26/10/2011 BBC Newsline


26/10/2011

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Good evening from BBC Newsline. The headlines this evening: Children

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abused at two psychiatric hospitals, the shocking details emerge more

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than 20 years on. Three hours of deliberations by the jury in the

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Jennifer Cardy trial that no verdict yet.

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The second UVF supergrass appears in court to give evidence against

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14 men. The results of inquiry into a

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minister adviser who offered political favours for sex.

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It has been said to be a battle between Stormont and Tesco. I will

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explain why other retail levy could be bad for small businesses, too.

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We will have more settled weather. Will it last through the weekend?

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Shocking allegations of physical and sexual abuse of children at two

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psychiatric hospitals over 20 years up to the mid- 1990s. The details

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are contained in a report which was produced three years ago but not

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made public until the Irish News published a them this morning. This

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afternoon, the Health Minister told his committee he is appalled at the

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abuse. We will be talking live to Edwin Poots but first we have this

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report. Children with mental illness and

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behavioural problems were treated here in Lisburn. When it closed

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around 20 years ago, services were transferred here. Now there are

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claims children suffered horrific abuse at the hospitals in the 1980s

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and 1990s. The news carries details of a confidential report which was

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published three years ago. It was alleged three members of staff

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sexually abused girls between 8 and 13. The investigation also found 14

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cases where it was claimed young patients were up sexually abusing

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other children. The report authors said staff humiliated children when

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disciplining them. This was alleged to have happened in 11 cases. The

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issue was an unexpected item on the agenda of the Stormont health

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committee this afternoon. I am appalled. I want to say how

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sorry I am for the children and young people in may have been

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subjected to abuse or mistreatment in these facilities. I would like

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to reassure the committee that times have changed and safeguarding

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has been put in. MLA has expressed deep concern. These are all

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vulnerable children with mental health issues, with eating

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disorders, children who were abused in the most horrific way, if the

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newspaper today is even the tip of the iceberg. I was sick reading it

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to this morning. A senior civil servant said there had been no

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cover-up. A way we work is not to chase every

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particular issue but to seek assurance we have a care guidance

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and standards being applied. It is understood no-one has been charged

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in connection with the alleged abuse. The Department of Health

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officials here say police are still investigating. Prosecutions are

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possible.. The Health Minister joins me now.

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This report came out three years ago. There was concerns about sex

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abuse then. Power, it never made the public domain? In terms of how

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this arose, it was a complaint from one patient in at 2006. As a

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consequence of that, the department have trawled all of the files. The

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report was produced in 2009 and these matters have been taking it

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to a higher authority. The most senior civil servant with in at the

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Department of Health met with the police and discussed the cases. The

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police are investigating and we will have to wait and see... I will

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ask the question again. Why was it not put into the public domain?

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Normally when you find issues that we believe may have had wrong doing,

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of a criminal nature, you do not go to the public on it, you go to the

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police. The police carry out their investigations. Are you doing go to

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the DPP and follow a due process. That is the correct way of doing

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things. There were two reports, the second into nursing standards. It

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singled out an individual and said there have been a concern for rail

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on a number of years. Nothing seems to have been done about that.

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terms of all of these things, I would like to register I am

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appalled and disgusted by what is alleged... Did you know about this?

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No. A wide using that is the case? I only learnt about it today. It is

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an ongoing case. I feel I should have known about it. I understand

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the reasons why I did not. These are details of appalling sexual and

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physical abuse over 20 years a new did not know about it? Let us be

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clear. There is no issue here whatsoever that anything was being

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covered up or hidden. What came to light was about one individual. As

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opposed to the department covering up, they went through files and had

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enough concern to go through them in detail and hand the evidence to

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the police. That is not a cover-up, that is ensuring you follow a

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process. In that respect, due process has been followed. We need

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to see what the outcome of the investigation is. What action has

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been taken to look at what happened to the other children who were in

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these hospitals being treated at the time? As any processed --

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process been implemented? In terms of the investigation, that has been

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handled by the police. In terms of how we care for individuals, that

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will be done on a one-to-one basis. If care and requirement is needed

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for these individuals, I that will be offered to them. Why has it not

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been offered? This report came out three years ago. Are you content

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your department has handled this the way should have? Many of these

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people are largely vulnerable adults at this point. It may have

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been something they have forgotten about a, they may have no at

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recollection of it, in some instances, you may not wish to

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raise something with them that is no longer in their minds. You have

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to be careful how you handle up these cases. Thank you.

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The jury in the Robert Black trial has been sent home for the night.

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It has been considering the case against a convicted serial killer

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who is accused of murdering nine- year-old Jennifer Cardy in 1981.

