:00:00. > :00:10.Hello and welcome to BBC Newsline. A retired senior police officer has
:00:11. > :00:14.told the inquiry into the On the Runs affair that Downing Street put
:00:15. > :00:16.pressure on the PSNI to release two republicans who were being
:00:17. > :00:23.questioned about the attempted murder of a UDR soldier. Norman
:00:24. > :00:26.Baxter also told MPs that the Northern Ireland Office had a
:00:27. > :00:29.culture of not wanting republicans to be prosecuted. Our Home Affairs
:00:30. > :00:40.Correspondent Vincent Kearney reports.
:00:41. > :00:43.Six weeks ago, an Old Bailey judge ruled that John Downey would not
:00:44. > :00:49.stand trial for the murders of four soldiers in the IRA's Hyde Park
:00:50. > :00:53.bombing. In July 2007, they were sent a so-called lesser of assurance
:00:54. > :00:58.telling him he was not wanted for questioning by the PSNI. The letter
:00:59. > :01:06.was sent after checks were carried out by a specialist team called
:01:07. > :01:16.Operation Rabbits. The officer in charge of that team today accused
:01:17. > :01:22.them of political interference. The retired detective Chief
:01:23. > :01:26.Superintendent claims that pressure was applied to ensure that a number
:01:27. > :01:32.of high-profile Sinn Fein members would be able to return to Northern
:01:33. > :01:36.Ireland -- the Northern Ireland office crossed a boundary.
:01:37. > :01:41.It is unconstitutional. They should not be contacting these officers to
:01:42. > :01:50.apply pressure. Downing Street was also accused of political
:01:51. > :01:55.interference. He was later sentenced to 20 years
:01:56. > :02:00.in prison. Gerry Adams telephones Downing
:02:01. > :02:03.Street demanding their release. Downing Street rang the chief,
:02:04. > :02:06.the's office looking for their release. I got a phone call
:02:07. > :02:13.suggesting that I should release them. That, in my mind, is
:02:14. > :02:17.attempting to correct the course of justice. As a police officer, that
:02:18. > :02:27.is totally illegal and unconstitutional. What did you do?
:02:28. > :02:31.We continued interviewing them. Tonight, DUP councillor Sammy Brush,
:02:32. > :02:34.who was the soldier shot and wounded by Gerry McGeough, said that he was
:02:35. > :02:42.shocked by Mr Baxter's claims, but not surprised.
:02:43. > :02:49.From the revelations of these letters, I expected there
:02:50. > :02:51.From the revelations of these more to come. And I still think
:02:52. > :03:00.there will be more revelations to come out. I think the government has
:03:01. > :03:04.behaved very badly towards the victims of terrorism in this
:03:05. > :03:12.country. The victims of terrorism seem to be expendable. The
:03:13. > :03:14.terrorists have been preserved. Tonight, DUP councillor Sammy Brush,
:03:15. > :03:23.who was the In a statement tonight the Northern
:03:24. > :03:25.Ireland Office said they anticipated giving evidence to the inquiry
:03:26. > :03:29.themselves, and in the meantime would not be giving what they called
:03:30. > :03:32.a running commentary. And there will be more reaction to Mr Baxter's
:03:33. > :03:35.evidence to the committee on tomorrow morning's Good Morning
:03:36. > :03:38.Ulster on Radio Ulster from 6.30am. And now for some news just in, and
:03:39. > :03:40.First Minister Peter Robinson has warned of potential nuclear options
:03:41. > :03:44.if agreement is not reached on welfare reform. The First Minister
:03:45. > :03:48.said that the present budget would have to be redrawn to cope with the
:03:49. > :03:51.costs the Executive would have to pay. Our business and economics
:03:52. > :03:54.editor John Campbell joins us now. John, what was Mr Robinson saying?
:03:55. > :03:56.Mr Robinson was speaking at an event at Stormont. There has been
:03:57. > :03:58.increasingly dire predictions from senior DUP members about the effect
:03:59. > :04:01.on the Northern Ireland budget if these welfare reform changes could
:04:02. > :04:03.not be agreed. These changes have already been introduced elsewhere in
:04:04. > :04:09.the UK, and the night Mr Robinson at the anti-further. He said that he
:04:10. > :04:12.thought over the next five years, failure to introduce those reforms
:04:13. > :04:19.would cost the Stormont budget ?1 million. A further ?1.5 million
:04:20. > :04:23.would have to be found to pay for IT systems. He said that if he didn't
:04:24. > :04:26.agree a deal with Sinn Fein he would consider nuclear options. He did not
:04:27. > :04:30.specify exactly what those options would be.
