:00:00. > :00:00.humbling of its hosts. That's all from
:00:00. > :00:13.Funding to help pay for free travel on buses and trains for the over-60s
:00:14. > :00:14.is under threat, according to the Transport Minister.
:00:15. > :00:16.The concessionary travel scheme costs millions of pounds
:00:17. > :00:20.Now that cash may not be forthcoming as a result of
:00:21. > :00:28.Here's our business correspondent Julian O'Neill.
:00:29. > :00:36.Public transport is free to everyone over 60. The policy has been in
:00:37. > :00:40.place since 2008 and funding comes from Stormont but now there appears
:00:41. > :00:45.to be a risk that money could be lost. The minister responsible for
:00:46. > :00:51.public transport says he faces a fight to get ?9 million which the
:00:52. > :00:59.scheme needs this year. I think the fundamental challenge to the
:01:00. > :01:03.Executive is, will it maintain a concessionary fares scheme, paid for
:01:04. > :01:07.in full by the Executive, as we move forward? The backdrop to this is
:01:08. > :01:11.tough financial forward? The backdrop to this is
:01:12. > :01:15.Stormont. Budgets for each department are being haggled over by
:01:16. > :01:18.the Executive. There is no agreement yet but Danny Kennedy is suggesting
:01:19. > :01:23.his department looks like losing out. On the streets, free travel for
:01:24. > :01:29.the elderly is a hugely popular thing. We love it. It's really very
:01:30. > :01:32.good. We couldn't be without it. It's one of the most beneficial
:01:33. > :01:38.things that was ever given to us as pensioners. This is Danny Kennedy
:01:39. > :01:42.firing a warning shot in public. Even if the money is lost, it may
:01:43. > :01:48.not necessarily mean an end to free public transport - it may just pose
:01:49. > :01:49.a headache to the minister and the transport company to find another
:01:50. > :01:57.The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, is making efforts to have the Garth Brooks
:01:58. > :01:59.concerts staged in Croke Park. Earlier this evening, the singer
:02:00. > :02:02.issued an appeal to see if a last-minute deal can be reached to
:02:03. > :02:05.save his five shows. As Francis Gorman reports, the cancellations
:02:06. > :02:15.have dealt a huge blow to the local economy.
:02:16. > :02:20.Counting the cost. This bed-and-breakfast run by a Newry man
:02:21. > :02:24.is about ten minutes from Croke Park. All 12 of his rooms were
:02:25. > :02:29.booked for all five nights of the Garth Brooks concerts but now he
:02:30. > :02:33.faces a huge loss. The cancellations, he believes, will
:02:34. > :02:37.devastate the hospitality industry. Some believe anything up to 50
:02:38. > :02:41.million euros could be lost to the city. I would be very fearful for
:02:42. > :02:46.the reputation of Dublin at the minute. Quite a large majority of
:02:47. > :02:50.the people that were staying with me were from the North of Ireland. They
:02:51. > :02:53.originally thought they might come to Dublin for the weekend but I
:02:54. > :02:58.think a lot of them are a little upset, if not sick and annoyed, with
:02:59. > :03:02.what's happening, and I think they'll be annoying Dublin for the
:03:03. > :03:07.foreseeable future. -- avoiding Dublin. Last week Garth Brooks
:03:08. > :03:10.issued an ultimatum - all five concerts or none that I go after
:03:11. > :03:14.Dublin City Council gave the go-ahead for only three. In a letter
:03:15. > :03:18.Easter Day to the promoter Peter Aiken, the singer says: -- released
:03:19. > :03:38.today. The GAA and Aiken Promotions had
:03:39. > :03:43.been accused by some residents who live near Croke Park of corporate
:03:44. > :03:47.greed. The association says it regrets that the concerts aren't
:03:48. > :03:53.going ahead but was unable to provide an interviewee. Peter Aiken
:03:54. > :03:57.was also unavailable. The concert saga, variously described as a
:03:58. > :04:02.shambles and a fiasco, will be debated by a parliamentary committee
:04:03. > :04:10.tomorrow with all the main players in Ireland invited to attend. The
:04:11. > :04:13.Consulate issue was again race today in the Dail. I'm very disappointed
:04:14. > :04:18.that it hasn't happened and that it won't happen but it's a bitter
:04:19. > :04:21.economic lesson to have learned. With the controversy so far having
:04:22. > :04:27.generated more thunderous noise than light, Garth Brooks is expected to
:04:28. > :04:30.give his side of the story tomorrow when he talks to the media in
:04:31. > :04:38.The Orange Order has said it wants to meet with the Prime Minister to
:04:39. > :04:40.discuss the Parades Commission's decision to prevent Orangemen
:04:41. > :04:43.returning past the Ardoyne shops in North Belfast on the 12th of July.
:04:44. > :04:46.More than a hundred members of the Order, including the
:04:47. > :04:48.Grand Master and Grand Lodge Officer bearers, met at Tamnamore
:04:49. > :04:56.Orange Lodge in County Tyrone this evening to discuss the issue.
