of the

leaders were able to be implicated in our future and all they could do

was finger point and blink. None pointed to the fact that it is the

system that is to blame because it sets up crisis after crisis. People

on the doorsteps in the public are not stupid. They will not be duped

and they understand which parties have been propping this system up

for the past ten years. What was crystal clear is where their

priorities lie. Not once did we hear about the crippling austerity that

is bringing communities to their knees. We didn't hear about any sort

of solution for the housing crisis for the health care crisis facing

most people. A radical alternative Jim Allister. That could be cross

community food transfer. For the record, where will your choices go

on the ballot paper? Mike Nesbitt has lost his way on this. Many of

his supporters are dismayed. I am a unionist. Unapologetically. I would

urge my supporters to vote for as a Unionist candidates before they even

think of voting for and a other party? Including the DUP? Yes, I

want a unionist majority in Stormont and therefore I want people to use

their transfers. I urge them to recognise that in voting for the TUV

Ukip unrelenting, unflinching opposition to Sinn Fein, but just at

election time. If you vote for the Ulster Unionists first you denigrate

the SDLP and if you could put DUP you get their partner, Sinn Fein, as

joint First Minister and tonight we again have shadows the

scaremongering. Arlene Foster must think people, she can take them for

films. If the DUP, the party which brought Sinn Fein into government,

who sat as joint First Minister with them for ten years, if she thinks

she can convince them that putting DUP. Sinn Fein, they are the people

who have made Sinn Fein the heart of government, the system that isn't

working. If you are anti-Sinn Fein, it is TUV you should be voting. Many

people see the Green party as a party for change when it comes to

transfers. How should you supporters follow your lead in the constituency

that you are standing in? It was almost 20 years ago that David

Trimble shook the hand of John Hume and we thought we were going to get

cross community politics. 20 years on and somehow this idea that should

transfer cross community is progress, we haven't moved in 20

years if we still have the politics through the prism of nationalism and

Unionism. If people want cross committee politics they need to vote

for cross community parties such as the Green party. That is the only

way we will move forward. It is about somehow Mike takes the person

vote and column takes the Catholic vote, it is about thinking about

Northern Ireland as to communities and the Geert de Vos as one of the

first society. Our reporters have discovered apathy and anger on the

doorsteps. What have you found? Is your party, when people vote for

you, is it about policies or are you a party of protest? What we have

proved in the last election by topping the poll in west Belfast is

we are not just a party of protest. People want to see an alternative

society and that will be reaffirmed this election. When you see your

reporters have found anger, I have never experienced that. When we have

been canvassing North Belfast we have got people who have voted for

the same parties for ten years and would do it again and I am glad to

see people what change and I think the big parties will take a kicking.

He asked the two people... If you are looking for change, where are

you putting your transfers on the ballot paper? I will vote as left as

possible. I am yet to make up my mind on which party I will vote for,

but Ford as progressive as possible when that comes to a woman's right

to choose, on equal marriage, when it comes to things like an Irish

language act. Food for people who will make those red line issues. The

electoral office is reporting a drop of 2.14% in the number of people

registered to vote this time around. How can you convince voters to vote

at all, if not for your party? There are two issues there. There is the

difficulty of registering to vote in Northern Ireland. It is

unnecessarily complex and every year there are problems with registration

for many in my constituency. The other thing is, those who are

registered, will they come out? Why people feared that with it being a

snap election only ten months after the last one that people wouldn't

come out, my experience is that people are angry. They do want to

register a protest against those who have wasted opportunities in

government. They are coming out to vote for alternatives such as the

Green party. Jim Allister, easy power-sharing is simply not working.

