Browse content similar to 09/01/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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it's goodbye from me and on BBC One we join the BBC's | :00:00. | :00:13. | |
Good evening and welcome to BBC Newsline. The main story... A major | :00:14. | :00:27. | |
incident at our biggest hospital. We hear the people caught up in it. I | :00:28. | :00:32. | |
think at one point there were 130 people waiting to be seen. Every | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
inch of the corridors were lined with people in wheelchairs and beds. | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
Also on the programme this evening... New recruits to the | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
Prison Service are to get special annual danger money. | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
A new centre dedicated to the Irish language centre at in an improbable | :00:52. | :00:54. | |
place. Ulster roll out the big guns for | :00:55. | :00:57. | |
tomorrow's crunch European rugby game at Ravenhill. | :00:58. | :00:59. | |
And a perfect evening for stargazing but it's not looking so pleasant for | :01:00. | :01:07. | |
tomorrow. A major incident was declared at our | :01:08. | :01:10. | |
biggest hospital last night. It wasn't because of an accident or an | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
outbreak of illness but the sheer volume of people waiting to be | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
treated or admitted. It's highlighted the pressure on the | :01:18. | :01:19. | |
Emergency Department at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Our Health | :01:20. | :01:26. | |
Correspondent Marie Louise Connolly is there. Good evening. The Accident | :01:27. | :01:38. | |
and Emergency department at the Royal Victoria Hospital is just a | :01:39. | :01:41. | |
few hundred metres behind me. Last night staff and patients described | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
the scene as horrendous. Management said they reacted by declaring a | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
major incident in order to get more staff into work. They say that | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
worked. Members of the public along with the Royal College of Nursing | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
said the conditions in which patients were treated were totally | :02:02. | :02:10. | |
unacceptable. Mervyn Jess has been speaking to some people caught up in | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
this last night. It look like a natural disaster. It was seven hours | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
of help. It was like something you see in it hurt world country. Some | :02:20. | :02:25. | |
of the voices from people affected by the events last night. The | :02:26. | :02:32. | |
unusual spike in admissions picked last night when according to some | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
staff the Accident and Emergency department was close to breaking | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
point. The problem began building on Tuesday and by yesterday evening, | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
the hospital administrators were forced to declare a major incident. | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
We believed that last night the best way to deal with the pressures was | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
to trigger that major incident protocol and it worked because we | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
got 24 nurses in and eight or nine of our senior consultants who came | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
in and it meant that we were able to deal with the situation within three | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
hours. We called it a major incident at 845 PM and it start at 11:45pm. | :03:11. | :03:20. | |
It was like a third world country. There were hundreds of people not | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
being attended to. Elderly people were left in trolleys. To be quite | :03:25. | :03:33. | |
honest, some of the staff begged people to contact the media on their | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
behalf. It was a disgrace. The hospital said an abnormally high | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
number of very sick bill arrived at Casualty and hospital admissions | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
were nearly double that that they would normally be at this time. | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
Patients were left waiting on trolleys and some were backed up | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
into the x-ray areas and some placed in a day procedure unit, a fracture | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
unit and a recovery area. This woman has a neurological condition and is | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
a regular visitor to the hospital. She arrived here yesterday morning. | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
It was terrible. I think at one point there was 130 people waiting | :04:09. | :04:11. | |
to be seen, 50 people waiting for beds. Every inch of the corridor was | :04:12. | :04:18. | |
lined with people in wheelchairs and beds. It looked like a scene out of | :04:19. | :04:25. | |
a natural disaster. Ambulances were diverted to the Ulster Hospital in | :04:26. | :04:28. | |
Dundonald for several hours as stab at the Royal Victoria Hospital | :04:29. | :04:31. | |
struggle to get to grips with the situation. It was a volcano and it | :04:32. | :04:38. | |
erupted. It was embarrassing to watch doctors and nurses in tears | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
because they were struggling. One man his mother suffers from dementia | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
says it is disgraceful she was moved to Musgrave Park Hospital in the | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
