08/07/2011 BBC Newsline

Living with the aftermath of the Lurgan hijackings.

The villages said no to a dump, but planners have said yes. I am live

in County Antrim to find out what happens next of stock Graeme

McDowell finds his form in Scotland just ahead of the championship.

And not as many lively showers for the weekend but there will be some.

Join me for the details. Every time you book a return flight

to Britain, the Chancellor at �24 in air passenger duty. For a

similar flight from the Republic, the tax is just 3 and euros that is

due to be abolished. A committee of MPs have added its weight for calls

for Northern Ireland to be exempted from UK tax.

It is holiday time and travellers are in full flight, literally, at

Belfast International Airport. An expensive business even if they are

not leaving the country, made worse by air passenger duty which they

think is unfair. I travel pretty often and I think it is a disgrace.

It is absolutely atrocious so it is. We should have the same flight

prices as everywhere else, especially in July and August.

People can't afford to go away on family holidays. Holidays may be a

luxury but millions of lives cannot be avoided because of the small

matter of the Irish Sea. This point was made strongly to the Northern

Ireland committee. I think it is this than -- scandal that domestic

aviation, where it is the necessity as it is in Northern Ireland,

passengers pay twice. You go online to book a flight but when you click

through, you discover it ends up as so much more. Tax is a big part of

that. �24 on every return UK flight and MPs say that his attacks simply

on living in Northern Ireland. think the Treasury needs to

recognise that were it -- that we are not pleading a special case for

the sake of it. We are saying there is something significantly

different between us, or Wales, Scotland and England and that is

that we have A-C between us. Passengers must use air to travel -

- we have the Irish Sea between us. We need to see the tax burden

removed because otherwise business and tourism will suffer here.

Because Dublin is so much cheaper, the tax is also threatening

Northern Ireland's only Atlantic air route. There are fears it could

have even wider negative effects. Air passenger duty as it currently

stands is a major economic barrier to sustaining the level of access

that we currently have and that access is very important for direct

inward investment and poor truism but equally it is a major

disincentive to new carriers coming into the market and looking at

Northern Ireland as the destination. Current Treasury projections

suggest tax is going up, not down. We will have to wait until the

autumn to find if the idea of making Northern Ireland as special

case is going to fly. Almost half a million pounds of

taxpayers' money has been spent investigating the collapse of a

quango. The Northern Ireland Events Company, which was the subject of

BBC News lined revelations, folded with the deaths of �1.7 million

five years ago -- folded with depth. But an official investigation has

still to complete its work. An Elton John concert organised by

the Northern Ireland Events Company. The events company collapsed four

years ago with debts of that least �1.7 million, despite receiving

between two and �3 million a year from taxpayers. Investigations

revealed irregular loans and payments as well as a breakdown of

accountability between the Council of Arts and Leisure has and the

board that ran the company. Subsequently there was an

investigation of the quango but that investigation has cost

�474,000 to date. Surprised is an understatement. We have already had

the scandal of the overspend and waste in their Northern Ireland

Events Company and now we have a new scandal, of the money that has

been spent to investigate a scandal! Half-a-million pounds

nearly, and still being spent, with no idea as to when this is going to

be finalised. This afternoon, the Department of Enterprise and

creative Investment says it hopes a draft report will be ready by June

next year. Several vehicles were burned out in Craigavon last night

when trouble flared near Brownlow's Drumbeg estate. The area has seen

regular outbreaks of rioting and hijackings in recent times and as

Gordon Adair's been finding out, it is proving a big headache for local

people. Delivery drivers, tradespeople,

utility providers, private motorists. It seems nobody was safe

from the rioters in the Brownlow every year last night, yet perhaps

the people being hurt most are their own neighbours, particularly

the vulnerable, such as pensioners. There has not been any bosses

appear for six weeks and they are paying a six quid round trip into

Lurgan two or three times a week. That is a lot of money from their

pensions. Some people have linked the -- problems to this man, the

Sinn Fein republican president, but most of the rating has been in

central Craigavon, particularly the Drumbeg area. These people have no

politics in them to me, they are just thugs. I would like them to

tell us why they are doing this and what they think they can achieve

from burning a car. What will that do for their cause? People need to

think. It is only misery and hardship that is being imposed on

their own communities and people. There are small kids of that place.