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Our reporter is at Armagh courthouse. At what time was the

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jury sent home? The jury were sent home shortly

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after 3:30am this morning. They had been sent out to consider their

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verdict at 11:45pm. The summing up was done yesterday. That time,

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justice reminded them they had to make their judgment clearly and

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passionately. As you can imagine, there is a lot of evidence to be

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sifted through. The judge just cleared up a few points before

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sending them out, reminding them of their responsibility. He told them

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there were two charges, one of kidnapping, one of murder. Their

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first efforts should be towards returning at unanimous -- unanimous

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verdict. He explained if they were unable to do that they would be

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offered a majority verdict. We have not reached that stage.

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They have not reached a verdict at this stage?

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No. The judge did explain to them that he felt it was too early at

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this stage in the case that has lasted so long and has so much

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evidence, he felt it was too early to offer them a majority verdict at

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this point. Whether that will happen tomorrow at some point, we

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will see. The case has lasted over one month. It has been a long and

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difficult process for the family. It ever's father, mother, her

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brother and sisters were here. -- Jennifer's father. I suppose as

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many as possible will be here tomorrow. Robert Black was returned

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to prison where he is being held during the time of the trial. He is

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being held in isolation. For everybody, it is a waiting game.

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Thank you. The second of the two main witnesses in the UBS to

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progress trial has been given evidence. Ian Stuart is four years

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older than his brother who was on the stand for seven weeks. The

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brothers are testifying against 40 loyalists. Our reporter is

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following the case. After almost two months and amid

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continuing security, the first appearance of the second to UPS

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supergrass. On the evidence of both of them a rest this whole trial.

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41-year-old Ian Stuart entered wearing a black suit. He wears

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glasses and speaks quietly and is smaller and slighter than his

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younger brother. He gave evidence for 26 days. Ian Stuart identified

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the men in the dock he claimed were UVF members and who took part in

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the murder 11 years ago of the UDA man at Tommy English. The judge had

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warned him not to look at the dock as he remembered names. Stuart

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stared at the judge or his answers and told him why he and his brother

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had given themselves -- themselves up to the police. I could not deal

:10:49.:10:59.
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He also described the afternoon of Hallowe'en at 2,000 when he and a

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group of others met at a flat here to plan the Tommy English murder.

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He told how he, his brother and to that other men hijacked a taxi, how

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it was used by a murder team of four other men to drive to the home

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of Tommy English in the Ballyduff estate where he was shot dead in

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front of his children. He is expected to complete his evidence

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tomorrow. Then barristers for the 14 defendants begin their cross-

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examinations. That is a process his younger brother Robert found very

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difficult to endure over seven weeks.

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A review concerning a Stormont special adviser who was sacked

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following allegations about his private life has found no evidence

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that his activities influenced government policy. It found the

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former Church of Ireland clergyman has used his deeper mark --

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departmental computer for sexually explicit correspondents.

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One moment he was an influential adviser, the next his private life

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was in turmoil following allegations he had abused his

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position for sexual favours. recent allegations regarding

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special adviser Brian Crowe have been made his position untenable.

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It is for this reason I have decided to terminate his employment

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with immediate effect. At the time Brian Crowe issued a public apology,

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admitting his use of online pornography but denying he

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delivered favours for sex. A review of this highly unusual case has

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been published. It said e-mails of a personal and sexually explicit

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nature were found on a hard drive of his computer. They indicated he

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had mixed his private life with official business. Crucially,

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regardless of how he conducted his private life, he carried out his

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official duties in a manner consistent with normal practice. It

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adds, there was no evidence he in appropriately influence or sought

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to influence policy making. Brian Crowe has been detained -- has

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maintained a public silence. The Ulster Unionist Party will be

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relieved about the outcome. It said it welcomed the findings which it

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Still to come: as the waters recede camp more be done to prevent floods

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like this? And on the eve of the Irish

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presidential poll, we look at the legacy of Mary McAleese.

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A woman has died after being knocked down by a bus in

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Enniskillen. It happened in Wellington Road this morning. The

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police have appealed for anyone who saw what happened to contact them.

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As the flooding recedes the being ever more misery, we return to the

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simple questions - can we predict which areas are more likely to

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flood? Our Environment correspondent might have some of

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those answers. Is there a predictable pattern? There has not

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been in the past couple of weeks. The village that was flooded quite

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badly recently, renewed it could flood because it has before and it

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is in a flood plain. It flooded because the river overflowed but

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why did the river overflowed then? It was not the worst rain they had

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and that has been one of the problems. Most of the flooding was

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a random flooding caused by conduits or trains getting blocked

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up. Quite hard to predict. Although people say it is the winter and to

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expect flooding, some of the worst flooding has been in the height of

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summer. If you cannot predict it, cat can you do much to stop it?