middle of the night to free up a bed of the Royal Victoria Hospital. It | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
has happened in the past and now I know what it is like. I do not know | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
what is going to be next. It is very upsetting for myself and the family. | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
If people have had a bad experience I would apologise for that. We do | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
not want that and that is one of the reasons we triggered the major | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
incident protocol. That is to ensure we continue to provide safe services | :05:14. | :05:23. | |
and people have a good experience. How have we reached this point where | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
I major incident has to be declared in order to deal with the sheer | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
volume of people coming through the doors and what has been the reaction | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
of some of those charged with running the local health service? I | :05:35. | :05:42. | |
have been monitoring reaction. Less than 30 miles away and it was all | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
smiles and Ballymena as the Health Minister opened a new children's | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
facility. He described the incident last night at the Royal Victoria | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
Hospital as a one off and praised staff who had remained beyond the | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
call of duty. The minister had this to say about the health service. We | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
have a bus service now than we had two years ago. -- a Sabre service. | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
If you have a heart attack in Northern Ireland you have a better | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
chance of living, and you do if you have a stroke there are major | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
trauma. You have people with massive expertise to deal with the | :06:18. | :06:23. | |
situation. But tell that to these workers who gathered at the Royal | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
Victoria Hospital to voice their frustrations. Health care workers | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
expressed discontent with the Health Minister. Start starting up and stop | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
proposals to take more beds out of the service. Start talking and | :06:39. | :06:41. | |
cooperating to each other. This is supposed to be a collective health | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
service, not one that competes. So what has led us to this point? Since | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
the closure of Belfast City Hospital A apartment in November 2011, | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
other casualty departments have experienced added measures on | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
services. In March 2012 and elderly man was found dead on a trolley at | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
the Royal Victoria Hospital fight he was waiting to be transferred to | :07:05. | :07:08. | |
another hospital. There have been excessive waiting times at the Royal | :07:09. | :07:10. | |
Victoria Hospital and in November last year, the College of Emergency | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
Medical Facilities, said services were unsustainable. Closures at the | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
down and Lagan Valley Hospital have added to the strain and last night | :07:23. | :07:25. | |
came the unusual move of the major incident being declared to deal with | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
intake in Casualty. It is clear that last night's problem has been | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
simmering. On Monday, ambulances in Craigavon area hospital were | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
diverted to Daisy Hill Hospital but with no snow, flu epidemic or major | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
trauma, there are those people who insist that last night's incident | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
could have been avoided. The pressures have been building for | :07:50. | :07:52. | |
some time and have been an assistant for a number of years. The emergency | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
department is the default position then other parts of the service are | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
not running properly. Whether that is community services, GP services | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
or older people services. According to the road map for change, Northern | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
Ireland will have between five and seven emergency department at to | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
facilitate that major change, there must be effective minor injury | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
facilities, Edgar Bowers and GP services. Unfortunately, people | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
become unwell unexpectedly. There needs to be flexibility in the | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
services so people can get to their GP first thing in the morning or at | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
the end of the day if they feel unexpectedly unwell. There is a | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
challenge to the system in terms of Haitians being seen at the | :08:39. | :08:40. | |
appropriate time in the appropriate place and we are all faced with that | :08:41. | :08:43. | |
