:00:00. > :00:00.acquitted last week of murdering PC Blakelock. Here on One we can now
:00:00. > :00:11.Hello, and welcome to BBC Newsline. There's relief for many families
:00:12. > :00:14.tonight as a number of residential care homes which had been earmarked
:00:15. > :00:17.for closure have been told they'll remain open. Health minister Edwin
:00:18. > :00:18.Poots delivered the news today, as our health correspondent
:00:19. > :00:30.Marie-Louise Connolly reports. On a whistle-stop tour this
:00:31. > :00:35.afternoon Edwin Poots visited four residential care homes. They were
:00:36. > :00:39.wet lands, Thackeray, Rose Dale and Pine Wood. In each of the homes the
:00:40. > :00:44.Health Minister told residents that it is his wish they should continue
:00:45. > :00:48.living there, so long as they are physically capable of staying within
:00:49. > :00:51.that home. He also told staff that it is his wish they should retain
:00:52. > :00:56.their jobs. There was a public outcry last year,
:00:57. > :01:00.when it emerged that some of the Health Trusts had visited the care
:01:01. > :01:04.homes, telling residents and their families that there was a very
:01:05. > :01:09.strong possibility that the care homes were earmarked for closure. At
:01:10. > :01:14.that time we spoke to families such as Josie McCann, whose mother turned
:01:15. > :01:18.100 last week, in Thackeray care home and today she has told BBC
:01:19. > :01:24.Newsline that she and other families and staff are totally elated by what
:01:25. > :01:28.the Health Minister has told them. While the future of other
:01:29. > :01:32.residential care homes is still uncertain, at least for many
:01:33. > :01:34.families tonight, in Northern Ireland, this is good new, news that
:01:35. > :01:43.is very much welcomed. Two men who were arrested during a
:01:44. > :01:46.major security operation in County Tyrone yesterday have been charged
:01:47. > :01:49.with theft and going equipped for theft. They are to appear in court
:01:50. > :01:51.in Omagh next month. A political debate has started
:01:52. > :01:55.following the Secretary of State's comments on dealing with the past.
:01:56. > :01:58.Teresa Villiers said there's too much focus on killings carried out
:01:59. > :02:00.by the state, and not enough on paramilitaries. Unionists have
:02:01. > :02:02.reacted favourably, but nationalists have accused her of interfering.
:02:03. > :02:14.Here's our political correspondent Gareth Gordon. Northern Ireland's
:02:15. > :02:18.past continues to infect its present. Putting pressure on
:02:19. > :02:22.policing and justice, and making it harder for politicians to agree. So
:02:23. > :02:27.the Secretary of State says it is time for a new approach. More focus
:02:28. > :02:32.on the role of paramilitary, less on that of state forces. It was meant
:02:33. > :02:37.to provide some reassurance for those who are anxious about process,
:02:38. > :02:42.potentially really being one-sided, to say that actually, this is a real
:02:43. > :02:47.opportunity to create a process which is objective, which is
:02:48. > :02:51.balanced, transparent, which is accountable, which is historically
:02:52. > :02:56.accurate. She outlined her ideas for an audience that included the four
:02:57. > :03:02.church leaders, but news had got out and waiting for her were some people
:03:03. > :03:09.whose relatives were shot dead in 1971. An incident known as the
:03:10. > :03:15.Ballymurphy massacre. Why should she signal -- single anybody out, it has
:03:16. > :03:21.to go across the board? Her view found favour with unionists. I think
:03:22. > :03:26.what you do is you make all innocent victims equal. At the moment those
:03:27. > :03:30.victims are paramilitary groups feel they are forgotten and ignored.
:03:31. > :03:33.Among nationalists there is concern. I found it extraordinary, if I could
:03:34. > :03:38.say this, that she would interfere in such a way, as to say not look at
:03:39. > :03:41.the past in an objective way, not look at victims and survives as
:03:42. > :03:46.individuals, but she is instructing from her point of view, that they
:03:47. > :03:50.must have a bigger emphasis on what she would call paramilitary killings
:03:51. > :03:54.as opposed to state killings. The Secretary of State says this is her
:03:55. > :03:59.attempt to move politics in Northern Ireland on, but what respects
:04:00. > :04:01.progress for one side, in this case unionist is seen as a step backwards
:04:02. > :04:11.by nationalists. Meanwhile, it has emerged that the
:04:12. > :04:15.Victims Commissioner, Kathryn Stone, is stepping down after 18 months to
:04:16. > :04:20.take up a new post in England. She said the work she has been doing
:04:21. > :04:23.would carry on. There is a lot of work to do. The Commission is
:04:24. > :04:28.supported by the victims forum, there is a three year work programme
:04:29. > :04:30.in place and that will continue. With a new commissioner in due
:04:31. > :04:35.course. This has been a very challenging
:04:36. > :04:42.role but a very important role, and row role I feel uniquely privileged
:04:43. > :04:45.to have prayed a small part in. Responding to the announcement, Mark
:04:46. > :04:48.Thompson of the victims' group Relatives for Justice said she'd
:04:49. > :04:54.done much to improve services for those families who'd been bereaved
:04:55. > :04:57.and those who were injured. If we can't have Governments and
:04:58. > :05:01.politicians get to grips this this, it was unfair to act the
:05:02. > :05:05.Commissioner to do it. Her legacy was round the services and it is
:05:06. > :05:09.good. We are sorry to see her go and we wish her well.
:05:10. > :05:12.A court in Dublin has acquitted the former chairman of the Anglo-Irish
:05:13. > :05:15.Bank Sean Fitzpatrick of illegally supporting the bank's share price.
