07/04/2014 BBC Newsline

This is BBC Newsline. Tonight's top stories.

Michael D Higgins arrives in London for the first ever state visit by an

Irish President to the UK. It follows the Queen's historic visit

to the Republic three years ago. President Higgins gave his views on

Northern Ireland before he left. We have a peace process that I have

always regarded as Also on the programme tonight: not a finished

document, but a process that requires continuing work.

Good news for car parking. It is about to get a lot cheaper.

A Londonderry priest says he may have to leave his home because of

anti social behaviour. Carl Frampton is live in the studio

after a stunning performance earns him a world title shot, while Ulster

face a mounting injury crisis. And a showery start to the week but

tomorrow looks a bit drier. I'll have the forecast.

The first state visit of the Irish President to the United Kingdom has

begun. In the past hour President Michael D Higgins arrived in London.

The visit had already been described as historic, a further sign of the

closer relationship between the two countries. The decision by Sinn

Fein's Martin McGuinness to accept the Queen's invitation to a State

banquet has been attracting most political attention in Northern

Ireland. The band played a bittersweet song

as the Irish President takes a bold step on the Republic post my first

state visit to London. Now it seems an enchanted Way as the dangers of

the past are laid to rest. With full military honours for President

Michael D Higgins. Also on his way home in very different

circumstances, the deputy First Minister, who says the visit is

about building peace and reconciliation. This is about

sending a message to everybody about how things have changed all stop we

are not just evolved -- involved in a peace process, but a change

process, and change is good for all of us stop we have to move forward.

We have to be progressive and constructive and we have to

recognise the reality that we do all of this against a backdrop of me

being in unapologetic Irish Republican. Of course, it will not

be Martin McGuinness's first encounter with the Queen, but it

will be at a state banquet at Windsor Castle. What is the view

from the banks of the foil? What is the best way to say it? I think he

was being a bit 2-faced. I have no problem with it. I am proud England.

I am pleased he is doing it. Why not? She came here, so he can go

there. Fair play to him. He is going to represent people, really, isn't

he? And he should. It think it is OK. The decision has been warmly

welcomed by the Secretary of State. This is another demonstration of the

progress that has been made in recent years, but also in terms of

dramatically improving the strength of the relations between the UK and

the Republic of Ireland. At Stormont, where a chandelier from

Windsor Castle shines, unionists say it is about time. There is a degree

of catch-up here. Sinn Fein made a grievous error in how they handled

the Queen's visit and they are trying to make up for it. It is

progress and we need to see that progress continue. Royal protocol

should be respected, said another nationalist leader taking part in

events around the state visit. There is a toast to the Queen in London,

then you do that and you respect that and you behave accordingly.

Just the same as I expect unionists or others, if there is a test to the

Irish President in Dublin to behave accordingly. It is simple. These

things are not complicated, people make them competent at. This mighty

oak sprang from an acorn taken from Windsor Castle and planted here at

Stormont in 1953 to mark the coronation of the Queen. Through

peace and conflict it has thrived, and as it blossoms again this

spring, so will a new year in Anglo-Irish relations. Even so,

security was visible late this afternoon at Heathrow are airport

for the late carpet arrival of President Higgins. -- the red carpet

arrival. President Higgins has been speaking about his historic visit to

the UK. In an interview with the BBC, he

explained its significance. I'd think the visit is very important

for relationships between the people of Ireland and the people of the

United Kingdom. I also think it will have a special significance for the

Irish community in Britain. It will be hard to match the sense of

history which was created by the Queen's visit. This will be very

different. I think the Queen's visit here was of great significance, full

of symbolism, and that visit, having happened today, we move on in this

visit to look very much to the future in terms of the relationships

forwarding in the future. We have a peace process that have always

regarded as not a finished document but a process. There is a sense that

it is done and dusted in the hard work has been done. Is that what you

believe? No, I think you still have very significant work to do.

Affecting a kind of amnesiac is of no value to you. You are much better

to try and honestly deal with what are facts that are standing behind

US shadows. -- you as shadows. How could I say to any member of a

family who has a member who has been dead or missing or in a wheelchair

that they must put it behind them? I would not regard that as a moral

statement. It is much better if I say that we must be of assistance to

each other and coming to understand how we get to a new place.