challenge. We need to make sure that practices are able to do that as | :08:44. | :08:51. | |
well as A Local GP there. Last night's | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
incident has been described as one of but it is a stark reminder of the | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
pressures being faced by a emergency staff here in Northern Ireland. | :09:02. | :09:10. | |
A short time ago I spoke to the Chief Executive of the Health and | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
Social Care Board John Compton and he agreed with what staff have been | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
telling us in that if there had been a major trauma such as a road | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
accident or a fire last night, staff at the hospital might not have been | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
able to cope. The health trust called a major incident at around | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
eight o'clock last night but stood down at midnight. The reason was | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
that we could bring staff in and we could alert the rest of the Northern | :09:37. | :09:39. | |
Ireland system to provide support which happened in the system. Major | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
incidents have come normal? Not at all. Staff tell us they are | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
continually under pressure, continually stretched, they have to | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
work extra avarice to fill the rotor. Using they are wrong? I think | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
you need to clarify a few things. I major incident is only called for | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
them there are exceptional circumstances and others different | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
to being busy. I recognise casualty departments are busy. That was a | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
major incident. For many people it was the tipping point and being | :10:16. | :10:19. | |
under pressure is just part of the normal job. Many staff had said to | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
us that they fear for patient safety. Politicians said today that | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
major incident indicates that patients lives are now being put at | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
risk, that the system of A is not working and you need to readdress | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
it. There are a couple of things I would say. Look at the total number | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
of people attending the emergency departments this year compared to | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
the number last year. There is not a material difference. Look at some of | :10:46. | :10:48. | |
the performance information, for example, the length of time people | :10:49. | :10:55. | |
wait, we have fewer people waiting 12 hours this year than we did last | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
year. I do not think you cant to a conclusion that on the basis of one | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
event and one particular set of circumstances to say that the total | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
system is broken. It is clearly pressured and we are making changes | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
to that and we have signalled those changes and it will take a period of | :11:12. | :11:15. | |
five years to get us through that and our journey. Do you not see that | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
there is a crisis within casualty departments, across Northern | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
Ireland. There is a shortage of doctors, of medical staff and in | :11:25. | :11:27. | |
doing so well and having that shortage, there is pressure on staff | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
already there. Of course there is. That has a knock-on effect? Yes, but | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
you must discriminate by patient safety and risk. All I can say is | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
that we have a robust system and I am not aware of the material changes | :11:45. | :11:50. | |
in the number of adverse incidents being applied in our emergency | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
departments. You could reassure viewers that it could happen tonight | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
staff and resources could go? I could reassure viewers and if you | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
look at what happened last night if we call a serious incident like we | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
did last night, we got staff in and within a relatively short space of | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
time, the system reacted well to the circumstances and I think that would | :12:12. | :12:14. | |
happen tonight if than incident was declared. At what point, staff tell | :12:15. | :12:22. | |
us they are at breaking point, but at what point is it broken? If you | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
compare what happened for example in other parts of the UK in terms of | :12:28. | :12:35. | |
emergency departments, none of that has happened in Northern Ireland. | :12:36. | :12:38. | |
The system is functioning, it is very pressured but we are making | :12:39. | :12:47. | |
changes and fixing that. Emergency departments all work seven days a | :12:48. | :12:50. | |
week but senior doctors and staff are now available and we are making | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
a transition. I believe we will do it successfully. There is more on | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
that on our Facebook page where you can share your experiences. | :13:03. | :13:12. | |
Still to come... I am live at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
where we are hoping to see something special in the skies. By and | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
outfought later. -- find out what. More than 1000 Prison Service staff | :13:21. | :13:29. | |
are to receive special annual danger money payments because of the threat | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
they face from dissident republicans. An independent pay | :13:33. | :13:34. | |
review body has recommended that they should each be paid more than | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
?1300 a year on top of their normal salary, for as long as the security | :13:40. | :13:42. | |
threat remains. Our Home Affairs Correspondent Vincent Kearney | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
reports. The names of 31 members of the Prison Service killed for doing | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
their jobs. The most recent was David Black, shot dead 15 months ago | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
as he drove along the M1to work in a prison. Even before he was killed, | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
prison staff had been lobbying for extra payments to reflect the threat | :14:01. | :14:03. | |
they face. The Justice Minister David Ford referred the issue to pay | :14:04. | :14:11. | |
body and it has now said what it refers to a supplementary risk | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
allowance should be paid. The decision applies to staff who joined | :14:15. | :14:18. | |
the Prison Service since 2002 including wood than 350 employed | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
during the past 18 months. The majority in between 18 and ?21,000. | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
It has been recommended that each receives an additional ?200 every | :14:29. | :14:39. | |
year. That does not apply to main grade prison officers recruited | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
before 2002 who earn more than ?38,000 every year. A special | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
allowances already built into their salary. The Justice Committee | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
chairman Paul Givan says the payments are justified. These | :14:52. | :14:54. | |
officers are being advised that they need to alternate the roots when | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
they are coming to work and going home. There are areas they are not | :14:59. | :15:01. | |
allowed to socialise and so there is a clear impact on their lifestyle | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
and the environment they operate in and that has a financial cost. The | :15:06. | :15:11. | |
extra payments will cost more than ?1.5 million every year. In a letter | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
to the Justice Committee David Wood said the recommendations represent a | :15:17. | :15:18. | |
significant cost to his department and no additional resources would be | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
made available. It is understood the extra money needed to be found from | :15:22. | :15:27. | |
within the existing budget for the Prison Service. The association that | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
represents prison officers has not welcomed the recommendation that the | :15:33. | :15:34. | |
allowance should be paid but says the man on offer is not enough. -- | :15:35. | :15:44. | |
the amount on offer. A DUP Special Adviser has told MLAs | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
that there was "nothing shady or nothing dodgy" regarding a meeting | :15:49. | :15:51. | |
with a double glazing firm or the way that meeting was recorded by | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
officials. Stephen Brimstone who advises the Housing Minister Nelson | :15:55. | :15:57. | |
McCausland was giving evidence to a Stormont committee. The committee is | :15:58. | :15:59. | |
investigating allegations broadcast by the BBC's Spotlight programme | :16:00. | :16:02. | |
about political interference in the running of the Housing Executive. | :16:03. | :16:15. | |
Here's Stephen Walker. It was after the busy Spotlight programme last | :16:16. | :16:17. | |
summer that an investigation was set up. Much of the inquiry has centred | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
on an inquiry with the glazing firm. The committee was told that had | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
supported the DUP in the past that election time. Stephen Brimstone who | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
advises Nelson McCausland initially met members of the firm who wanted a | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
meeting with the minister. He thought they wanted to have | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
discussions as discussions as members of the Glass and glazing | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
Federation. I genuinely felt there was an impression that a letter was | :16:49. | :16:51. | |
going to be sent to the Minister on behalf of this the direction. And | :16:52. | :16:57. | |
then them letter arrived it was a request from the Turkington is and | :16:58. | :17:00. | |
not the Federation. After the meeting, it was initially recorded | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
in departmental records as a meeting with Turkington but it was | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
subsequently changed to a meeting with the Federation. Today Barbara | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
McConnachie civil servant was asked why the details of the meeting were | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
changed. Your evidence to us is that you do not make changes to the diary | :17:18. | :17:24. | |
or beheading of your own volition. Is that right? I made the changes. I | :17:25. | :17:34. | |
am not quibbling that. I am asking you did you do it up your own | :17:35. | :17:37. | |
volition in either or both cases or did someone tell you to do that. I | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
would have done it under instruction. Stephen Brimstone | :17:43. | :17:44. | |
insists he had no role in changing departmental records. I do not see | :17:45. | :17:52. | |
how anyone could interpret that as being an attempt to write something | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
out. There was nothing shady or dodgy or in any way that would be | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
inappropriate. He was also asked if he knew that Turkington had in the | :18:04. | :18:10. | |
past supported the DUP. I am not aware of who the DUP is financed by | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
or supported by or anything else. During the session, the DUP said | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
Barbara McConnachie had been badgered by some MLS and they | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
objected to the manner of some of the questions. The committee will | :18:23. | :18:25. | |
reconvene in two weeks time. Irish classes have become so popular | :18:26. | :18:38. | |
among Protestants in East Belfast that an Irish language centre is | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
opening there. It's being run by the sister-in-law of the loyalist leader | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
David Ervine. Chris Page has more. The Lord in North Road is often | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
described as a loyalist heartland but amidst the union flags and | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
murals and Irish language centre five and is taking place. -- the | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
Lower Newtownards Road. Dozens of people here have in taking classes | :19:00. | :19:06. | |
like this one filmed for a BBC documentary. So many people are | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
interested that and Irish language centre is opening here. It is being | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
run by Linda Ervine whose brother-in-law was the late loyalist | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
leader David Irvine. I think they are claiming something that is part | :19:21. | :19:23. | |
of their heritage and has been lost to them in recent years. To help | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
explain what she means, there are some interesting historical | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
documents on display. This is the senses of 1911. There are records | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
for a family called Irvine which included David Ervine is | :19:40. | :19:42. | |
grandparents who lived of the Lower Newtownards Road. It was a family of | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
eight and all of them could speak Irish and the records show that a | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
number of other Protestant families in this area could as well. The new | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
centre harks back to that time and features this wall painting by Mark | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
Irvine, showing the 1911 Map And St names in Irish. It also includes a | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
library, classroom and teaching aids and has enthused keen learners of | :20:06. | :20:11. | |
Irish like this man. It is not an easy language to learn. The grammar | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
is different. But with perseverance I should manage to be fluent by | :20:17. | :20:22. | |
2015! He is one of the new generation of Protestant Gaelic | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
speakers. 20 more are expected to sign up for classes after the centre | :20:28. | :20:48. | |
officially opens this evening! Ulster Rugby have announced tonight | :20:49. | :20:51. | |
that Stephen Ferris has signed a contract extension. The flanker told | :20:52. | :20:54. | |
this programme in November he was determined to battle back from | :20:55. | :20:57. | |
injury. And with this short-term extension, he can continue his | :20:58. | :21:00. | |
rehabilitation from the injury he sustained against Edinburgh 14 | :21:01. | :21:02. | |
months ago. He's now making good progress although no date has yet | :21:03. | :21:05. | |
been set for his return to play. Meanwhile prop Declan Fitzpatrick | :21:06. | :21:15. | |
has signed a new two-year deal. And some of Ulster's key internationals | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
return to the line up for the visit of French side Montpellier in the | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
Heineken Cup tomorrow. Hooker Rory Best has made an earlier than | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
expected recovery after breaking his arm in Ireland's agonising defeat by | :21:26. | :21:28. | |
New Zealand in November. Nick Williams replaces Roger Wilson at | :21:29. | :21:31. | |
number eight on a night when winger Andrew Trimble will make a record | :21:32. | :21:34. | |
58th appearance for Ulster in Europe. Captain Johann Muller has | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
overcome a calf injury and starts in the second row. Was always great to | :21:38. | :21:50. | |
get world-class and international players back from injury. -- it is | :21:51. | :21:57. | |
always. It is hoped they bring on the field and off the field and | :21:58. | :22:04. | |
their leadership is spectacular. I am delighted to have them back. Has | :22:05. | :22:10. | |
been a great atmosphere in training already. | :22:11. | :22:17. | |
After today's first round of the Volvo Champions event in Durban, | :22:18. | :22:20. | |
Darren Clarke lies in second place at three under par. Clarke has | :22:21. | :22:23. | |
emerged from winter training three stones lighter and he showed good | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
form with a round of 69, to lie just two shots off the early lead. | :22:28. | :22:35. | |
The Belfast-born hockey player Iain Lewers is spending the next six | :22:36. | :22:38. | |
weeks playing in India, where he will compete in the new professional | :22:39. | :22:41. | |
Hockey League there. But first, as part of the Great Britain set-up, he | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
qualifies to play for England in the World Hockey League tournament which | :22:46. | :22:48. | |
starts in Delhi this week and he's keen to make up for disappointment | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
at the Olympics. Nigel Ringland reports. It is one of the places you | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
want to experience playing hockey. It is an experience for a lot of the | :22:59. | :23:00. | |
guys on the team and we are looking forward to it and hopefully we come | :23:01. | :23:06. | |
back on the right side of a result. We will keep you updated with his | :23:07. | :23:14. | |
progress. All this week we've been asked to | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
look beyond this world to universes near and far in the BBC's Stargazing | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
Live series. One of the UK's biggest public events is happening tonight | :23:23. | :23:25. | |
at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Cultra and our reporter | :23:26. | :23:33. | |
Julie McCullough is there. The conditions are ideal for a night of | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
stargazing. The skies are clear and as you can see, the telescopes are | :23:39. | :23:45. | |
out. I am joined by a special guest and he is hoping to see something | :23:46. | :23:53. | |
special. We have a great chance of seeing the Northern lights because | :23:54. | :23:56. | |
the sun has been very active recently. Yesterday it sent out a | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
big cloud of electrified gas. If it reaches us and interacts with the's | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
magnetic fields and that is what causes the Northern Lights. The | :24:08. | :24:14. | |
night is young. You can see it anywhere? Anywhere you have a good | :24:15. | :24:21. | |
view to the northern horizon, you can see it. They could be any colour | :24:22. | :24:28. | |
but the bubbly orange,. What about the people who have come here | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
tonight. What is an opera? We have fantastic use of the Moon and | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
Jupiter with some of its moons. People are amazed when they see it. | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
The million is spectacular and then everyone looks set that we will see | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
the Orion nebula. Lots of other things. Whatever people want to see, | :24:49. | :24:55. | |
you can see it. This event at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum | :24:56. | :24:58. | |
goes on until 10pm this evening. BBC Radio Ulster is going live from here | :24:59. | :25:08. | |
from 7pm until 9pm. Let's find out if the sky will be | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
clear at that big BBC Stargazing Live event in County Down and for | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
the rest of us. The weather forecast is next with Angie. | :25:17. | :25:20. | |
clear at that big BBC Stargazing Live event in County We do have more | :25:21. | :25:23. | |
wet weather on the way that today we have been through some weather | :25:24. | :25:34. | |
systems. For this evening, apart from a few coastal showers it is | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
mainly dry and clear. It is the BBC Stargazing Live event. Here in | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
Northern Ireland it is at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra | :25:44. | :25:50. | |
until 10pm. Conditions are ideal. It looks as though we will see the | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
showers in the North Brazil out. The first part of the night is try and | :25:55. | :26:00. | |
clear. It is also cold. -- try and clear. Initially to note that could | :26:01. | :26:11. | |
be mist and fog patches but as the breeze picks up the mist and fog | :26:12. | :26:20. | |
will left. Tomorrow will be wet and windy. The rain will reach the West | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
but early in the morning and it will extend eastwards. It is not | :26:27. | :26:32. | |
particularly heavy burden will be persistent. -- but it will be. The | :26:33. | :26:44. | |
rain will linger towards the afternoon but drier conditions will | :26:45. | :26:47. | |
follow. With that drier weather comes colder air. Temperatures are | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
around seven degrees initially but they start to plummet as the clear | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
air comes in and they will continue to vote tomorrow night. A few | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
showers in the north and West will turn wintry. Many places will be dry | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
and clear and tomorrow night we are looking at a widespread frost. On | :27:07. | :27:14. | |
Saturday there is the risk of someone true showers towards the | :27:15. | :27:18. | |
north. Most places are dry and bright but it will be cold with | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
another widespread frost on Saturday night. The next batch of wet and | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
windy weather comes on Sunday. Starry night tonight. That's all | :27:28. | :27:29. | |
from the BBC Newsline team. Keep up to date with News Online and you can | :27:30. | :27:31. | |
follow us on Facebook and Twitter. | :27:32. | :27:45. |