It is nerve-racking. No one ever knows what is going to happen next

or when this is going to flare up. This afternoon, some of the burned-

out vehicles were still smouldering. For the elderly and vulnerable

living in this area, perhaps what has really gone up in smoke

recently is their sense of security and peace in their own homes.

Lifetime bans from ladies' Gaelic football have been given to two

people allegedly involved in trouble following a senior final in

County Tyrone two weeks ago. A referee and County Board official

were knocked unconscious after the final whistle was blown at the game

in Beragh. The police say a criminal investigation into one of

the assaults is still going on. A former IRA man jailed for the

attempted murder of a UDR soldier 30 years ago has won the first

round of a legal challenge against his conviction. 52-year-old Gerry

McGeough from Dungannon, seen here before his sentencing last February,

is serving 20 years for trying to kill Sammy Brush in 1981. The UDR

man was ambushed as he was delivering post near Aughnacloy.

Today the High Court agreed he could apply for a special pardon

from the Queen. This is BBC Newsline. Still to

come: Tarzan and the pond in Dublin through?

And where Ireland's recession have led to success for London's Gaelic

football team. A County Tyrone man has been

ordered to demolish a barn he converted because he didn't have

permission to do the work. Fergal O'Neill from Ardboe has also been

fined. But he says it's a historic site and should be preserved.

Louise Cullen has been finding out more.

If Walls Could Talk, the stones would have a story to tell. The

Bonn dates from 1820, when it is believed there were independent

Orange lodges in the area. They rose against the landowners but

were forced out. The 19th -- the 18th 78 rebellion, a lot of history

attached and I would like to preserve it. But now, the barn

could be facing demolition. The Planning Service decided it was an

unauthorised dwelling. I submitted planning applications at the start

and it lingered on for a couple of years and the application was

refused. Now I have landed in court with a demolition of the building.

It is not the first time a building on this side has had to be

demolished. This is what remains of another old outhouse which Mr Neal

says was already falling down when he started to repair its roof. Then

he was served with an enforcement notice and had to demolish what was

next. This row of terraced houses, converted from barracks a few years

ago, is also under threat of demolition. Somebody is doing right

by tidying the building up and trying to make it into something

functional, and diversifying it into farming because the farm was

too small, if I had to have realised I would have probably

stayed out of it. But the original fine of �20,000 was reduced to

�10,000 after an appeal. He was given 26 weeks to pay but the order

to demolish still stands. The legal wrangle over the bar continues on

Monday. -- Bonn.

People in the village of Parkgate were angry about a decision to

recommend approval for a quarry to be used as a dump for building and

construction waste. Residents claim the area will not

be able to cope with the extra traffic. Our Environment

Correspondent is in Parkgate. I am indeed. The road behind me

leads up to the quarry about half a mile away. That is where they want

to put the dump. Local people are very much against it. I am joined

by the local MLA. At the end of the day, this is a quarry far away.

What harm will it do? It is no harm and it is good use of a quarry from

an environmental point of view but we have one lorry every three

minutes coming through Parkgate. It can't handle it. The planners

should have listened and given the public a chance to have their say.

The last environment ministers signed this off without checking.

Also with me is a local resident. Brendan, at the end of the day, the

quarry is half-a-mile away. What is it you are concerned about?

fundamental thing for me and the other residents in Parkgate is the

volume of traffic. It is over 150 lorries a day in and out of a very

small village of a couple of hundred people and the dangers of

that alone, given the by queues and the horses and the people who go

out walking, it is health and safety. The people who want to

convert it into a dump, they are saying they have talked to local

people and tried to bring them in as best they can and it will create

jobs for local people. Jobs are good. The fundamental issue is the

road safety issue. It is the whole thing of the size of the village,

the size of the road and the volume of traffic and smoke and dirt that

will come from mad and the effect it will have on the village and the

people. At the end of the day, it has been recommended that the plans

go through. What happens next careers -- what happens next you

might it is possible to stop. will be put in front of the council.