:05:16. > :05:17.The jury will continue its deliberations on charges faced by
:05:18. > :05:20.two other former executives of the bank in the morning. Speaking after
:05:21. > :05:30.the verdict, Mr Fitzpatrick appealed for privacy for himself and his
:05:31. > :05:37.family. I now simply ask that the courtesy extended to me, and my
:05:38. > :05:47.family, during this trial, by the media, will be maintained, and the
:05:48. > :05:51.privacy of my family, which has been intruded on over the past six years
:05:52. > :05:54.will now cease. A high-profile republican accused of
:05:55. > :05:58.murdering 29 people in the Omagh bombing has been refused bail.
:05:59. > :06:00.During a high court hearing today, a judge was told information regarding
:06:01. > :06:04.Seamus Daly's alleged involvement wasn't new, but police had been
:06:05. > :06:07.trying to find him for five years. Prosecutors claimed Daly had been
:06:08. > :06:21.living "under the radar", close to the border, before being arrested
:06:22. > :06:26.last week. Ho cede in the last 14 years the evidence had been analysed
:06:27. > :06:28.an conclusions reached previously that it was
:06:29. > :06:32.In football, Linfield have warned their fans that all variations of
:06:33. > :06:35.The Billy Boys song are now deemed unacceptable. Insufficient. The club
:06:36. > :06:38.said that if the song is aired at matches in the future, it would lead
:06:39. > :06:46.to severe penalties, including having to play games behind closed
:06:47. > :06:50.doors. Mervyn Jess reports. The Billy Boys has long been a song sung
:06:51. > :06:55.by sport es after football matches involving Lynn feed. Now, the club
:06:56. > :06:59.says it has to stop. The move follows Linfield and Cliftonville
:07:00. > :07:05.successfully appealing punishments handed out by the Irish FA our
:07:06. > :07:10.sectarian chanting at the County Antrim shield final last October. It
:07:11. > :07:14.was found the associations disciplinary committee breached its
:07:15. > :07:17.own procedure. In a statement Linfield said all variations of The
:07:18. > :07:22.Billy Boys are now deemed unacceptable. And warned that they
:07:23. > :07:28.could lead to severe punitive sanctions against the club. A former
:07:29. > :07:33.player, who is now a director in a new company has welcomed the club's
:07:34. > :07:38.statement. Probably it Linfield will find it is very difficult to
:07:39. > :07:43.enforce. If the message goes out, and the crowd are properly stewarded
:07:44. > :07:47.for example, then I would certainly hope and my fellow directors would
:07:48. > :07:53.hope there would be less and less of it, particularly at win son park.
:07:54. > :07:56.Linfield has warned any sports founded singing The Billy Boys could
:07:57. > :08:01.face a lifetime ban as well as being reported to the police.
:08:02. > :08:06.And just before we have a look at the weather, Belfast Zoo is
:08:07. > :08:09.celebrating the birth of a second baby gorilla. Although this little
:08:10. > :08:13.bundle was born on Mother's Day, it's not yet known whether it's a
:08:14. > :08:17.boy or a girl, as mum Kamili has been holding her baby close. Both
:08:18. > :08:20.mother and the new arrival are doing well, and big brother Baako is happy
:08:21. > :08:24.too at the prospect of a new playmate. Now let us get the
:08:25. > :08:29.weather. Hello. Good evening. It has been as
:08:30. > :08:33.cheery today with the cloud rolling in it. Will stay with us tonight. A
:08:34. > :08:37.few showers at first, although they will tend to taper away and it
:08:38. > :08:40.should dry up for the second half of the night it will be mild with lows
:08:41. > :08:43.of six to eight degrees, into tomorrow, we are left with that
:08:44. > :08:46.legacy of cloud for much of the day, and again, there will be a few
:08:47. > :08:50.showers appearing on the scene, mainly across parts of the north and
:08:51. > :08:54.west tomorrow morning. Across the Republic of Ireland, well, a lot of
:08:55. > :08:57.cloud but mainly dry here, as it will be across southern Scotland,
:08:58. > :09:01.and much of England and Wales, but for the south and south-east of
:09:02. > :09:05.England it stays fine, with warm spells of sunshine. Temperatures up
:09:06. > :09:10.to 20 degrees. For central and northern Scotland, some sunshine
:09:11. > :09:13.here too, but that I have cool winds blowing and there will be be a few
:09:14. > :09:18.showers. For Northern Ireland in the afternoon we will find a few showers
:09:19. > :09:21.drifting inland but many places avoiding them and staying dry. It
:09:22. > :09:25.will feel cool in that north-westerly breeze, with highs of
:09:26. > :09:29.11 or 12 degrees. At least there are signs of some brightness developing
:09:30. > :09:33.as when he had to the evening. As with high pressure in charge for the
:09:34. > :09:36.Easter weekend it is looking good. A lot of dry weather for Northern
:09:37. > :09:40.Ireland. For England and Wales low pressure moves in, that is going to
:09:41. > :09:44.bring wet and windy weather. There are uncertainties about it, but it
:09:45. > :09:46.looks as though it isn't going to quite reach Northern Ireland. . So
:09:47. > :09:51.it looks as though the fine weather will hold for much of the Easter
:09:52. > :09:53.break. That rain perhaps not arriving until night-time on Easter
:09:54. > :09:57.Sunday. That is it for now, you can keep
:09:58. > :09:59.up-to-date with News Online and follow this programme on Facebook
:10:00. > :10:02.and Twitter. Good night.