:00:00. > :00:00.look at the papers on the BBC News channel. Now it's time
:00:00. > :00:11.Good evening. Counting is over in the European
:00:12. > :00:14.elections and the DUP's Diane Dodds and Jim Nicholson of the Ulster
:00:15. > :00:17.Unionists will be returning to Brussels with Sinn Fein's Martina
:00:18. > :00:22.Anderson, who topped the poll yesterday. The two Unionists reached
:00:23. > :00:26.the quota today with the help of transfers from other parties. Our
:00:27. > :00:36.political reporter Stephen Walker reports on the day's events.
:00:37. > :00:40.For political activists, watching media and counting staff, it has
:00:41. > :00:45.been two long days at Belfast's Kings Hall. Diane Dodds became the
:00:46. > :00:50.second to reach the quota after the seventh stage of counting and she
:00:51. > :00:54.was delighted. I am glad people are coalescing around a strong Unionist
:00:55. > :00:59.party. I hope in the next five years to give that strong voice for
:01:00. > :01:04.Northern Ireland in Europe. She joined Sinn Fein's Martina Anderson
:01:05. > :01:09.who was elected when she the poll. I was blown away by the fact that
:01:10. > :01:17.almost 160,000 people voted for Sinn Fein and for myself. I do believe a
:01:18. > :01:21.part of that was my own work ethic and contribution that I have made in
:01:22. > :01:26.the last few years, particularly in the European Parliament. Just before
:01:27. > :01:29.6pm tonight, after two days of counting, Jim Nicholson reached the
:01:30. > :01:36.quota and became Northern Ireland's final MEP. Having been elected I am
:01:37. > :01:40.going into my sixth term as an MEP, the longest of anyone ever elected
:01:41. > :01:45.in Northern Ireland or indeed in the South of Ireland. I do not know
:01:46. > :01:49.whether that is in the Guinness book of records or whatever, but now I am
:01:50. > :01:54.the longest serving MEP. Jim Nicholson took the third spot and
:01:55. > :01:59.after transfers was 43,000 votes ahead of the SDLP's Alex Attwood,
:02:00. > :02:06.who missed out. It confirmed what we always said, that when we were in
:02:07. > :02:09.the race for the last seat and if my own vote and other voters had come
:02:10. > :02:14.out in greater numbers than the result might have been different.
:02:15. > :02:20.Jim Allister came fifth. He recorded a first preference vote of 75,000,
:02:21. > :02:24.9000 votes more than the last election. He claims his vote would
:02:25. > :02:31.put pressure on the DUP. Those who are tempted to do another sordid
:02:32. > :02:39.deal, keep looking over your shoulder because the Unionist group
:02:40. > :02:49.behind you is growing by tens of thousands. Mr Robinson, we're on
:02:50. > :02:53.your case. The Alliance's Anna Lo was in sixth place, securing the
:02:54. > :02:58.party's best every Euro vote followed by Henry Reilly of UKIP,
:02:59. > :03:02.Ross Brown of the Queen's, Tina McKenzie of NI21 at Mark Brotherston
:03:03. > :03:08.of the Conservatives, who was 20. -- Ross Brown of the greens. Now we
:03:09. > :03:13.know who are three MEPs are. It is the length of time this card has
:03:14. > :03:17.taken that has wanted another debate. Politicians from across the
:03:18. > :03:24.party say next time it has to be very different. -- this count has
:03:25. > :03:27.taken. As we've just heard, there's been
:03:28. > :03:30.criticism of the time the count has taken. Some politicians say the
:03:31. > :03:33.process has been understaffed, but the Chief Electoral Officer says
:03:34. > :03:39.technology is the best way to speed up the counting. Conor Macauley
:03:40. > :03:43.reports. They had set aside one day for the
:03:44. > :03:47.kind but by mid-evening it was clear it was going to stretch into a
:03:48. > :03:52.second one. The long hours took their toll on everyone waiting the
:03:53. > :03:59.declarations, especially the candidates. There has been criticism
:04:00. > :04:02.of the delay in declaration of both the local government and European
:04:03. > :04:06.results. The DUP say it was simply an issue of staffing. In my view
:04:07. > :04:10.what is wrong, they do not have enough people to count the votes and
:04:11. > :04:15.they need to put more people in and get more professional about it and
:04:16. > :04:20.organise it more effectively. There is no magic about it. I think that
:04:21. > :04:22.is what is the problem. The chief electoral officer rejected that
:04:23. > :04:26.saying he had enough people for the job. He contrasted herewith the
:04:27. > :04:31.Irish Republic, which is still doing the last of its seats after three
:04:32. > :04:36.days of counting. He suggested technology would speed things up.
