30/04/2014 BBC Newsline

Good evening. Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has

been arrested by police in connection with the 1972 abduction

and murder of Jean McConville. Mr Adams presented himself for

questioning at Antrim police station this evening by prior arrangement.

What do we know about events this evening? We believe at around 9pm,

as news was faltering through to us, detectives investigating the

abduction and murder of Jean McConville had arrested a

65-year-old man, we now know he is Gerry Adams. Both the police and

Sinn Fein are at pains to say that he presented himself voluntarily,

and he is being questioned behind me at the serious crime suite. He has

consistently denied any involvement in her disappearance, she was the

mother of ten who was at the tiered from her flat in West Belfast, and

her body was recovered from a beach in 2003. Gerry Adams had asked his

solicitor to make contact with the police? That is right. Only last

month, he had asked his solicitor to contact the police to see if they

wanted to interview him about the murder of Jean McConville, and the

abduction of Jean McConville. He said he was aware that there was

speculation that they may want to speak to him, so he wanted to go to

them voluntarily. He has always said her murder was a terrible injustice

in which he had played no part. Before we came on air, he spoke to

RTE before he was arrested. There has been a lengthy, malicious

campaign against me. I will tell them I am innocent of any part in

the Addaction, killing all burial of Jean McConville. I do have concerns

about the timing, I said I was ready to meet with them, I do have

concerns in the middle of an election about the timing.

A developing story. To recap, Gerry Adams, the 65-year-old, has been

arrested and is being questioned about the disappearance and

abduction and murder of Jean McConville. We will bring you more

on the radio station and online. The Alliance MP Naomi Long has

insisted her party will not be driven out of east Belfast and will

not be bullied or intimidated. Four people threw seven petrol bombs at

her constituency office last night. Back at work first thing this

morning, Naomi Long says the latest attack on her office will not make a

move. She has lost count of the number of threats she has faced

since the Buckfast City Council moved to stop flying the union flag

every day. But she says she and her party are staying here. I will not

be driven out and bullied, because I have stood up to bullies my whole

life. The attack happened just before 11pm. We have some

eyewitnesses who have come forward. We are also looking at CCTV and a

full forensic examination of the scene has been taking place. The

CCTV footage only lasts a couple of minutes but it could hold the key to

this investigation. It shows the attackers in the middle of the road,

first throwing stones at the upstairs windows, where they break

the glass, they produce petrol bombs. The upstairs windows are

double glazed, and the petrol bombs could not break through the second

pane of glass. In the end, it seems that is what saved the office.

Otherwise, it probably would have burned down.

A Romanian man has had excrement thrown in his face in what the

police are describing as a hate crime. He was cycling along the

Lower Newtownards Road this morning when a man threw the bag of

excrement at him. He was taken to hospital, where he received

treatment to his eyes. Police are treating the incident as a hate

crime. It happened outside a church, and

the rector says the attack is worrying for other foreign nationals

in the area. I do not think there is any need for

violence at any time. Perhaps the effect on the gentleman might be

traumatic, if they disturbed him for some years to come. For other

immigrants, that is bound to be a problem in the back of their mind

and unsettle them. We have quite a few immigrants in this area.

Assembly members are calling for more information from the health

authorities about cases involving children with heart problems.

Members of the Stormont Health Committee claim they're not

receiving the full picture about the extent of treatment some children

have received in Belfast before being transferred to Dublin for

heart surgery. The Health Board has rejected any allegations that it has

not been transparent. This child was born with a heart

defect in January last year. He was rushed from column in hospital to

Belfast by ambulance for what the family was told was emergency

treatment. There was a need for an operation to be done before he

travelled. Without that, his oxygen would have got quite low. He either

would have been brain-damaged or would not have survived. The health

committee today questioned whether briefings they have received have

provided the full picture of the extent of surgical procedures being

performed in Belfast. We were given the impression that there was little

need for emergency intervention, there had been none in the last

month prior to the meeting, but we have learned from the families

involved that there has been a number of surgical interventions

that have been essential to save the lives of children. The health board

has rejected allegations that its officials were not being

transparent. The board said this was consistent

with the evidence gave to the health committee last year. The BBC can

also reveal that the Department of paediatrics cardiology in Belfast

boat to the health board last year stressing the importance of

retaining surgery in Belfast. The letter detailed one case. It said it

crystallised how any decision regarding the future of paediatric

cardiac services in Belfast could impact on individual patients.

Doctor Craig said the minister decided to cease cardiac surgery,

transferring a sick child in an unstable condition to another unit

would see surgeons in his words faced with a deteriorating situation

and a hazardous intervention. The future of children's heart services

will become clearer when the independent panel has entered its

findings to the health minister. He is then expected to make his

decision public at the start of July.

Now looking ahead to tomorrow night's BBC Newsline. In the second

part of our series looking at how the film industry here is

transforming our economy, our arts correspondent will be talking to

tourists following in the footsteps of the hugely-successful Game Of

Thrones TV series. There is some rain in the forecast

the night, that makes a change for April, because it has been quite a

dry month. Our gardens get a drink, and some of the rain could be heavy

across the West and South. A mild night, but tomorrow will not feel

mild at all. For part of the North, it will feel colder after today. To

begin with, it is cloudy and wet, some rain could be heavy through the

rush-hour. There will be a cold breeze in places. As we zoom out and

see the bigger picture across written and Ireland, it is

disappointing for the 1st of May, very little sunshine to be found

tomorrow. The north-east of Scotland brightening up later, but feeling

cold. The temperatures are also struggling across Northern Ireland

and parts of northern England. Further south, the rain will be

heavy across Wales and the southern encounters of England. That is why

there is a yellow weather warning in force. For us tomorrow afternoon,

plenty of cloud, feeling cold and Chile in the breeze, though the rain

will ease, so many places will become dry. The temperatures are

several degrees down on today. Inks will start to warm up again. Friday

will be dry and pride. The temperatures are back into double

figures, and continuing to rise through the weekend.

That's it for now. You can keep up to date with News Online and follow

this programme on Facebook and Twitter. From BBC Newsline,

goodnight.