If that is the case, why should people return you to your seat in

North Antrim? I have been a thorn in the side of the misrule at Stormont

and I think people want to sharpen at Thorn and they can do that by

voting TUV across the country on Thursday and many will. What would

be your top priority? It would be to fix Stormont, get rid of the

absurdity of mandatory coalition which pages together parties without

agreeing on anything and then when in government. Part. We can't go on

like this. We have to get government and if we can't fix Stormont then we

need to move to a situation where we put in the British ministers keep

the Assembly as the body through which they pass laws so we have some

modicum of control. You were talking about coalition of the willing,

rather than a mandatory coalition. Who would you go into coalition

with? I would never go into government with Sinn Fein because

they are in the business of the strike Northern Ireland. I want to

preserve Northern Ireland. Other parties to recognise the need to

make the success of Northern Ireland I would work with the stop if we

cannot fix Stormont in that way, away from mandatory coalition to win

a coalition of the willing and we have to face reality, it is not

working and we cannot stay like this. In four weeks we might even

have a budget. Fiona Ferguson, your top priority? Our priority is to

fight against austerity. We won to see an the privatisation within our

health care system, we want an end to the lack of housing. We have had

ten years of inadequate housing supply. In this election I have

known of three local protest in North Belfast by people stand up

against the housing crisis going on. That is exactly what we would

address. Going forward, we cannot just say we are anti-austerity and

then implement austerity. We cannot say we want to see the rights of

others respected and then not respect those rights. We need

parties being elected and we need to be the thorn in the side of the

bigger parties. If you are elected, what is your top priority? The

absolute priority has to be getting a budget in place because otherwise

we will see ?600 billion of extra cuts, extra cost to health care, to

education. These are already crumbling under Tory austerity. Jim

is right that we do need to fix Stormont, but not by ceding power to

Westminster, but giving more power to our citizens who are ahead of

many of the politicians. We need a constitutional convention to review,

reform and revitalise the Good Friday Agreement. The Good Friday

Agreement was called the People's agreement, but politicians have

guarded the power jealousy. It is time to give that power back to our

citizens so they can move us forward. The keeper during me.

In other news relatives of a murder victim sobbed in court today

as a teenager accused of the killing appeared in the dock.

19-year-old Rhys Magee denies murdering Richard Miskelly outside

Richard Miskelly died close to the Bangla Road in Newtownards. Police

received reports of an assault and said this was in the early hours of

Sunday morning. Paramedics tried to resuscitate the 24-year-old but he

died at the scene. Rhys Magee from the Ards Peninsula is accused of his

murder and of perverting the course of justice. The Linard 's

Magistrates' Court heard claims he spoke to a witness saying, you got

an hour before me, you did not see anything. Some of the relatives of

Richard Miskelly sobbed in the gallery as the court heard the

incident began in the early hours of Sunday morning when the victim was

asked to leave a house and the Bangla Road. He was pursued and

assaulted. The defence solicitor said his client had administered CPR

to the victim and helped the emergency services. Mr McGee's

solicitor said when the murder charge was put to his client in

custody he said I did not murder Richard Miskelly and salary for his

family. He said he was definitely not guilty of the charge of

perverting the course of justice. He has been remanded in custody.

The family of Lisa Dorrian has appealed directly to the person

who was with her when she died to help them find her body.

The 25-year-old from Bangor is believed to have been murdered,

she disappeared on this day 12 years ago.

In an emotional video message, her father and sisters

Lisa Dorrian as her family remember a beautiful, funny and loving. The

25-year-old disappeared 12 years ago today after a party at this caravan

site on the Ards Peninsula. The police believed she was murdered.

Now her father and two sisters are appealing to the person who was with

her when she died. She thought you were her friend. Visit trusted you.

Think back to that night. I am sure it is not hard to do. It mustn't

ever be far from your thoughts. Think about what happened when Lisa

died, how you panic and made a decision that would change your life

and our lives for ever. Then think of Lisa. Despite nearly 300 searches

over 12 years, the body has never been found. The police investigation

has identified thousands of potential witnesses and if people

have been arrested on suspicion of murder, although no one has ever

been charged in connection with the death. Lisa's mother died in 2015.

Her grandmother passed away two weeks ago. One of the last things

Mani said to me as she left this earth was that Lisa was at the end

of her bed and was waiting with her. Our nanny and mum now have the

answers we are trying to find that you can help us find Lisa in this

life. We all think of Lisa every day and I am sure you do too. Tell us

where she is. It is never too late to tell us. A place is all we need.

Help yourself by using your conscience. Elsewhere Lisa is.