They can come with the legal points. But they have been trying to get

the plans to assist 2005. Is this not just dragging it out? It is but

there are changes to the plans to try to get it through this time.

Local people have not had the chance to challenge them and the

ideas that have been put in place do not work. This is something that

will have to go back to the planners for a final decision.

In a few minutes we will rummaged renews archives again and

discovered the Irish version of the Olympic Games here!

And Stephen Watson has been rummaging among the sporting

Graeme McDowell appears to be finding form at just the right time

with next week's Open Championship at Sandwich fast approaching. Today

he carded a second round 64, eight under par, to give himself the

chance of a second Scottish Open title in four years. Nial Foster

reports. Graeme McDowell return to his form

of 2010 at the Castle Stuart Golf Links, scoring six birdies and an

eagle. He made his way steadily up the leaderboard throughout the day.

And it wasn't just his putting which was on form. His approach

shots where. With a few more birdies, Graeme McDowell, the 20

late champion, was able to finish eight under for the day to grab a

share of the clubhouse lead. Mixed fortunes for Northern

Ireland's clubs in the first round qualifying for the Europa League.

Cliftonville were knocked out but Glentoran squeezed through over two

legs in a thriller at the Oval. Welsh side TNS scored the only goal

of the game in the fourth minute at Solitude, sealing a 2-1 win on

aggregate over the Reds. But at the Oval, Glentoran scored two

spectacular goals from distance, the first from Richard Clarke.

Renova of Macedonia equalised before Martin Murray's wonder

strike made it 2-1 on the night, 3- 3 on aggregate. It went to

penalties, with Glens keeper Aaron Hogg the hero, the Glens winning

the shootout 3-2.$$NEWLINE It's a big clash at Brandywell tonight as

Derry City play host to league leaders and current champions

Shamrock Rovers. A lot of focus will be on one of City's rising

stars who has a posse of clubs watching his progress, including

Everton and Celtic. Here's our In only his first season, Derry

City winger James Maclean has made quite an impact without standing

goes like this. The modest lad says he is flattered by all the

attention, but just wants to concentrate on playing his best for

City. Other clubs are interested. So far he has been linked with a

host of teams, including Premiership clubs at Everton and

Wigan, as well as West Ham, Blackpool and Reading from the

championship. Scottish giants Celtic say they are also keeping an

eye on him. They know all about the talent at the brandy wealth, having

signed players from there before. The City boss, whose young team are

only four points behind sham at Rover's, has urged the Northern

Ireland identity to closer look. -- Shamrock Rovers. He should be in

Northern Ireland team now. He has captained the Under 21 squad and he

has, without doubt, been the best player in the League of Ireland

this season. Derry City football club has confirmed that at least

two Premiership clubs, and a number of championship side, will be here

this evening to watch the game. He now seems only a matter of time

before he is transferred to a cross-Channel club. I great career

move for him and potentially lucrative for Derry City.

Now, the last time London won a championship game it was against

County Leitrim back in 1977. That was until a fortnight ago when the

exiles knocked Fermanagh out of the 2011 championship. Tomorrow they

aim for back-to-back championship wins, for the first time ever in

the qualifiers and, as Thomas Niblock reports, it's not just hard

work that's helped Londons gaelic footballers.

Training three times a week, drawing against Male and defeating

for a manner. London means business and 2011. The players are not that

familiar with photos and press interviews, but when they achieved

their first championship win in 20 years a fortnight ago, they had

been in the spotlight. Another reason for the success: immigration.

Immigration has helped us over here. It is made everything more

competitive, made up training better and a team stronger. We are

very welcome to people coming over. Since 20 or late, they have lost

around 3500 players due to emigration. Here the 1600 players

who have already emigrated in 2010. The reason they are leaving the

shores of Ireland is quite simple: there are no jobs back home. I have

the rest of my life to settle down there. I am enjoying it too much

here. As a primary school teacher, there is not much work for me in

the north of Ireland. I applied two years ago to do my degree over here

and luckily I got in. A year later, there are still none, so I got a

job and Colchester's years. I have a permanent job, so I am here

because of that. If there was a job opportunity back home would be

taken? Yes. Tomorrow. They had both played into county football but

have left Ireland because of work. Other players have recently moved

to the United States in search for a job. Bad news at home but good

news abroad. Northern Ireland's netball team

have lost their quarter-final against England at the World

Championships in Singapore. Although Northern Ireland started

well, England, ranked third in the world, were always going to be a

tough prospect, and their slick passing and movement soon took

their toll. The final score was an emphatic 87-16 win for the English.

