20/09/2013 BBC Newsline

Hello and welcome to the programme. The headlines: after his first round

table talks with the political parties Dr Richard Haass says he is

encouraged agreement can be reached. parties Dr Richard Haass says he is

I believe there is a real chance to succeed. That is a step. A real

chance is not a guarantee. A woman appears in court in Lisburn

charged with the murder of her three-year-old son.

Ticket prices for the Nomadic could be reduced in a bid to improve

visitor numbers. How interesting is that? Is it a pounds interesting? I

do not think so. It is a big night in Belfast. It is

all singing, all dancing and guess what, it is not raining!

As the Tyrone minor foot rollers chase their first All-Ireland title

since 2008, Ulster Road he is on the chase their first All-Ireland title

road to convert looking for their first win of the season.

If you have your gym shoes ready, join me later for the forecast the

King ahead to the weekend. -- looking ahead.

Everyone agrees he has a difficult job but the man who's been asked to

help solve some of Northern Ireland's most divisive issues now

says he has a real chance of success. Dr Richard Haass was

speaking at a news conference which marked the end of his team's first

week of talks in Northern Ireland. Gareth Gordon reports. After 30

separate meetings with 100 different people in four days it was time to

separate meetings with 100 different bring the politicians together. The

first signs look positive. Until now, the parties have rich -- met Dr

first signs look positive. Until Richard Haass separately today is

the day they get down to business. Robbins operates, planks and the

the day they get down to business. past have so far proved impossible

to solve. With these experienced maths said they were going away with

a strong sense of possibility that that could change. What we have both

been in any number of political processes. We have been in Europe in

the Middle East, and in Asia and in Latin America and here. Based upon

the experience, based upon the quality of the conversations we have

had, and also our familiarity with the issues, both of us were involved

here a decade ago, I believe there is a real chance to succeed. I would

like to stress just how positive the town of every meeting was. You might

imagine that some parties came in to stake out a prone position, lay down

the goblet. In the cases did that happen. We found everywhere and came

in in a spirit of cooperation and well-prepared and as a result we had

in in a spirit of cooperation and a fruitful discussion. -- them

gauntlet. He ruled out taking the talks into next year. We have made

it clear that as we are operating under a deadline, we will finish our

work before the end of December. Let me just say that nothing I have

heard or read leads me to think that more time will result in more

progress. Some of the parties agree with that more than others. I think

it would be wrong if we were to with that more than others. I think

build public expectations. We need to be realistic where we can go. I

build public expectations. We need do not think the issue is that we

need more time to discuss the issues or understand positions. Those are

well-known. The issues I did we want to resolve them? The public demands

we should. We need to test the will in the room as to whether or not we

are going to do that in the time frame set aside. If we go into 2014

with the shadow of doubt and disputes and a failure to resolve

the issues which have haunted us for far too long, then that will sever

politics into next year. What about the two largest parties? We are at a

crucial point. I want to come out of this that we have made substantial

progress and are moving ahead. The politicians alone do not have the

answers. We want to hear from people across the community, their views on

answers. We want to hear from people the issues so we can take those bees

on board as we prepare our submissions and seek to reach

agreements on what are very complex and challenging matters. When he

returns in late October, Doctor Haas will hold meetings in London, Dublin

and parts of Northern Ireland. The talks website has received 100

submissions so far and adverts will talks website has received 100

be placed on 55 different outlets asking for more submissions and

groups to be seen. Expectations are high.

So what's the verdict on week one of the Haass talks? Mark Devenport

joins me. Some acknowledgement that the past is going to be difficult.

Yes, it is the first time that the talks team said while there are so

many ways that you can talk about the issues, there are more definite

issues in the past because of its very complexity and the number of

issues in the past because of its issues involved. They may be more

difficult. That might be pointing us towards the notion that they may

have more of a pointing recommendation in relation to the

past rather than trying to tie all recommendation in relation to the

the ends down. As you sow in the report, the talk of deadlines

again. In that report, Dr Richard Haass sounded definite about at the

end of the year he was out of here. It has to be said that later in the

news conference he said if he could be persuaded that an extra month

would make a difference he might consider it, even though at this

stage she was not persuaded. He may end up ruining that because the

history of our politicians is that if they are given a chink of light

about a deadline they will take it. Thank you.

A mother has appeared in court in Lisburn charged with the murder of

A mother has appeared in court in her three-year-old son in July. The

27-year-old was remanded in custody. Mervyn Jess reports.

