31/07/2014 BBC Newsline

great news for the closing ceremony. That is it from

A budget deal is finally done after weeks of deadlock at Stormont.

We ask the Finance Minister how he now plans to implement the cuts.

A mother admits to abandoning her three children at with no food.

Calls for Mexico to be banned from the Milk Cup after this brawl

Northern Ireland's record-breaking boxing team gets ready to go for

gold. Join me from Glasgow. And today's thunderstorms will

continue to die away tonight but it's time to look ahead to

the weekend. A budget crisis at Stormont has

been averted - for now, at least. Departments,

except Health and Education, the DUP wanted to use any budget

surplus to pay for penalties we face because of the failure to bring

in changes to benefits payments. Our political correspondent

Gareth Gordon reports. Weeks

counterclaim and slow negotiation. Now a kind of deal has been done.

Bar the rubber-stamping. What was Now a kind of deal has been done.

about and what was at rest? Every four months the Executive takes

money back from departments that haven't spent it and gives it to

others, but this time the DUP wanted to take some of that money and

instead of redistributing it, use it to pay penalties imposed by

Westminster because of Sinn Fein's refusal to implement welfare

reforms. The amount is substantial, ?87 million, and must be paid by

spring. The DUP plan to use some of the money clawed back this quarter

to meet those penalties met a brick wall. Sinn Fein refused and now the

parties have compromised by parking the problem until the next orderly

budgets in October and January. The deal has not come a moment too soon

for some of those relying on Stormont for support. At one point

the failure to agree a budget was said to have jeopardised funding for

the historical abuse inquiry and there were

the historical abuse inquiry and transport for pensioners was at

risk. The Simon -- the Finance Minister Simon Hamilton is facing a

budget deficit of ?78 million. His solution is to make cuts of 2%

across all departments, except health and education. Next, the main

parties seem as divided as ever. Penalties were to be imposed as part

of this monitoring round. They have not been and my party believes we

now need to present a united front to the British government, rather

than what has seen some parties who seem to have accepted the

inevitability of it. John O'Dowd clearly does not understand the

document says ?13 million has already been taken from our budget,

so the penalties are already under way and a further ?87 million has to

be taken into account in October. The deal was not supported by other

parties. We believe it represents a complete failure to address serious

issues confronting the Executive. What is being present that back

presented as decisions being taken is merely decisions postponed, it is

a failure of responsibility for the parties, a fax for DUP and Sinn Fein

and we will not support such a proposal. There is a degree of

unreality from Sinn Fein and the DUP and that has led to voodoo economics

being practised by both, and a harm in stun to the entire executive --

is done to the Executive and services, my department in

particular sex to provide. There will be relieve at Stormont and in

the community that this impasse has been broken, but with no overall

agreement on welfare reform, it is likely the problem will re-emerge

down the line. As Gareth reported, a short-term

solution to the financial row at Stormont may have been found, but

many difficulties still lie ahead. BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson has been

gauging reaction to today's deal. While politicians have engaged

in a budget battle at Stormont all summer, the public have been

watching their every move. Have you been following negotiations

over the June monitoring round? No. No, I haven't. I haven't because I

have stopped listening to Stormont because it is either about the other

side or the others and I just switched off now. It is sad as well.

What would switch you back on again? If they would all grow up.

What is again? If they would all grow up.

today? Get off your backside and do something for the people and make it

work. It will be a while before there is harmony at Stormont but at

least politicians did find some agreement to date on the financial

way forward. Let's face it, alterations arguing over money is

nothing new but while this financial wrangle matters is the impact it

could have, not just on the overall economy but the money in people 's

pockets. Cutbacks at Stormont, reductions in services will all make

a difference, but how bad will it be? The department have been told

today they have to start making cuts of 2%. We will see things that can

be postponed the postponed, we will see an attempt to make other schemes

operate more cheaply, it will be a period of difficulty, especially for

the Department of learning and the Department of Social Development,

who are taking major cuts. We have until the 1st of January for the

Executive to get a solution that if they do not this since -- the

situation in nine months is unimaginable. While politicians try

to work it out, the public can only wait for the impact to hit.

The Finance Minister Simon Hamilton is with me now.

Others say it's been kicked down the road until October.