However, the lowest that Northern Ireland can now finish in the

tournament is eighth, which will be their best ever showing at the

tournament. But there's better news in Hockey.

Ireland beat the United States 6-2 last night in Lille in the Men's

Champions Challenge. They face Russia in the semi-finals of the

tournament tomorrow. From present day sport to some

sporting nostalgia, and the last in our series featuring newsreels from

the British Pathe film archive. In the 1920s and 30s, Ireland hosted

an international multi-sports competition every four years. It

wasn't the Olympics, it was the Tailteann Games, open to athletes

of Irish ancestry. Chris Page has been looking at some rarely seen

There isn't much reference to it in the history books, but this was one

of the biggest international sporting events of the 1920s. It

was held in Dublin. The first Tailteann Games took place in 1924,

6500 people took part, more than competed in the Olympics that year.

The Irish three straight had only been independent for three years.

The games for the government's way of making a point. They were saying

we have our own identity and they were showing it off to the world.

The Tailteann Games were inspired by an ancient festival. Their

original game started nearly 4000 years ago, possibly in County Leith.

The modern Games featured everything from billiards to

motorboat racing. For the people of Dublin, everywhere was turned into

a venue. There was motorbike and cart and even airplay the racing. -

- airplane. I think my favourite sporting events from the entire

Games was the staging of the swimming competitions. The man who

won most of them as a man called Johnnie Wise Miller, who is known

to most is Tarzan. They were held in the pond in Dublin Zoo, so

Tarzan won a swimming competition in Dublin Zoo. He went on to win

three Olympic golds in the same year. He was one of many athletes

who stopped in Dublin on the way to their Paris Olympics. This high

jumper also won an Olympic and Tarzan double. Some of the medals

are kept in the Croke Park Museum. Apart from this, the games have

been largely forgotten. It was a marvellous and momentous moment in

Irish history. It is neglected and forgotten and that is a terrible

pity, because when you look back and read the newspaper reports, you

see what a stunning achievement they wear, and what fun it be

provided for people at a time when there was not much fun. The Games

were held again in 1928 and 1932, but the success of 1924 was not

repeated. The Tarzan faded into obscurity, but this city shows how

it made a new nation proud. Chris has been trawling through

those Pathe archives and so can you. All of the newsreels are free to

view on the internet. The website view on the internet. The website

address is britishpathe.com. Should get those games up again and

guarantee are some more medals. The heavy showers have been

creating some dramatic skies, like this over Strangford Lough and

Scrabo Tower. So, can we expect more over the weekend? Angie

Phillips has the weather: I wouldn't bet the umbrella this

weekend. There will still be showers around but not as intense

as lately. As we have seen, at there were some still around today.

Not so much in the north but the South was definitely clapped.

Further south, County Kildare was caught beneath some pretty

prolonged showers. Still a few showers around particularly

tomorrow, but they should clear by Sunday. Back to today, another

scene of a rather threatening shower on the beach. Showers will

tend to drift away south, and these off leaving many with a dry up, a

brighter end to the day. Not particularly chilly in the towns

around the coast, around 10 Celsius or 11 Celsius. Into the weekend,

we're looking at some bright spells, with still a few showers but fewer

in number. As we head into the afternoon, the showers will be more

frequent across the eastern side, perhaps in Belfast or County Antrim,

but nothing compared to the last few days. Temperatures around 19

Celsius in the south-east, a little fresher towards the coast. Some

dire weather pushing him. It may be possible to have a barbecue

tomorrow evening but there will be some showers still lingering.

Tomorrow night, are mostly dry night, with temperatures still on