The charge relates to the discovery of the body of three-year-old

Brendan Owens in the house in Trinity Terrace in July. A

Brendan Owens in the house in postmortem was carried out in July

and the results are believed to have been inconclusive. This morning, the

child's mother, Michelle Owens, aged 27, was charged with his murder. A

child's mother, Michelle Owens, aged 51-year-old man who was also

arrested in connection with the killing and was released on bail

pending further enquiries. Michelle Owens was flanked by a female

custody officer in court. She did not speak. She is accused of the

murder of three-year-old Brendan Owens. A detective constable said he

believed he could connect her with Owens. A detective constable said he

the crime. She was remanded in custody and will appear in court via

video link next month. Open for almost four months, the SS

Nomadic is thinking of reducing ticket prices over the coming months

to help boost visitor numbers. It also hopes to capitalise on the

success of Titanic Belfast with a also hopes to capitalise on the

joint admission package next year. Our business correspondent Julian

O'Neill has more details. The SS Nomadic which once served the great

Titanic is still in its shadow, 100 years later. Or at least in terms of

visitor numbers. Today was a good day, busier than usual. It has been

open since June and the man in charge says he is pleased. But

already the project is thinking of cutting admission -- admission

prices for the months ahead. For the first three months we have had

13,000 visitors. What is your thinking behind possibly reducing

the visitor prices for the winter? Is that an attempt to boost numbers?

Any place that is asked to consider what is appropriate to try and

Any place that is asked to consider improve that file. That met the

number of people coming in. We have considered that. The adult ticket

prices a pounds 50 and that is £6 cheaper than the signature project

and build an 850,000 visitors in cheaper than the signature project

first year. Is the Nomadic doomed to struggle? Did think it's value for

money? Yes, I would say so. It depends on your interest. If you

have an interest for Heritage, definitely. I suppose it is

interesting. But how interesting is that? A pounds interesting? I do not

think so. Perhaps I mean. Was it a case of deciding to go for one

project or the other? Yes, you have to prioritise. There is so much to

see. I think if you could get a maritime ticket for all of Belfast

and have the experience it would be a great idea. The Nomadic needs

40,000 visitors every year to break even and is pushing the idea of a

joint ticket strategy with its big neighbour. Titanic Belfast said in a

statement that the joint ticketing ID is on the agenda for discussions.

It may even be introduced sometime next year but for now, the Nomadic,

the last of the White Star line, remains on its own. You are watching

BBC Newsline. Still to come, more human remains are no why

archaeologists during a dig in Londonderry.

A social worker has told BBC Newsline that staff regularly go to

extraordinary lengths to protect young people. Earlier this week it

emerged that 30 people have been arrested as part of the

investigation into the sexual exploitation of at least 22

teenagers. Maeve Duffin, who's a senior social worker, said staff

have followed young people and have tried to stop them travelling. Our

Health Correspondent Marie-Louise Connolly began by asking her to

describe her attempts to protect one particular child. For the young

describe her attempts to protect one person who left, I was alerted and I

was able to watch the situation. I watched them getting into a car, I

took the registration number and followed the car. I passed it on to

the police. That young person was missing for a period of time. When I

came back we were concerned about -- when they came back I was concerned

about what had happened. We talked to them about their sexual health,

if they needed to go to hospital, if they needed to talk to the police.

What are you and your staff doing to try and protect these children? I

think there has been a perception that social workers are not doing

enough. It is frustrating to listen to that and hear that. Staff and

myself and my team are going above and beyond I think what the public

would expect us to do. We are following young people, we are

following buses, we are following cars. We are going to train

stations. We stop young people getting on trains, yes. What is the

reaction? They are quite frustrated sometimes because they feel that we

are being overprotective. They think they can handle situations they are

in, but that is not always the case. How do you see the situation

moving forward? What progress can be made? I think we need to continue

doing what we are doing. We need to gather information that can be

passed to the police and we need to bring these people to justice.

A Rector based in St Augustine's in Londonderry has been appointed as

the Anglican Church's first woman bishop in the UK and Ireland. The

Reverend Pat Storey was elected by the Church of Ireland as Bishop of

Meath and Kildare, in the Republic. I think it is very inclusive stop it

is another place for women's are equal -- women are equal and I have

always been treated equally. This message is saying that if you have

the guts to step up but sometimes things can happen that you never

expect. A dispute over locked classrooms at

a school in north Belfast has been settled. 14 classrooms at Hazelwood

Integrated College, were padlocked in a row over the school's lease for

the land. But after negotiations with the Belfast Education Board and

the Department of Education today the rooms are being unlocked. In a

statement, the school said the matter had been brought to a

"satisfactory conclusion". A couple of things need to be done before

classes start in the units on the 30th of September.