Plenty to come tonight, including: With the first official state visit

of an Irish President to Britain tomorrow, I am in London finding out

how the Irish community has become part of the fabric of British

culture. More that two dozen towns across

Northern Ireland are to benefit from lower parking charges. The

announcement was made late this afternoon and BBC Newsline's Mark

Simpson is in Holywood, one of the towns in the new scheme.

When you come to toms like Holywood and you speak to the local baker or

butcher, they always bring up the issue of car parking. They want to

make it easier for people to come into towns like this rather than go

to the out of town shopping centres. But here at Holywood and

the 25 total number of towns and cities across Northern Ireland, they

are all going to benefit from this new scheme. Let me explain it

again. For ?1, you will get five hours of parking. You may have heard

of it before, it was tried out that Christmas, and now the Transport

Minister has decided to try it out again. From Saturday, you will get

five hours of parking for just ?1 in those 25 towns and cities which I've

mentioned. You may see one very big city which is not mentioned, and

that is Belfast. No change there, but everywhere else that has been

mentioned, from Saturday, the new cheaper parking, but only for six

months. The minister wants to see whether this pilot scheme will

work. Here is a clip that we can hear from the transport Mister. The

feedback we have had from Christmas indicates we have been met with

positive approval from town centres and trading organisations and retail

operators, and we hope it will encourage people to spend more time

and more money in town centres. Five hours ?41. And -- five hours for a

pound. And it all begins on Saturday.

A man who escaped injury in a gun attack on his home in Toome says he

can't understand why he was targeted. A shot was fired at the

window of the house in Elver Drive just after midnight yesterday. The

man living inside says he has been living there for a couple of years

and doesn't know the motive of the those who carried out the attack.

A Londonderry priest says he may have to move out of his parochial

house in Creggan because of ongoing anti-social behaviour. Father

Dermott Harkin says gangs of teenagers, many of them drunk, have

been gathering in a laneway beside his home on a nightly basis causing

widespread annoyance. Father Hawkin was on the altar this

morning saying mass for local schoolchildren and the people of his

parish in Creggan. He has spoken out after being subjected to ongoing

anti-social behaviour. Groups of young people have been gathering in

a laneway which runs close to the parochial house in Creggan, causing

annoyance to local residents in the parish priest. There is quite a

substantial number of young people who are gathering there and shouting

and roaring and drinking and God knows what else is going on. My

parochial house is just adjoining it. It has got to the stage now

where I'm getting no sleep. It is also very intimidating. It is more

for the local people than me. Mass goers were incensed by the ongoing

anti-social behaviour. It is absolutely terrible. We need them

there, don't we? To leave them alone. It is just sad. I think it is

disgraceful. We have on the copy one priest and we need the priest at

night-time if somebody needs a priest. -- we have only got. The

police say they are aware of anti-social behaviour in the Creggan

area, and they have vowed to increase patrolling. The PSNI say

they will enforce the law went anti-social behaviour is detected.

Still to come on the programme: Carl Frampton joins us live in the

studio, as he looks forward to its shot at a world title.

-- to his shot. There were angry scenes today inside

West Midlands Police headquarters after the families of those killed

in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings were told there was no new evidence