:04:31. > :04:40.Why is he saying this now? He said -- he says that Westminster
:04:41. > :04:43.has been putting the pressure on. The finance minister says this has
:04:44. > :04:47.to be sorted out as a matter of urgency. Let's not forget that we
:04:48. > :04:52.are in an election season here. These tend to be times when the
:04:53. > :04:55.political rhetoric becomes that bit more heated. Mr Robinson did
:04:56. > :05:00.acknowledge that there was no prospect on doing a deal with Sinn
:05:01. > :05:08.Fein this side of the elections. We have had no comment so far from Sinn
:05:09. > :05:12.Fein about these comments. Poorer Protestant boys are close to
:05:13. > :05:15.the bottom of a UK league table of exam results. The figures are
:05:16. > :05:18.contained in a new study by the Community Relations Council which
:05:19. > :05:21.found Catholic girls from Northern Ireland are close to the top. Pupils
:05:22. > :05:24.from both sides have been giving their reaction along with the man
:05:25. > :05:29.who wrote the report. I think the Catholic ethos is to
:05:30. > :05:34.better yourself. That's why there is such a drive to do well. Maybe
:05:35. > :05:41.because Catholics got a harder time it was just ingrained in their
:05:42. > :05:44.culture that they did try harder. Newtownabbey Community High School
:05:45. > :05:47.used to have poor results, but over the last few years things have
:05:48. > :05:50.started to change for the better. These students were surprised to
:05:51. > :05:54.hear that Protestant boys are not reaching their full potential. Hello
:05:55. > :05:58.and welcome to BBC News. This is the first I have heard of it.
:05:59. > :06:04.If they don't achieve as much, maybe it is the lack of work from them.
:06:05. > :06:10.Maybe it is the way they are brought up in their estate. The people they
:06:11. > :06:12.are hanging about with. The massive gap between students and their
:06:13. > :06:17.conjugal rights is concerning the man who broke the report.
:06:18. > :06:20.He says there will be consequences. The real problem is that we are
:06:21. > :06:26.creating inequalities that will later show themselves in the kind of
:06:27. > :06:30.incidents we have seen over recent years ie in terms of public
:06:31. > :06:36.disorder. In terms of a young generation which feels it has no
:06:37. > :06:41.roots out of its poverty. Out of that inequality comes anger. Out of
:06:42. > :06:51.that anger, I'm afraid, we have an unsettled political future.
:06:52. > :06:55.Across Belfast outthink Dominic: in the past, in Catholic working-class
:06:56. > :06:58.families especially they didn't have many opportunities.
:06:59. > :07:05.Education was the way to get out. I think that's why now education is
:07:06. > :07:09.being pushed. In's BBC newsline one former
:07:10. > :07:10.principal said he sat on two task forces. His recommendations seems to
:07:11. > :07:15.have been ignored. forces. His recommendations seems to
:07:16. > :07:22.Some of the recommendations around community and leadership we put
:07:23. > :07:27.forward is. If these figures in 2014 are telling us this I would like to
:07:28. > :07:33.know what was done? Why was something not done? Andy McMorran
:07:34. > :07:41.speaking on the night's BBC Newsline.
:07:42. > :07:44.A plan to build a joint police, fire and prison service college near
:07:45. > :07:47.Cookstown has been put on hold. The programme team decided that the
:07:48. > :07:50.preferred bidder could not deliver the project within budget. But a
:07:51. > :07:56.senior PSNI officer says the proposal is not dead. We need a
:07:57. > :08:02.reassessment of the project and the costs. We will look at ways of
:08:03. > :08:06.reducing some of those cost. The government have an idea of what the
:08:07. > :08:15.scale of this is, and the costs, and ensure that we have a way forward.
:08:16. > :08:23.There is an absolute commitment to the delivery this college.
:08:24. > :08:29.In for a fair bit of rain over the next few days. A weather warning is
:08:30. > :08:37.now in place until midnight tomorrow night. The rain will tend to fade
:08:38. > :08:42.away towards the early morning. A mild nights and possibly some fog
:08:43. > :08:45.lapping onto some of the East Coast. There is more rain to comfort their
:08:46. > :08:50.estate but it will be raining everywhere all the time. Through the
:08:51. > :08:54.rush hour tomorrow there will be another heavy area of rain. It means
:08:55. > :08:57.a lot of puddles on the road. Misty and murky conditions. Some
:08:58. > :09:00.a lot of puddles on the road. Misty weather over the Republic of
:09:01. > :09:06.Ireland. That will edge forward tomorrow. Over lunchtime, we will be
:09:07. > :09:12.looking at an area of rain over Wales in the South West. The eastern
:09:13. > :09:18.Scotland and North East England, mist and low cloud continues, us
:09:19. > :09:22.towards London temperatures will be in the high teens. Tomorrow
:09:23. > :09:26.afternoon, it's a bit of an east-west split. The rain gathers
:09:27. > :09:33.from the East and will be heavy and prolonged. The higher temperatures
:09:34. > :09:38.will be in the West. On Friday, that rain dies away. A few showers to
:09:39. > :09:43.commence, but it will be last hazy. It will be less misty. A bit
:09:44. > :09:47.clearer. Atlantic weather to commend this weekend. Some rain at times on
:09:48. > :09:55.Saturday. Sunday it looks like it will be the better of the two days.
:09:56. > :09:57.That's it for now. You can keep up to date with News Online and follow
:09:58. > :09:58.this