:00:00. > :00:12.Good evening. A woman whose mother died in the
:00:13. > :00:16.Royal Victoria Hospital says she's speaking out because she doesn't
:00:17. > :00:20.want others to have to go through the same. It follows revelations
:00:21. > :00:23.there were five deaths at the Royal Victoria Hospital's emergency
:00:24. > :00:27.department last year, where the time taken to treat patients may have
:00:28. > :00:35.been a factor in their death. Marie-Louise Connolly reports. Up
:00:36. > :00:39.until now these five cases have just been statistics. But that's now
:00:40. > :00:44.changed after one of the families decided to go public. Speaking to
:00:45. > :00:48.the BBC, a woman whose mother died at the RVH emergency department last
:00:49. > :00:57.November says her family feels let down by the NHS. Mum had waited on a
:00:58. > :01:02.chair for about five hours. She had been triaged incorrectly and you
:01:03. > :01:09.know what I mean by that, no one took account of the fact that she
:01:10. > :01:14.was on Warfarin. There was a further delay of an hour-and-a-half. There
:01:15. > :01:20.seemed to be some delay in getting whatever it was she needed for the
:01:21. > :01:25.Warfarin reversal and what transpired now was that there was no
:01:26. > :01:30.porter available. According to Colette, things started to go wrong
:01:31. > :01:33.after her 80-year-old mother arrived in the emergency department. While
:01:34. > :01:37.the family accept their mother was elderly, they didn't believe her
:01:38. > :01:41.condition was life threatening. At the family's request, her death was
:01:42. > :01:46.investigated. The results were shocking. And it just seemed to be
:01:47. > :01:51.one error after another that has been accepted by the Royal and they
:01:52. > :01:55.have apologised for their negligence. Did they use those
:01:56. > :02:00.words, they apologised? Yes. Yes, they did. The man responsible for
:02:01. > :02:04.the Belfast health trust accepts the case should have been handled better
:02:05. > :02:10.and when asked if this was a resigning matter. He had this to
:02:11. > :02:14.say. If I feel I can't deliver added benefit to the population of Belfast
:02:15. > :02:19.and to the patients who depend on us for care that's the time when I
:02:20. > :02:24.would step down. The local Health Service is under major reform. The
:02:25. > :02:29.long-term plan is to care for more people in the community and away
:02:30. > :02:34.from hospital. As a result 400 hospital beds have been cut in four
:02:35. > :02:39.years. We need to be clear. We are in the biggest period of change in
:02:40. > :02:44.the last 60 years. We are implementing a huge change in terms
:02:45. > :02:49.of health and social care. Colette's mother suffered several bleeds on
:02:50. > :02:54.the brain, waiting to be treated would not have helped her chances of
:02:55. > :02:59.recovery. I feel that systems did fail and I feel there wasn't
:03:00. > :03:03.appropriate resources. Recent events brought the emergency care issue to
:03:04. > :03:05.a head. It is crucial happens next is in the interests of patients and
:03:06. > :03:14.not political point scoring. Street says four suspect packages
:03:15. > :03:16.delivered to Army Careers Offices in England bear what it calls the
:03:17. > :03:19.hallmarks of Northern Ireland-related terrorism. The
:03:20. > :03:24.packages were sent to recruitment centres in Oxford, Slough, Kent and
:03:25. > :03:28.Brighton. Experts say they could have caused burns or injury but were
:03:29. > :03:31.not life-threatening. Earlier this week letter bombs were sent to
:03:32. > :03:35.offices in Hampshire, Kent and Berkshire. The Prime Minister, David
:03:36. > :03:39.Cameron, has chaired a meeting of the COBRA emergencies committee to
:03:40. > :03:50.discuss the threat. Politicians here have condemned the action. This is
:03:51. > :03:53.deplorable activity in the part on of dissident republican terrorists.
:03:54. > :03:56.These people are small in number, but they can be lethal in intent. We
:03:57. > :04:01.need to ensure the resources are there. The alertness is there. And
:04:02. > :04:06.that everybody gives whatever help they can in terms of information to
:04:07. > :04:10.the police so they can apprehend these people.