:04:37. > :04:41.You have to look at the fact, we are using a system in the 21st century
:04:42. > :04:47.that is not fit for purpose. If we are going to progress and become
:04:48. > :04:55.more efficient we will have to move to a different type of counting. All
:04:56. > :04:58.the bar codes will -- all the papers will have a bar code and be scammed
:04:59. > :05:05.by computer and it will happen in hours. -- be scammed. He has made
:05:06. > :05:12.this case were some time. After 2011 he raised a display of electronic
:05:13. > :05:16.counting using software by a Derry -based company that not many
:05:17. > :05:20.politicians turned up to see it. The same company ran Scottish government
:05:21. > :05:27.elections in 2012 which went smoothly. More than 2100 seats were
:05:28. > :05:33.filled and the last of the results was invited time on day one of the
:05:34. > :05:36.count. That said, it electronic counting has not been without
:05:37. > :05:40.difficulties in the past and any new system would need extensive stress
:05:41. > :05:43.testing before introduction. And Sinn Fein have this evening
:05:44. > :05:47.clinched their third European seat south of the border.
:05:48. > :05:57.Lynne Boylan has been joined by Matt Carthy in Midlands North West.
:05:58. > :06:06.And there's more analysis of the European election on Stormont Today
:06:07. > :06:08.on BBC Two at 11.20. And it will be on radio Ulster in the morning from
:06:09. > :06:11.6:30am. A Belfast-based company is to more
:06:12. > :06:13.than double its workforce by creating 107 jobs in the financial
:06:14. > :06:16.services sector. Spence provides pensions advice to a range
:06:17. > :06:21.of client companies and has developed new software for the
:06:22. > :06:24.industry. The posts will pay average salaries of ?32,000 and the company
:06:25. > :06:33.says it finds no shortage of graduates to recruit.
:06:34. > :06:39.We did find an opportunity to recruit graduates from some of the
:06:40. > :06:43.larger employers -- because some larger employers had reduced their
:06:44. > :06:46.graduate intake. We are seen as a competitive and attractive place to
:06:47. > :06:50.work, so I would feel that we are well placed to continue to recruit
:06:51. > :06:54.people locally. Three men are due in court in Dublin
:06:55. > :06:58.in the morning in connection with a bomb found in a car in County Louth
:06:59. > :07:00.on Sunday night. The device was discovered when gardai investigating
:07:01. > :07:09.dissident republican activity stopped a vehicle at Kilcurry near
:07:10. > :07:10.Dundalk. The men, aged 37, 38 and 44 will appear at a special criminal
:07:11. > :07:14.Court. A priest in County Donegal has
:07:15. > :07:17.warned young people to stay away from drugs following the death of a
:07:18. > :07:21.young man in the village of St Johnston. Oisin Crawford, who was
:07:22. > :07:26.22, died after going to a house party in Main Street in the early
:07:27. > :07:30.hours of yesterday morning. Other people at the party became ill and
:07:31. > :07:36.one man is in a critical condition in hospital. The gardai are
:07:37. > :07:39.investigating a drugs link to the death. The local priest has been
:07:40. > :07:44.speaking to the young man's family who are trying to deal with what's
:07:45. > :07:51.happened. They are absolutely devastated. They
:07:52. > :08:02.are a close-knit family anyway. They are a jolly and outgoing type of
:08:03. > :08:05.family. Oisin was the oldest boy in a family of three and had been
:08:06. > :08:08.working with his father in his business for a number of years.
:08:09. > :08:16.Father and son were like brothers. And now for a look ahead at what the
:08:17. > :08:20.weather has in store, here's Barra Best.
:08:21. > :08:23.We have had fine weather, and the sunshine. Tomorrow, things are
:08:24. > :08:28.looking cloudy. Some shoppers this evening which will die away. For
:08:29. > :08:35.most of us it will be dry with temperatures about eight or nine
:08:36. > :08:38.degrees. Dry into tomorrow morning at a bright start but through the
:08:39. > :08:43.day it will go downhill. The best of them bright weather will be across
:08:44. > :08:46.the West. It will not take long before the cloud rolls and across
:08:47. > :08:50.the East bringing with it patchy light rain and drizzle. That will
:08:51. > :08:53.eventually push its way eastwards through the course of the day.
:08:54. > :08:57.Further south and west, it is a better picture through much of
:08:58. > :09:00.Ireland with good spells of sunshine. Elsewhere across Britain,
:09:01. > :09:06.for southern Scotland into Wales, we have rain for central and northern
:09:07. > :09:08.areas of England. We have weather warnings on the east coast of
:09:09. > :09:13.injured for heavy downpours and there could be localised flooding as
:09:14. > :09:17.a result. For the south coast a drier picture with temperatures of
:09:18. > :09:23.17 or 18 degrees. For Northern Ireland into the afternoon, it will
:09:24. > :09:26.feel cool, especially along the Antrim coast. Temperatures below
:09:27. > :09:30.average for the time of year. We get the best of the bride the weather,
:09:31. > :09:36.temperatures will reach 16 or 17 degrees. -- bright and sunny
:09:37. > :09:42.weather. Temperatures cooler for many of us tomorrow as they are
:09:43. > :09:45.below average at 12 or 13 degrees. In Friday and Saturday, it looks as
:09:46. > :09:51.though things will steadily improved.
:09:52. > :09:58.Our next local news and weather update is at 6:25am during Breakfast
:09:59. > :10:00.on BBC One. We are on Facebook and Twitter. Good night.