The search for a missing Polish man who fell off the rocks in Portush

last Saturday has resumed this morning. Jaroslaw Andrykiewicz had

been fishing with friends at Ramore Head when he fell into the sea. The

search for his body was suspended last weekend due to the weather. His

mother and brother have arrived in Northern Ireland.

The Lord Mayor of Belfast Mairtin O'Muilleoir is supporting a request

by the Royal British Legion to light up the City Hall in red. It will

happen on the 24th of October to mark the launch of the annual Poppy

Appeal. The Sinn Fein Mayor says it is all about respecting people's

right to remembrance. I was pleased to support but an Sinn Fein was

pleased to support it. It will happen. It is a small gesture of

reconciliation during a tough time for the city. We can hopefully unite

around remembering the dead from the First World War.

You are watching BBC Newsline and Mark Simpson is out and about in

Belfast. It is culture night in Belfast tonight. It is in full

swing. It is Belfast, but not as we know what. I will have much more

later in the programme. More human remains have been

unearthed by archaeologists during a dig in Londonderry. 13 skeletons

have now been uncovered by a team excavating Bishop Street car park

near St Augustine's Church. The remains are thought to date back to

time of the siege of of the city. Our North-West reporter, Keiron

Tourish, has the latest details. It has been an exciting week for the

team involved here at the dig. Doctor Emily Marie from Queens

University has seen significant developments. Yes, we have uncovered

13 burials and we have excavated seven. What have you found? Mostly

adults, we have one that is laid out the way with its head facing east,

so we think that is a clergyman, possibly a bishop. We have a male

and female in a double burial, that is possibly a man and wife. All of

the skeletons will be taken away for further examination and reinforces

the view that this area should be protected some more excavations can

be carried out. It's Mayo against Dublin in the

All-Ireland final, but there is still an Ulster team involved on

Sunday. Mark is here with more. This talented Tyrone minor squad follow

-- carry the hopes of the province. They will -- no side bar to has won

more than one All-Ireland minor title. The red hands are chasing

their first trophy since 2001. The first team ever from County Tyrone

to become All-Ireland champions. It can then holds the trophy. Bay

Bridge the pinnacle of their sport. But many believed that the basis for

that first ever All-Ireland crown was a minor title five years

earlier. The 1998 winning side was managed by Mickey Harte and included

future starters like Stephen O'Neill, Dominic Mulligan and

quiet-mac and Alan. Tyrone have gone on to lift another former title

since then. We tried to do a number of things which -- with sports

psychologists and work through a number of scenarios. Dealing with

the crowd is one thing we try to relate to. 17 and 18-year-old boys

get a lot of hassle about the way they carry on but these boys have

shown themselves and carried themselves very well. Children have

not had it all their own way. They lost in the Ulster final two

Monaghan, aside that was knocked out of the competition by this

weekend's opponents. It is a massive challenge. We watched them against

Monaghan and they annihilated them. It was brilliant. We are confident

we can put it up to them, definitely. It is a big part of the

calendar and it is unreal. It has not sunk in yet. These players are

determined to make a name for themselves on the big stage this

Sunday. The game will be live on BBC Radio Ulster.

Ulster Head Coach, Mark Anscombe, has made three changes to the team

that lost narrowly to Glasgow Warriors for tomorrow provincial

derby away to Connacht. Tom Court, Iain Henderson and Chris Henry are

the men stepping up in the pack. And, after two defeats in two, the

pressure's on, just a little. The smash and grab victory one week ago

left a sour taste in the mouth. A series of missed chances gave the

coaching staff plenty to ponder about going into this match this

weekend, it is a clean slate. The players know that they work

incredibly hard and they are great bunch of players. You cannot

incredibly hard and they are great underestimate how difficult that is

against a side like as gold to manufacture chances. It is done now.