:04:57. > :05:04.We want the Prime Minister to be aware of the problem and to indicate
:05:05. > :05:09.that he has a will to try to resolve the problem and, effectively, that
:05:10. > :05:11.means getting rid of the Parade sky-macro commission and introducing
:05:12. > :05:20.Sarah legislation. Campaigners for the truth
:05:21. > :05:22.about the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings say they are keeping
:05:23. > :05:25.their options open about who was The IRA has never admitted carrying
:05:26. > :05:28.out the bombings in The Justice For The 21 group gave
:05:29. > :05:33.evidence to MPs today as part of an inquiry into letters sent to
:05:34. > :05:35.on-the-run paramilitaries. Political editor Mark Devenport
:05:36. > :05:44.reports. 21 people died and more than 180
:05:45. > :05:50.were injured when bombs exploded at two pubs in the centre of Birmingham
:05:51. > :05:54.40 years ago. Six men were sentenced to life for the bombings but 60
:05:55. > :05:58.years later, their convictions were quashed after their confessions were
:05:59. > :06:03.deemed unreliable. Today the brother and sister of Maxine Hambleton, one
:06:04. > :06:06.of the Birmingham victims, gave evidence to a Westminster committee,
:06:07. > :06:09.where they expressed their anger about the scheme supplying letters
:06:10. > :06:13.to on the run paramilitaries and raised questions about why the IRA
:06:14. > :06:20.had never admitted carrying out the Birmingham bombings. In the 1970s,
:06:21. > :06:24.you will of we know that the British government was trying to discredit
:06:25. > :06:27.the IRA in every way that they could. The Hambleton family were
:06:28. > :06:33.highly critical of the police and others in authority who, they
:06:34. > :06:36.claimed, treated them like lepers. The cauldron inquiry into the
:06:37. > :06:37.Birmingham bombings and an investigation aimed at bringing
:06:38. > :06:40.those responsible to justice. Four families of the eight IRA men
:06:41. > :06:43.shot by the SAS at Loughgall in 1987 are to seek a judicial
:06:44. > :06:46.review of the Secretary of State's decision to intervene in the case
:06:47. > :06:49.for an inquest into the killings. Theresa Villiers says
:06:50. > :06:51.the decision is in the interests of national security,
:06:52. > :07:08.but the Attorney General says her The van which the IRA were using a
:07:09. > :07:14.spaced started a gun and bomb attack on a police station, while the SAS
:07:15. > :07:18.opened fire. An inquest was held in 1995 but six years later, the
:07:19. > :07:22.European Court of Human Rights declared that the investigation into
:07:23. > :07:26.the killings hadn't been sufficient. The case has been with the attorney
:07:27. > :07:30.general for Northern Ireland, John Larkin, the two years and he was to
:07:31. > :07:35.make a decision on whether a new inquest chip proceeds stop now the
:07:36. > :07:43.Secretary of State has intervened, certifying that the case involves
:07:44. > :07:47.national security. Theresa Yeo Villas' intervention means the case
:07:48. > :07:51.now goes to Dominic Grieve in his capacity as attorney general for
:07:52. > :07:57.Northern Ireland, chief adviser to Whitehall on Northern Irish law. My
:07:58. > :08:00.decision is to apply the law and there are national security
:08:01. > :08:03.considerations at stake and this is a matter for the advocate general to
:08:04. > :08:08.make a decision on whether an inquest is appropriate. John
:08:09. > :08:12.Larkin's office has issued a letter saying he believes the secretary of
:08:13. > :08:16.State's division to be profoundly wrong in principle. The letter goes
:08:17. > :08:17.on to say that Mr Larkin is reflecting on an appropriate
:08:18. > :08:27.response. The sun returned today and now we'll
:08:28. > :08:31.find out if it will be back tomorrow.
:08:32. > :08:36.It was too good to last and after a splendid day, things are going
:08:37. > :08:39.downhill again with cloud rolling in through the course of the night. The
:08:40. > :08:43.cloud will thicken up and bring spells of rain eventually. Moderate
:08:44. > :08:48.bursts towards the north but generally speaking, most of the ring
:08:49. > :08:51.will be fairly light and it will be a mild and muggy night with
:08:52. > :08:55.temperatures generally holding in double figures. It sets us up for a
:08:56. > :08:59.very different day tomorrow. There will be a lot more cloud around and
:09:00. > :09:03.it looks like it will be a pretty damp start and almost anywhere could
:09:04. > :09:08.get patches of rain and result in the morning rush-hour. It could be
:09:09. > :09:11.mist and hill fog. Similar across the Republic. We start off with
:09:12. > :09:16.drizzle and rain which should start to fade away. Pretty cloudy for
:09:17. > :09:20.eastern Scotland and eastern England with quite a keen northerly breeze
:09:21. > :09:23.in the south-east. The cloud will be bringing spells of rain which will
:09:24. > :09:27.be quite slow moving so there will be an increasing risk of localised
:09:28. > :09:31.flooding. In between these two cloudy bands we will see sunshine
:09:32. > :09:36.from the West of Scotland towards Wales, central and southern England,
:09:37. > :09:40.and it is warm in the sunshine. For Northern Ireland in the afternoon,
:09:41. > :09:45.drizzle easing away so more dry weather than wet. There may be
:09:46. > :09:48.dryness towards the north and east but it can't be guaranteed. I think
:09:49. > :09:52.there will be more cloud than sunshine. Feeling quite muggy as a
:09:53. > :09:58.result with temperature is of 18 or 19. A similar day on Friday with a
:09:59. > :10:00.weather front moving in Friday night into Saturday brings showery rain.
:10:01. > :10:03.That's it for now. Good night.