I have listened to comments from Sinn Fein that we haven't agreed to,

which is ?87 million from the budget. The First Minister said Sinn

Fein have not understood what they agreed to it they believe that. The

paper agreed before by the Executive makes it clear that not only has ?13

million already been lost but paragraph 66 of that document says

we agreed to reduce the budget further I80 7 million if required in

October. Do Westminster not just take this money before they take the

grand? There are all sorts of technical ways this is done. Surely

this is a straight answer, do they take it for you give it back? They

reduce our ability to spend by 87 million, that was me clear in March

by a letter from the Treasury to me in a letter saying he will reduce

our budget by ?87 million if we did not progress on welfare reform, so

it is imperative that Sinn Fein or the SDLP to show leadership or these

cuts of 2% will be dwarfed by further cuts to deal with those

penalties. They are still saying they have not agreed to the

penalties. I do not know why at 4pm the agreed to a paper which says

there will be reductions in October to deal with welfare, white they are

now saying they have not agreed to that. They are playing politics,

that is what has been agreed and that is what we will have to deal

with. I would rather we had dealt with today but in a spirit of

compromise we agreed to deal with it in October. Critics say this is an

example that Stormont cannot operate normally, Sinn Fein and DUP have

just protected the departments you are in charge of and everyone else

has to bear the brunt of these cuts. They are key departments, there is a

good case to be made for protecting health, given the pressures that

Edwin Poots has outlined his department is facing, a young lad we

can give him an additional ?20 million, in terms of education I

have to accept I do not think there is an objective rationale for

protect thing it but to get a necessary agreement and not let this

drag on, it was required we protected health. I would rather we

did not do that but that was what we had to do for a deal. Given that

things like the historical abuse inquiry, free bus passes for the

over 60s, they have been used as political footballs and yet you

found the money to look good. I am glad we could, because a lot of

people are trying to scare people that this would disappear, that will

be funded today and funding has been given to the abuse inquiry and there

are positive things within this paper. I think there is a better way

to run this country, my country has been clear the coalition we have is

not right for northern Ireland and we should move to a more voluntary

coalition taking decisions for the people. That is an argument for

another day. Thank you for joining us.

A mother with an address in Belfast, who abandoned her three children

at home overnight with no food, has been given

The children, two girls and a boy, were all under the age of eight

The woman, who can't be named to protect the identity of her

children, admitted six charges of neglect and abandonment between the

Today, Belfast Magistrates heard that the children had been left

overnight alone in the home, which was in an "unfit state".

The court was told the mother had admitted when questioned the

"house was a disaster" and that she had abandoned her children before.

Her defence lawyer said his client had been the victim

of emotional, physical and sexual abuse in her home country, Poland,

and she had therefore "detached" herself from her own children.

District Judge George Connors said the case was serious enough to

warrant a prison sentence, but as she had no previous record,

he gave her a six-month sentence suspended for three years.

All three children are now in foster care.

A 32-year-old woman's been charged with collecting information likely

to be of use to terrorists while working for the

It's alleged that Charlene Pierce from Harmin Park in Newtownabbey

tried to identify people under the Witness Protection Scheme.

She's been granted bail with a number of conditions imposed.

The manager of Northern Ireland's under-20 football team has said

Mexico shouldn't be allowed to compete at the Milk Cup again

after fighting during last night's game at the Coleraine Showgrounds.

Four players who were sent off, three from Mexico and one from

Northern Ireland, have been banned for the rest of the tournament.

It was billed as one of the big games in a week-long festival of

football. But Northern Ireland's clash with Mexico descended into

violence, both sides involved in a brawl that lasted several minutes.

When you're in involved in youth football you don't expect that.

I don't think it is in our game here in the UK, I don't think fighting

back and punching on the pitch and spitting at people and kicking

Ultimately our boys were involved in it too.

I have no idea who started it or what happened,

I think some of our players had to protect themselves against kicks and

There were young kids from around the world here to watch

In a statement, the organising committee described the scenes as

disgraceful. The Northern Ireland manager went further.

The Milk Cup committee invite companies over and trust they will

behave themselves, that is all you can do, give them the trust they

will behave themselves, that is out of the control of everybody.

They cannot control what happened on that pitch tonight.

What they can control is the countries they bring to the

Milk Cup and if you continually let people down

and act in that manner, you have to ask questions, should they be here?