We look back and we did not think we created a lot of chances. The

performance against Glasgow was better. The boys were disappointed

but they have been hugely positive this week and they know they have

got to get the fine details right. If we do that this weekend, we will

win. It came together a way to convert last season. Ulster ran in

five tries and a comprehensive bonus point, but the game tomorrow is set

in a different context. They are never a nice team to play. It makes

things more horrible. They will smell blood. But it will make for a

great game. It would be a tough game. If they do not win, things

will begin to creep just a little. The game is live on BBC Two

television. This season has seen one of the most competitive starts to

the Irish league. The Navan are now one point adrift of the leaders and

the Irish league. The Navan are now champions Cliftonville. Here is Nile

Foster on the revival of the Lurgan blues. Dear Navan have been making

strides up the Irish Premiership table. There is something a little

different about this group of players. The one thing we need to

different about this group of improve on, the back four, a great

game. We conceded a lot of chances. The work we do now gets is focused.

game. We conceded a lot of chances. They have lost just one game and

next month there will be an They have lost just one game and

indication of how well much progress They have lost just one game and

has been defined. We will evaluate ourselves over the next four games

and see what happens. We take no point out of the eight games. At

home against Cliftonville we would be in. Against Crusaders we were

beaten. Both games away to Linfield and Portadown we were beaten. We are

looking for improvements of any sort. The relationship between the

coach and the only player manager in the league seems to be working. Gary

believes in as a backroom team and he keeps a blank canvas. It took a

period of time to get a manner of working. But we are in a good place.

Straightaway, yes, one, two, start, we have to build. We are on track

now and we know the characters and strength and weaknesses of everyone.

Next up to face the tactics of the opposition or Lenten Pool tomorrow.

We will bring you the goals and action tomorrow.

Finally, the Belfast Giants have their first big test of the season

tonight at the Odyssey. They're up against the unbeaten League leaders,

the Dundee Stars. Fees office at 7pm.

It's Culture Night tonight in towns 7pm.

and cities across Northern Ireland. Armagh, Londonderry, Strabane and

Holywood are among the places staging open-air cultural events.

But the largest will be in Belfast, with organisers expecting more than

30,000 people. Mark Simpson is in the city centre. I think there are

about 10,000 people here already. How fast is buzzing this evening and

let's be honest, it has been a difficult year. The city needs a

good evening and they are getting at. People from all over are coming

into the city centre but what are they going to get? We can speak to

one of the organisers Adam. What have you got planned? There is over

263 events in six hours. There is probably more than 303 events. It is

a big street party. We are trying to get the ball to engage with arts and

culture, but we are doing it in a nice, friendly, successful way. We

culture, but we are doing it in a are having different levels of

culture. People are here from all different backgrounds and religion

and ethnicity. That is why it is one of the best nights in the city

because everyone enjoys having this really great mix. Belfast must learn

to love itself a little. Belfast learns to love itself and love food

as well. There is free food on offer. We have 65 suppliers giving

ranges of food and it is free to everyone that comes into the city.

We have a pet farm for children and we have brought climbing or the

slightly older children. We have lots of music and arts and

entertainment. I will jiggle and downs. Another question to you Adam.

Will it really help the city? Will downs. Another question to you Adam.

it make a difference? Use it at home and turn on the radio. You hear all

the bad stuff happening in your city. This is where people come out.

They are going to come around and see what the city has to offer.

Adam, I will let you have a dance, but I will not dance with you. It is

a big night all across Northern Ireland and I am assured it will

stay dry. Thank you. Time for a weather

update. Are we going to get a nice weekend?

I think we might. I feel like I should have my running shoes with

me. The marathon will get underway on Sunday and I will have the race

details but first of all, we have a lovely weekend to look forward to.

Today it has been lovely. That continues into this evening. Later

on tonight there is some cloud coming in and that means overnight,

temperatures will be slightly warmer than we have experienced recently.

Tomorrow promises to be another nice day. At least it promises to be a

nice afternoon because in the morning, there is the chance of some

drizzly rain. The showers are not going to amount to very much I

think, but there will be some mist throughout the early part of the

day. As the mist clears away, the temperatures start to rise and they

will head around 19 degrees. But this time of year that is great. --

hit around. Saturday will be a very nice day and what is driving our

weather is this system, which sucks in the warm and moist air. Sunday

will be another good day. I will just be a little bit of drizzle

around early on -- there will just be. When the marathon gets underway

at nine o'clock it may be rather warm for distance running. The high

pressure is in charge over the next few days across the United Kingdom

and Ireland. That will give a settled quality to the weather.

Whether you are getting out there or whether you are just relaxing have a

lovely weekend. Some decent temperatures to look forward to. Go

and enjoy it. Thanks for watching BBC Newsline.

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