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can at least a plan to do with it and one of the big problems in

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Northern Ireland, for different agencies are involved. Three

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different ministers dealing with it. Four different budgets. A lot of

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the experts would say it is no way to start to put together an anti-

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flooding plan, because everybody works to their own agenda. Take for

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example the cases of people that have been flooded three or four

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times and they are finding it more difficult to get home insurance.

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For those people, should they be thinking -- we be thinking of

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building more permanent defences? Rebroadcast a story of a woman

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whose house had been flooded for the third or 4th time and we were

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told no defences would be built to protect them. Thank you.

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Next to the war of words between Tesco and the Finance Minister over

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his proposed levy on big retailers. Sammy Wilson said he would not be

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bullied. Tesco has said he is planning the wrong tax at the wrong

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time. Jim Fitzpatrick is live in Belfast city centre.

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Retell, it is one of our biggest employers. One in 10 work in that

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sector and the Finance Minister wants to put 20 % hike in rates on

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big retailers and give the money to small businesses. When Sammy Wilson

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picks a fight with the biggest retail lot of all, Tesco, it is

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bound to make the headlines. Behold the Finance Minister in full combat

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mode. Tesco's response to this has spent absolutely pathetic. By his

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own admission, the Minister deliberately picked to this fight

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with Tesco. That is clever politics. Whenever objections come from a

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broader base. The hike in rates affect big city centre operations

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like Marks and Spencers and that could be bad for small retailers

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also. Everything works well together. If you look at one sector

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and damage it, it will have a negative and packed for the entire

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city. Backers of the Levy are the Northern Ireland retail trade

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association but they are funded and controlled by what are known as the

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symbol retailers and the whole cell groups behind them. They stand to

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benefit because their stores are small but the owners of the central

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brand are bigger food retailers than Tesco on the island of Ireland.

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We represent independent retailers of all kinds. We have nothing to

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apologise for. This is not about competition. This is about a level

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playing field. Getting an extension to the Small Business Rate scheme

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which is supported by every organisation. To say that we are

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somehow representing rivals of Tesco is not true. Retell employs

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80,000 people in Northern Ireland, more than one in 10 of the working

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population. With high street sales down, anything that affects the

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future of this sector is of interest and importance to more

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than Sammy Wilson and Tesco. The question is whether or not the

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scheme is best suited to help small retailers. Take bids, they would

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have to pay an extra �100 -- �100,000 in year in rates. Will

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they recoup that by cutting jobs or will they even close one of their

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flaws and escape the rate hike altogether?

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The recession has hit the retail trade perhaps it has had a bigger

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impact on the building trade. Young people who want to train cannot get

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real work experience because employers cannot afford them and of

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course there are fewer of those employers still in business. A

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further education college has found a way to help the apprentices and

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the groups at the same time. Even when these lads one

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apprenticeship places they found employers could not give them work

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experience because of the recession and the cost of insurance. That is

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why a college has offered their services to community groups and

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charities. The first project was an old boiler house being converted.

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That project was where we started to look at other buildings that we

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were not using call which needed to be refurbished. We have been very

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happy that it has been as good as it has been. This is the sort of

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wasted space which survival the college did not have the money to

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renovate and that is when the apprentices came in to learn more

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about plumbing, bricklaying and plaster. You learn more. You get

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used to cites. It is just like a normal job. But while this is

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giving free label -- Labour to charity groups, the construction

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trade will be watching to make sure they are not losing business.

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find that many of these organisations, funds are tired, so

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they would not be doing these jobs if they were having to pay for them.

:20:51.:20:57.

They provide the resources, we provide a labour force. Ironically,

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these young men could went up with a wider range of skin its -- skills

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than their classmates who have been lucky enough to get placements in

:21:05.:21:10.

one trade. Mary McAleese will be packing her

:21:10.:21:13.

bags soon, preparing to leave Aras an Uachtarain at the end of her 14

:21:13.:21:18.

year tenure as Irish President. Seven candidates are hoping the

:21:18.:21:21.

electorate will pick them as her successor when the polls open

:21:21.:21:31.
:21:31.:21:31.

Standing side-by-side with the Queen at the Garden of Remembrance.

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Honouring those who died fighting for her island's freedom. For many,

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these images define the greatest achievement of the McAlees prayer

:21:44.:21:48.

doesn't say. One of which dedicated itself to building bridges, so it

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is hard to believe that 14 years ago when she stood for election,

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leaked documents suggested Mary McAleese was putting -- pushing a

:21:57.:22:03.

Sinn Fein agenda. It enraged the lot of voters that just because she

:22:03.:22:07.

was from north Belfast and she was a Catholic his family had suffered

:22:07.:22:12.

extensively throughout the Troubles, that she was then being depicted as

:22:12.:22:21.

this so-called tribal timebomb. Actually, won support from people

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who would not have dreamt her have voting for her up to that point.