:04:11. > :04:13.A man from Newry has been knocked down and killed in San Francisco. He
:04:14. > :04:17.was 34-year-old Paul Lambert from Courtney Hill. A man has been
:04:18. > :04:20.arrested. It is the second tragedy for the family in the last year.His
:04:21. > :04:24.cousin, Kevin Bell, died in a suspected hit-and-run incident in
:04:25. > :04:27.New York in June. A husband and wife accused of the
:04:28. > :04:30.manslaughter of a Coleraine pensioner now face murder charges.
:04:31. > :04:34.24-year-old Jennifer Toland from County Antrim and 40-year-old Paul
:04:35. > :04:40.Toland from The Cedars in Antrim are accused of murdering 72-year-old
:04:41. > :04:44.Bertie Acheson in 2012. David Maxwell was at the court in
:04:45. > :04:48.Ballymena. Paul Toland covered his face leaving
:04:49. > :04:53.court this morning. He is accused along with his wife, Jennifer
:04:54. > :04:58.Toland, of breaking into this house in April 2012. The owner, Bertie
:04:59. > :05:03.Acheson, was woken by the sound of breaking glass. He confronted an
:05:04. > :05:07.intruder and died of a heart attack. Money was taken from his disabled
:05:08. > :05:11.wife during the break-in. Until now, both of the accused have faced
:05:12. > :05:15.charges of manslaughter, but today here at Ballymena Magistrates' Court
:05:16. > :05:19.they were returned for trial on the more serious charge of murder. In
:05:20. > :05:22.court to hear proceedings were Bertie Acheson's daughter,
:05:23. > :05:27.son-in-law and other members of the family. Lawyers for the two accused
:05:28. > :05:31.made no submissions at the short hearing. Their clients were both
:05:32. > :05:32.granted continuing bail and they will appear before Belfast Crown
:05:33. > :05:41.Court next month. A former treasurer of the Culmore
:05:42. > :05:43.Church of Ireland parish council has pleaded guilty to stealing ?21,000
:05:44. > :05:45.from church funds. 27-year-old Lyndsey Brayden from Primidy
:05:46. > :05:53.Crescent in Newbuildings admitted ten charges of stealing the money
:05:54. > :05:57.between March 2010 and October 2011. But she pleaded not guilty to nine
:05:58. > :06:02.other charges of stealing just over ?11,000 during the same period. The
:06:03. > :06:05.defendant, who is eight months pregnant, was accompanied in court
:06:06. > :06:12.by several parishioners and a clergyman. She has been released on
:06:13. > :06:14.bail and the case has been adjourned for two weeks.
:06:15. > :06:17.A Stormont department has been accused of obstructing the work of
:06:18. > :06:20.the Social Development Committee as it investigates allegations of
:06:21. > :06:25.over-charging on Housing Executive contracts by the maintenance company
:06:26. > :06:29.Red Sky. They arose from an investigation by the BBC's Spotlight
:06:30. > :06:32.programme. The committee chairman says senior Department of Social
:06:33. > :06:41.Development officials have failed to hand over documents relating to the
:06:42. > :06:45.case. We are being obstructed in that inquiry by senior officials in
:06:46. > :06:49.the department. I just think that's not acceptable and in any other
:06:50. > :06:52.world somebody's head would roll for that.
:06:53. > :06:54.Decisions to cut funding to Irish language groups based in Northern
:06:55. > :06:57.Ireland were taken for economic reasons, not political ones
:06:58. > :07:02.according to an All-Ireland Irish language body. Foras na Gael-ge has
:07:03. > :07:05.said it will cut the number of Irish language groups for which it
:07:06. > :07:10.provides core funding across the island of Ireland from 19 to six.
:07:11. > :07:13.None of the six successful organisations is currently based in
:07:14. > :07:19.Northern Ireland. The group's chief executive says the decisions were
:07:20. > :07:24.purely economic. This was not as I said about north versus south or
:07:25. > :07:28.east versus west. This is about promoting the language and providing
:07:29. > :07:31.better services in a more efficient way to the Irish language
:07:32. > :07:35.communities. It is about getting people out into the community
:07:36. > :07:39.providing services. You can see more on this story after
:07:40. > :07:43.the news in tonight's edition of The View.