that would help bring anyone to justice. 21 people were killed in

two pubs in the city centre in the suspected IRA attack. Two years ago

the West Midlands police counter terrorism unit assessed more than

9,000 items. There's also been an independent review into potential

forensic evidence. The brother of one of the victims accused the force

of a cover-up. This force has covered up this for 40 years and we

are not standing for it anymore. I will block that door, I am telling

you. They sent an underdog down to speak to us. You are defending

terrorists. Defending terrorists. I will not calm down. You go and do

your job that you are paid for. That is a reminder of one of the worst

atrocities the IRA carried out in England, but the state visit of the

Irish President in Britain marks a very different relationship. Our

reporter has been discovering that the fortunes of the Irish in Britain

have changed over the decades. Britain in the 1950s, a country

rebuilding itself after the war, and it's cheap, Irish Labour providing

the muscle. Why are they so attractive to you? Money is the

first, no more. They like big money. They like to travel. They don't mind

the conditions we work under. We moved from this job and another job

and they will come with us. What English people do that? Well, I do

not think so. The pay is good. There are many more men of brawn than

offspring. The pay was around three times more than the workers could

get at home, but the sudden influx of new immigrants provoked suspicion

and prejudice. The Irish have got a reputation in London of fighting and

brawling. We do not do much damage. You hear about someone shooting or

stabbing. They just have a crack and have a few tricks us. At the London

Irish centre in Camden over the weekend, some remember feeling

patronized and alienated. We came to London in 1958. I've found there was

prejudice. When we looked for flats he notices that, no Blacks, no

Irish, no dogs. It disconcerting. If people were friendly like they were

in Ireland, iPod, I am intelligent, so I am not stupid. -- I thought you

stopped later on we found there was a stereotyped image that we were all

drunk and stupid. The long years of the Troubles meant Irish immigrants

faced a new and unsettling prejudice. When an Irishman in

London Fields has national identity most acutely is after a terrorist

incident. -- feels his national identity. You can feel the nastiness

on the underground. You get nasty comments. Most people when they hear

Belfast, they think you are in the IRA or some organisation. How things

have changed. Today, the children and grandchildren of those early

postwar immigrants are some of the biggest and best loved names in

British culture. And the crop of young Irish immigrants coming to

London in 2014, like these lads playing Gaelic football am a cannot

come just to tilt the office blocks, they can to work in them to. I work

in financial services in the city. These are highly skilled jobs and

careers. It isn't a medic of the way things have gone back home. -- it is

symptomatic. A lot of people left Ireland in the 50s and 60s to find

work. I think London -- Britain has benefited from it. The Irish

tabulation in London is dropping to just over 400,000. The community

might be shrinking, but Irish culture here in modern London is

still in full voice. Now it was a massive sporting weekend in Belfast-

with mixed results. With the bad news, and some good news here's

Thomas Niblock. Yes, the good news is most certainly Carl Frampton,

fresh from his two-round knockout of Hugo Cazares on Friday night. We'll

be speaking to Carl shortly. But first an Jr. Y crisis at Ulster

rugby. Rory Best is out for six to eight weeks and Piennar is out with

a shoulder injury. Andrew Trimble suffered a concussion. Saturday was

a battle by Mark Anscombe's side who were reduced to 14 men. A split

second that turned the season. When Payne collided with Goode, Ravenhill

held its breath. What followed stunned the stadium. It is a red

card. The game was ruined. That's life, that is sport. It is not the

team we are talk about, it is the referee. A brilliant performance by

14 men for 75 minutes. That is what they should take. The referee

spoiled it for everyone. The whole time Jared's eyes are on the ball.

How this a a red card? It wasn't intentional. But it was reckless. I

don't know. You can argue both ways. It is a big call to make five

minutes into the match. Saracens scored three tries, two from the

English winger Chris Ashton. There was nothing flashy about the home

side's come back. They fell just short. A penalty to Saracens. I said

at half time, if we pull this off, it will be the greatest achievement

of my career and I have won a World Cup. Still I think the character

that showed within that squad and every guy, not one of the 23 guys

doubted and it is going to haunt us for the rest of our lives, that is a

massive one that got away. The story was pain. At the end, you could see

it in their eyes. So, tears for Ulster at Ravenhill, but 24 hours

earlier it was tears of joy for our studio guest tonight, Carl Frampton,

who defeated Hugo Cazares in his WBC superbantamweight eliminator at the

Odyssey inside two rounds. Carl, you're welcome for joining us here.

It is hard to believe looking at you now that you were involved in a

massive fight on Friday night. It is the first fight in a long time I'm

coming out unscathed. That is a good thing. First the atmosphere was

incredible. Yes amazing. It just seems to be getting bigger and

better every time. I am trying to imagine what it would be like for a

world title Does it get to you? No, I enjoy it. You will see, I was

walking into the ring I had a happy uplifting song coming into the

ripping and I was smilinglet -- - ring and I was smiling. You looked

ecstatic with the win. Surprised at how comfortable it was? Yes, I

didn't think it would be over so quickly. I thought we would have

went into the second half of the fight. Cazares is a tough guy and

hasn't been stopped since 1999. He wasn't able to take that shot. It

was a great left hook. It shows what can I do. So a Santa Cruz, what is

the latest and will that happen? Ba Barry's got in touch with his

promote ears, he is going o' - promotors, he is going to LA and

hopefully a deal will be made. We will try our best to bring to it

Belfast. Is it realistic? It can be, American TV are interested and the

atmosphere can't be created anywhere else. But you know it is up to the

champion. It is up to him whether he comes. If it doesn't happen in

Belfast, you will go anywhere? I will travel anywhere and I, I

believe Leo Santa Cruz is a tough fighter. But I think I have -- but I

think I have got the beating of anybody in the world. And I'm ready.