Police have stretched this remains a live investigation and what anyone

with information to contact them. A 42-year-old man's been arrested

by detectives investigating an explosion at Palace Barracks

in Holywood in August 2015. The device detonated inside a postal

delivery van and damaged two cars. In other election news,

the Ulster Unionist Party has said it's to write to the Head

of the Civil Service questioning comments made by Stormont's most

senior health official, Richard Pengelly, who is the husband

of a DUP candidate. He raised concerns about health

staff posting political comments Also today Sinn Fein have defended

a decision by an election candidate to distribute a letter on party

headed notepaper to the parents Here's our Political

Correspondent, Stephen Walker. In the battle for votes and in the

heat of an election campaign, social media is a vital to, but it needs

caution. Richard Pengelly is the permanent secretary at the

Department of Health. He is the most senior health official. The husband

of a DUP candidate he put on record his concerns about health staff

tweeting during the election campaign. The wrote that when staff

are clinically independent, they must remember the health staff. He

said he was concerned about the overtly political tweets from

colleagues across the service. He added that it was particularly

relevant during the election. He said that such public statements

were not appropriate. His comments have been criticised. I am worried

if it is considered that doctors and nurses cannot have political

opinions, I am worried if they cannot have an opinion on the health

service which gives a huge concern. I think there is an issue there. The

Ulster Unionists say they are directed at the civil service

questioned whether Mr Pengelly's comments were appropriate. They have

accused Mr Pengelly of hypocrisy think he was pictured last year

congratulating his wife winning a seat with with a DUP. Meanwhile,

Sinn Fein have defended a decision by Michelle Gildernew, an election

candidate, to distribute a letter on party headed paper to the parents of

school children. The letter, produced in the Belfast Telegraph,

was brought home the children attending the St Francis primary

School in dairy in County Tyrone. Sinn Fein segment was part of

Michelle Gildernew's campaign to secure better broadband, but the

letter prompted one period to seek legal advice. This isn't about a

particular party. This is about children. The most vulnerable and

youngest in society. They are at primary school, being given material

of a party political nature. It is not about any party in particular,

it is about children being used or excluded in this manner. Sinn Fein

say the letter was about trying to get better services. Broadband is a

major issue for people in rural areas. An issue which Michelle has

campaigned for many years and the party has as a whole. The is a

parent a child who attends the school and she was raising the issue

with the rest of the parents to pick it up, try to get their support

because we need to deliver more for rural citizens. A spokesperson for

the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools say they nor the school have

received no complaints. The GAA has submitted a new planning

application for a stadium It would have a capacity of just

over 34000, down by almost 4000 But some residents remain

opposed to the development. This was the design unveiled by the

GAA last October. The plan today has not been made public, but the

organisation says it is only marginally different with the

capacity reduced further to just over 30 4000. It and have thousands

of those standing. October design at its height, skill and capacity of

reduced from the previous design. The GAA said he two they have

received a positive report from the safety technical group which advises

on the construction of new stadiums in Northern Ireland. It has been

imported to ensure that, from our point of view, we are top of the

class in relation to 70. That is paramount and in relation to the

planning application and the safer the situation we believe we are well

in excess of where he would be at this stage of the process. Not

everyone is convinced. Some residents say plans for a stadium

with the capacity greater than 25,000 with numerous concerns about

safety and infrastructure. We do not want a stadium of that capacity in

the area. We want a stadium in the range of 20 to 20 5000. That is the

capacity we believe is suitable given the traffic impacts and given

concerns around emergency exiting. Residents say the proposed plan is

too big. The GAA says that a new stadium would bring regeneration and

a sporting legacy to the area. However this issue is resolved, it

will only become clear in the coming months.

There is still some wintry weather about.

The weather forecast now, with Barra Best.

We hold on to a handful of showers through tonight. They might turn

wintry as temperatures for the freezer and below. We are likely to

seek some frost and some stretches of ice by morning as well. A chilly

start, but overall not a bad day. It would be as wet as today and they

will be some sunshine. It marks the first day of spring in the weather

world. Some of us follow the ancient Celtic calendar, suffered then

distorted and Saint Bridget's day. For astronomers we have two with a

little longer. Those of his Brixton dates, pick whichever one you want

to follow. As for tomorrow, a chilly start. The odd shower, but some

sunny caps coming and going and that will continue right through the day.

If I'd slap across Britain and Ireland apart from the scattered

short. This next weather system will push on. It will affect southern

areas of Ireland in two parts of Wales and central and southern

England, gradually drifting northwards. For most of us,

temperatures will raise seven or 8 degrees with scattered showers and

sunny spells the further north you are. Into the afternoon, the wind

will be light and temperatures should reach seven or 8 degrees. By

tomorrow evening, the club will begin from the South as rain pushes

in. Some of that could be wintry, especially over the tops of the

hills and the mountains. With more cloud around tomorrow it will not be

quite as chilly as frosty. Apart from a few scattered showers on

Thursday there will be sunny caps to enjoy as well.

Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25 in the morning

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