:07:44. > :07:49.The County Tyrone town of Strabane is staging its first ever gay
:07:50. > :07:52.festival this weekend. The organisers believe it's a good time
:07:53. > :07:55.to highlight the progress being made in the lesbian and gay community
:07:56. > :07:59.although they say discrimination and homophobia are still major issues.
:08:00. > :08:08.Keiron Tourish reports. What's the story with Simon? Final rehearsals
:08:09. > :08:12.of a new play called So Here We Are. It is one of the highlights of the
:08:13. > :08:17.first ever gay festival in Strabane. The author spoke to a wide range of
:08:18. > :08:21.people about their own personal experiences and hopes it will have a
:08:22. > :08:25.positive effect. I would like to hope that Strabane will become more
:08:26. > :08:33.open-minded because as I had these conversations with the members of
:08:34. > :08:36.the LGBTA Society, I heard some were discriminated at school and things
:08:37. > :08:40.like that. I would just like to tackle that head-on. I would like to
:08:41. > :08:43.think it would have a positive effect on the town. The festival
:08:44. > :08:52.will host a series of events in the town from a health awareness
:08:53. > :08:57.programme to social gatherings. The major Gay Pride in places like
:08:58. > :09:01.Belfast attract a large following in the summer, but there are no plans
:09:02. > :09:05.at present to stage a parade in the first year of this Strabane
:09:06. > :09:09.festival. Attitudes are changing. They are slowly changing, but we
:09:10. > :09:13.still have to keep doing stuff like this to continue to have attitudes
:09:14. > :09:19.changing to increase visibility outside of the bigger towns and
:09:20. > :09:23.cities as well because there is LGBTA people everywhere in Northern
:09:24. > :09:27.Ireland. They are your neighbour. Your friend, your son, your
:09:28. > :09:30.daughter, your mother and father and they are not going away. The
:09:31. > :09:33.organisers hope the festival will be supported by everyone and go from
:09:34. > :09:39.strength strength. They hope to stage it annually.
:09:40. > :09:48.We have a message in from the Roads Service regarding icy conditions.
:09:49. > :09:52.They are advising drivers to be more careful. Now the weather with Barra
:09:53. > :09:56.Best. For many, it will be a dry, but cold
:09:57. > :10:01.night. Clear skies will develop allowing temperatures to fall close
:10:02. > :10:04.to freezing. There will be a frost tomorrow morning and ice in
:10:05. > :10:08.untreated areas. Tomorrow, we will get off to a promising start, but it
:10:09. > :10:12.won't stay that way. Another storm is coming in. It will be wet, wintry
:10:13. > :10:17.and the winds are going to pick up as well. We have Met Office weather
:10:18. > :10:21.warnings in place for rain mainly for the east and the west and for
:10:22. > :10:23.the north, we have a weather warning for snow. If you are travelling
:10:24. > :10:27.tomorrow, snow and ice for the high ground, but there will be icy
:10:28. > :10:31.stretches and wintry flurries for low levels as well. An unpleasant
:10:32. > :10:35.afternoon to come. To begin with, are there will be a cold, crisp and
:10:36. > :10:39.bright start to the day before the weather system pushes up from the
:10:40. > :10:44.south affecting the Republic at first. Here the main area of concern
:10:45. > :10:48.we have amber warnings in force for strong gusty winds up to 80mph and
:10:49. > :10:53.up to 40 millimetres of rain in an area which has been badly battered
:10:54. > :10:57.by the recent storms. Elsewhere, a series of yellow warnings in force
:10:58. > :11:00.for wind and rain. So quite an unpleasant afternoon to come. The
:11:01. > :11:05.main focus of the snow tomorrow will be in the north and the wes but
:11:06. > :11:09.further east, there maybe some and for the hills and the mountains, but
:11:10. > :11:15.there will be wintry weather to lower levels. Temperatures of four
:11:16. > :11:17.to six Celsius. Saturday will be windy and with showers and we are
:11:18. > :11:23.not expecting much in the more of wintry weather just then. That's it
:11:24. > :11:30.for now. You can keep up-to-date with news online and follow this
:11:31. > :11:31.programme on Facebook and Twitter. From the Newsline team, good night.