:22:25.:22:29.

was ironic that the biggest controversy to engulf her

:22:29.:22:34.

presidency stemmed from these comments she made after attending a

:22:34.:22:39.

Holocaust memorial service in 2005. They gave to their children an

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irrational hatred of Jews in the same way that people in Northern

:22:43.:22:47.

Ireland transmitted to their children an irrational hatred of

:22:47.:22:53.

Catholics, in the same way that people give an irrational hatred to

:22:53.:22:56.

those of different colour. remarks provoked a storm of

:22:57.:23:01.

criticism. I thought it was unfortunate that she should have

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said that and initially there was no attempt of withdrawal. People

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forget that. It was only later that she acknowledged it was clumsy and

:23:10.:23:16.

ice will real dangers if that was left on the record. But she moved

:23:16.:23:20.

on. She was very committed to this idea of bridge-building and she

:23:20.:23:24.

made a lot of good efforts in the direction. Building bridges was to

:23:25.:23:34.

be a formidable task. I do not like the President of the Irish Republic.

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I do not like her because she is dishonest. Undeterred, Mary

:23:40.:23:45.

McAleese reached out to Unionists and loyalists hosting guarding

:23:45.:23:49.

parties and forging a close friendship with the UDA leader

:23:49.:23:54.

Jackie McDonald. I had never called her President. It has always been

:23:54.:24:04.

Mary. I was at her inauguration. I was more worried about her than

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myself. She insisted that I went down. Fair play to her for doing

:24:13.:24:19.

that. And for many the risks paid off. Insuring she would be

:24:19.:24:22.

remembered as one of foreign's great presidents. If she

:24:22.:24:30.

overwhelmed us with her know how, the way she could carry it off. Not

:24:30.:24:36.

fussy but perfect in the role. She is ending on such a high note. I do

:24:36.:24:45.

not know what she will do with herself now. She will miss it and

:24:45.:24:54.

we will miss her. So much. Certainly a hard act to follow.

:24:54.:24:58.

Tomorrow's Hearts and Minds will have more on the Mary McAleese

:24:58.:25:03.

legacy on BBC Two at 7:30pm. On Friday we will have results of the

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Friday we will have results of the presidential poll. Now the weather.

:25:06.:25:11.

It looks like we will hold on to the more settled, slightly drier

:25:11.:25:16.

conditions for the couple of days. Just looking at the satellite

:25:16.:25:20.

picture and Northern Ireland did not fare too badly with lots of dry

:25:20.:25:24.

and bright weather. Elsewhere in the UK, there were further showers

:25:24.:25:29.

in Scotland, the West of England and the west coast of Ireland. This

:25:30.:25:37.

evening, those showers will fizzle away. Temperatures stay on the mild

:25:37.:25:40.

side with seven for nine degrees. Around midnight, the wind could

:25:40.:25:46.

pick up and it could be asked to gale force but it will ease.

:25:46.:25:53.

Tomorrow is looking like a great die -- des. Minute drive. Lot of

:25:53.:25:57.

brightness filtering in. Good spells of sunshine particularly in

:25:57.:26:04.

the north and around the east coast. Temperature wise, just hitting the

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teens, 13 in the east and 11 and 12 elsewhere. The cloud will start to

:26:10.:26:15.

thicken in the West and start to push eastwards. There might be

:26:15.:26:20.

spots of rain across the West that they will ease. The East holding on

:26:20.:26:24.

to the best of the bright weather. Overnight, high pressure will build

:26:24.:26:28.

and they could be some fog on Friday but that will clear. Friday

:26:28.:26:32.

looks like the best date of the week. It will be dry and bright

:26:32.:26:38.

with good spells of sunshine. Highs between 10 and 12 degrees. This

:26:38.:26:45.

weekend, cloud will increase. Winds will increase also. Temperatures

:26:45.:26:51.

will be 14 or 15 degrees. It is looking like rain on Saturday and

:26:51.:26:58.

the remnants of that rain might still be with us on Sunday.

:26:58.:27:02.

Finally a reminder of the stories making our headlines. Details have

:27:02.:27:04.

making our headlines. Details have emerged of sexual and physical

:27:04.:27:10.

abuse of children into psychiatric hospitals more than 20 years ago.

:27:10.:27:13.

The Jennifer Cardy murder trial, the jury had been sent home for the

:27:13.:27:16.

night. The second of two brothers giving

:27:16.:27:19.

evidence in the loyalist Supergrass trial has taken the stand for the

:27:20.:27:22.

first time. European leaders have gathered for

:27:23.:27:27.

an emergency summit in Brussels, aimed at tackling the euro-zone

:27:27.:27:33.

debt crisis. Hour late summer is at 10:25pm. You can keep up-to-date

:27:33.:27:40.

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