The Mexican FA quickly condemned what happened today, issuing a

formal apology to the Milk Cup organising committee. The Irish

Football Association, and the young player, Dale Gorman, who was kicked

in the head. Medical files containing sensitive

information have been found by children after a former GP surgery

was demolished in South Belfast. The building,

owned by the SDLP leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell, also housed information

about constituents in the area. Our health correspondent

Marie-Louise Connolly reports. Packed with personal information,

our medical files can contain sensitive and confidential material

that's often only shared But following the demolition

of these buildings on the Ormeau Road in South Belfast,

medical files were found The buildings included

a health centre and two doctor's surgeries, including that of the

SDLP leader, Dr Alasdair McDonnell. According to the Irish News,

information belonging to patients of Dr McDonnell's, including women

who'd had miscarriages, was found Local people say they're shocked

at the apparent breach He's not speaking to us today. That

was his building. It's a wonder he didn't say. I cannot understand why

they left it lying. In a statement, Dr McDonnell said it

would appear that the building which he shared with other health

trusts was not fully cleared out by Clanmil Housing Association, who

are currently demolishing the site. Dr McDonnell added, this is

a matter of the utmost seriousness and that he was sincerely sorry

for any upset caused. In response, the association denied

any documents had been found on its land and pointed to

the adjoining doctor's surgery, But it seems Dr McDonnell,

who is also MP for the area, used the surgery to store

constituent information. That is sensitive information under

the Data Protection Act and in Northern Ireland because of the

situation, it is even more sensitive than normal in the rest of the UK.

The Health Service is slowly moving towards digitising health records,

which may in itself trigger a whole new set of problems.

But however patient records are stored, making sure they're safe

and remain confidential must be the priority of every medical practice.

It's Happy Days in County Fermanagh for the next week or so,

as Samuel Beckett, the Nobel laureate, is celebrated.

As our arts correspondent Maggie Taggart reports, Yiddish,

coffins and an underground concert make this a festival to remember.

This may look like a sad occasion but the coffin belongs to Finnegan

and they are trying to set a new world record for a live reading of

immigrants wait. Samuel Beckett has been taken over by Enniskillen

because he went to school here and the town is taking full advantage of

that. Although Finnegan's Wake was created

by another Irish great, James Joyce, Beckett is said to have written it

down for him There are two versions of

the Beckett masterpiece Waiting for And another in Yiddish,

by a New York company. The actor Adrian Dunbar's main role

is directing a play by Beckett, The audience will be transported

to a mystery venue. I needed to find some work with

atmosphere and I didn't find it in the town but I thought I could look

just outside the town, but it is good to gather and audience and send

them off on a journey and it gets them all collected together so they

become attuned and as one when they sit down to watch the play.

One of Fermanagh's jewels, the Marble Arch caves,

have a starring role as stage for a musical work about Finnegan's Wake.

So as you can see a wide variety of events and the man who now runs the

festival, Sean Doran, has the risk paid off? It has paid off

wonderfully in terms of the local people embracing it, but people come

from Los Angeles, Tokyo and Australia, so it is a wonderful mix

across 40 venues. The branding of Enniskillen

as a Beckett town has been taken to heart by some businesses,

complete with themed menus. Film crews shooting scenes

for the new Star Wars movie left the island of Skellig Michael

in County Kerry last night. This morning, tourists were allowed

back to the rock, and BBC Newsline A film set no more, now the

mysterious lump of rock is back to being simply ancient they smack

island. The crew, helicopter, and stars or left last night -- Skellig

Michael. The security has gone too, along with the

Michael. The security has gone too, ship. Finally we can take a look. We

are the first camera ship. Finally we can take a look. We

to Skellig Michael since they each finished shooting new scenes for

Star Wars episode seven. Choppy seas, let's hope it is worth it. My

wife and I are on our honeymoon and it just happens to our war was

wife and I are on our honeymoon and so here we are headed out to Skellig

Michael to see where they shot in the last few days. We found out once

we were in Ireland that we were here just as they were filming Star Wars

and this is the first trip on boats since the filming, so we are

excited. Here we are, the first camera crew to set foot on Skellig

Michael since they filmed the scenes and that was a very bumpy ride, no

wonder Mark Hamill took a helicopter to the island. The only audience the

stars would have had since shooting worthy Ireland's puffin population.

There were fears they would be frightened of but they seem chirpy

enough. They can fly to the top but for me it was a steep climb, up and

up. But it was worth it. Wow. Look at that.

These weather battled walls and huddled domes are centuries old.

UNESCO has asked for a report on the impact filming has had on the world

heritage site. I will be writing a report and I do not think it has,

but my bosses will have to make up their mind if I am right or wrong.

Everyone at every level has been sworn to secrecy on what has been

filmed here. There is no harm in people having it exists as a prize,

what ever in this movie, I have never seen one of them so it doesn't

other me one way or another. The big question no one is answering because

security has been so tight, is precisely which galaxy far far away

Skellig Michael is supposed to be. We will have to wait until the film

is released late next year to get an answer. The world is desperate for a

glimpse of Holywood glitter on this tiny rock, but films and film stars

like the monks who once lived here, come and go. Solid, stern, beautiful

Skellig Michael and its puffins just carry on.

Let's hope Andy and his cameramen get back down safely.

Now to Glasgow, and the Commonwealth Games,

where Northern Ireland's performance in the boxing has been outstanding.

Here's Stephen Watson. They ate at the games is a rest day for the

boxers, who have now won more medals than any previous team. -- they ate.

They now prepare for tomorrow's big semifinal showdowns, all trying to

book a place in the final of their respective weight decision.

It's an unprecedented nine medals guaranteed,

In the blue corner, representing Northern Ireland's... It's been a

regular occurrence in Glasgow, Northern Ireland's boxers

celebrating success in the ring. There are nine guaranteed medals.

But the captain believes his team isn't finished yet. You look back on

the bronze and say, I got a bronze medal, unless you get a gold, it

isn't worth talking about. A very young team and we are the best

nation here. It isn't just the men who are excelling, there are two

female fighters going for gold, and the coaches are thrilled their

meticulous planning is paying off. We are all happy. We started off at

a training camp in Germany, and that chemistry cup, we started here with

the Russians, a test match with Koreans and Germans and the Irish

team, so that was a start and it snowballed from there. And for one

of the boxers, the games are a family affair. My dad coached me all

my life, it is great to have him there, especially working at the

moment. He has so much experience in the corner and it is you so much

confidence because you want someone good behind you. And all the boxers

are determined to repay that support tomorrow. A massive day for the

boxers tomorrow. In lawn bowls, Team Northern Ireland

started the day with three teams But Martin McHugh bowed out

in quarterfinal stage of the men's singles, losing by a

single point to the world champion. In the men's fours this afternoon,

Neil Booth's team were unable to make it past a strong England side

and were defeated 18-11 Booth now retires

but comes home with the silver medal he won in the triples, which leaves

the women's pairs team of Mandy They also lost to England this

afternoon in a semifinal but now will play Jersey

for bronze in the morning. The women's rugby world cup kicks

off in Paris tomorrow and two Ulster players have been named

in the starting fifteen to take on Claire Glancy caught up with

the duo at one of their final fitness sessions

before they left for France. In 2013, Ireland's grand slam was

celebrated not just with sporting success up because it was the first

time the woman's game emerged from the shadow of the men's. Oster

centre Grace Davitt has seen changes since making her international debut

nine years ago. I got my first cap, I had to pay for it, so now for a

new girl to come along and present Ireland they are presented with a

cap. This is her third World Cup, so she is well placed to advise younger

squad members, including provincial team-mate Ashley Baxter. I do know

what to expect. The time we were away, I never experienced that

either so it is super exciting for me. In pool B there is one challenge

everyone is relishing. It is brilliant to have New Zealand, we

have never played them and it is a great opportunity and everyone will

be champing at the bit to get out there. Ireland meet the Black ferns

in their second match but first up is the USA tomorrow. And we will let

you know how they get on. Time for the weather now. For those

who like thunder and lightning, today was a treat. We had some tense

showers this afternoon, one from Fermanagh and another from the

mourns. The worst of it is a wave now but for a while there was some

flash flooding across parts of County Down. One way to beat the

grey is to carve colourful umbrellas and raincoats and if you saw these

skies coming towards you in Warrenpoint, you would run for

cover. The worst of the chapters are now moving away, one or two still in

the mix tonight, clear spells and light winds, temperatures could get

into single figures in rural areas. We expect showers tomorrow but they

will not be as intense as today, and to begin with a lot of places will

be dry, quite cloudy for a while in the south-east but brightening with

sunshine and overall the east will have the best weather in the

morning. Lunch time onwards, there will be scattered showers and one or

two could be sharp, but the thunder risk will be much lower,

two could be sharp, but the thunder do not like thunder and lightning

better news tomorrow. