08/02/2014 BBC Newsline

Much more throughout the evening on the BBC News channel. We are back

with Good evening. A pipe bomb has

exploded at a GAA club in County Antrim. It happened overnight at the

St Marys-Clooney Gaels Club in Ahogill, on the eve of a big

inter-county Gaelic football match at the ground. No players at the

ground today, just the police and army looking for clues. The club

were preparing to host an intercounty football match tomorrow

between Antrim and Wicklow. Instead, disruption. And disruption,

too, the local residents in this rural area outside the town. We

can't get close enough to see what happened, but club officials tell us

that the clubhouse wasn't damaged, but two windows at a nearby

community hall were smashed. This morning a local councillor got into

the grounds before the security operation began. I saw the pipe

bomb, the pipeline in the ground. There were lots of wires lying

around. It was a very serious incident. This was a real pipe bomb.

Had it not gone off then, had it been discovered by an individual, a

child at that club, there could have been serious injury or death. The

Army bomb experts left the area this afternoon. Police say they've taken

away a crude pipe bomb type device for further examination. Police have

remained at the scene and club officials are now waiting for the

go-ahead to finalise preparations for the big match tomorrow. A

teacher who left the Boys Model School in north Belfast after she

was the target of sectarian intimidation has addressed delegates

at the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis in County Wexford. Catherine Seeley, who's a

Sinn Fein councillor in Craigavon, said she wanted to thank the pupils

at the school for their support. From Wexford, here's Our Political

Editor Mark Devenport. I would like to ask you to warmly welcome

Catherine Seeley onto the stage. A standing ovation for one of Sinn

Fein's newest councillors. Catherine Seeley projected into the political

spotlight by online intimidation, after loyalists found out she was

teaching at a state school in north Belfast. Miss Seeley talked about

the need to tackle educational underachievement amongst Protestant

working-class boys. Then turned to her own case. In the past few weeks

in my role as a teacher, I have been subjected to a campaign of sectarian

intimidation. I have already expressed my warm thanks to all who

have offered me support. But I want to take this opportunity to publicly

send a message of gratitude to those pupils of the Boys Model School in

north Belfast, who have courageously offered me their full support. The

Deputy First Minister contrasted the response of Miss Seeley's pupils to

that of some unionist politicians. If this situation was reversed and a

young Protestant teacher who was also a member of the DUP was being

forced from her job in a catholic school, I would be at the door

accompanying her to her work. Martin McGuinness also called on those he

described a sensible people within unionism to use their influence to

secure a deal on flags, parade and the past. A number of speakers

mentioned the Orange Order but, in truth, the real orange concern on

most peoples minds here has been an orange weather warning for storms.

There will be live coverage from the Ard Fheis on BBC Two at 8pm. Rugby,

and Ireland defeated defending Six Nations champions Wales by 26 to

three this afternoon in Dublin. It was always going to be a physical

test. But Ireland were ready for the challenge. Jonny Sexton kicked them

into an early lead. The pack drove home the advantage. Chris Henry's

try came from a maul, but it troubled Wales all afternoon. In a

disciplined performance, Ireland didn't look back. Paddy Jackson was

late scoring in his conversion but it gave Joe Schmidt's many 23 point

margin. I think the players can be satisfied. Jonny Sexton did a great

drop # job driving us around the field. We got a bit of line-out

pressure on, a bit of pressure defensively on. Then we got some

scrum pressure on. They had to work off the line pretty hard and chased

the game. The rain came at probably the right time for us, which was

fortuitous. Be defending Six Nations champions are humbled at Lansdowne

Road. Next up for Ireland a triple tilt at the Crown in Twickenham.

The weather will stay fairly unsettled through the weekend

because of low pressure. The low pressure is bringing stronger winds

tonight, especially for the north coast. Gales of up to 50 mph. Any

showers we do get this evening should pass quickly because of the

winds. It's not going to be chilly tonight. Sunday, although we are

expecting a scattering of showers, the good news is we won't have as

many as today. By the afternoon it will brighten up and there will be

some spells of sunshine. Unsettled to begin with. Eventually the

showers begin to fizzle out and we will see much drier weather. Britain

and Ireland tomorrow will be a much calmer day, no weather warnings.

That low pressure system which has brought stormy conditions eventually

nudging further north. It will keep it quite windy for Scotland and

Northern Ireland, but much better conditions further south. As for

Northern Ireland, tomorrow afternoon there will be some showers but also

plenty of dry, bright and even sunny weather to enjoy. By tomorrow

evening we will see a scattering of showers coming in from the West.

From Monday, some of those showers could be wintry. But we are

expecting a good deal of dry and bright weather too, although it will

feel cooler with the winds. On Tuesday we have another weather

system coming in from the Atlantic. There will be stronger winds and wet

weather.