You said in 2014 you will be world champion. Are you still confident?

Yes, once the negotiations start going and then the fight will be

made and it will be a hum dinger of a fight. I think it will happen

soon. Having Barry McGuigan there must be a help? Yes, the advice you

get off him every day in the gym is second to none and I'm like a sponge

soaking it up. It is always a help. Thank you. Now Carl - as a Crusaders

fan - you won't want to dwell on the Irish Cup semi-finals at the

weekend. But two of the best strikers over the last 15 years will

now go head to head in the dugouts on Cup final day. Glenn Ferguson's

Ballymena United side overcame Queen's University, while Gary

Hamilton's Glenavon team edged Carl's Crusaders in extra time.

Thomas Kane reports. He has achieved almost everything as player. But

this was a particularly emotional victory for Gary Hamilton. He grew

up supporting glen von. Now he has mastered minded their return to the

biggest day in the local footballing calendar. Glenavon are going to the

Cup Final. All my family were there and two boys and my girlfriend and

my cousins and everybody. It means so much to us and not as much as it

means to the rest of the fans. It is a great achievement for the boys and

they have made a lot of people happy tonight. Hamilton's side bounced

back from a goal down to force extra time. The keeper saved the penalty

to keep Glenavon in the tie, before Patton and Martin ensured they will

be back at Windsor Park on Cup Final day, where they will face Ballymena

United. With a goal in each half to end the students' run. It gives us

something to play for at the end of the season. We have some important

league games, but the Cup Final is the show piece and players love to

play in it. It is the first time for a lot of them. They have got a build

up between now and then and to work on their game. It is 25 years since

bally ma that's last Irish Cup triumph and 17 years since

Glenavon's recent victory. Up with of those droughts will end. In the

Allianz National football league, Donegal and Monaghan are both

promoted and will contest the Division Two final next Sunday. But

there was disappointment for Tyrone, who missed out on a spot in the

Division One semi-finals. They lost to Dublin by a single point. The

winning score came in injury-time - Dublin winning by 3-10 to 1-15.

Derry are through to the semi-finals, that's despite losing

to Mayo in Castlebar. And they did score the goal of the game courtesy

of Emmet McGuckin. Rory McIlroy had a final round of 65 at the Houston

Open. Rain today has forced the cancellation of the first day of

practice in Augusta. The first time a practice day has been lost since

2003. The first major of the year will start on Thursday and Steven

Watson will report for BBC Newsline. It is the most exclusive sporting

event in the world and we have an invitation. I will be reporting from

the Augusta national golf club with sper vufs with Northern Ireland's --

interviews with Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Graham McDowell, who are

all trying to become the first Irish golfer north or south to win this

tournament and slip on the famous green jacket as Adam Scott did last

year. Join us all this week from the Masters. That is the sport now. Rain

in Augusta, who would have thought? It is not just here. But what is in

store here. A bit mixed. We had some showers and we started off dull this

morning. In between that, we did get that brighter slot and the daffodils

at Castle Rock looked glorious. But beyond today there is not a lot of

rain in the forecast for the rest of the week. There will be some, but

mainly light and patchy. Maybe a few bright intervals, particularly in

the east. But generally increasing amounts of cloud and temperatures

back to average after our mild spell. Now we still have some heavy

showers in many parts of Ireland. And over Northern Ireland there are

still a few beefy ones that will linger in eastern and northern

areas. The breeze will then push those out of the way. We will still

have showers during the rest of the night. Just not as many of them and

they won't be as heavy. So some longer dry spells and a chillier

night at three or four degrees. Most places frost-free, apart from some

rural areas. Tomorrow a bright, breezy day. Mainly dry. That is not

to say there won't be one or two showers. But they will be mainly

light and they will be moving along quickly in that breeze. So they

won't last too long. The sun should come through from time to time.

Temperatures 11 or so. Feeling fresh in the breeze. Which is going to

feed in more cloud later in the day. Particularly towards the north and

west. So we are watching that, because it will bring some rain into

tomorrow evening. Most of it will be fairly light before clearing away.

As we head into Wednesday, just the odd spot of rain and a mainly dry

day with a lot of cloud for the rest of week. Thank you. Our late summary

is at 10. 25. From BBC Newsline, night-night.

The hardiest annuals return for another spectacular display.

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with more live TV coverage than ever before.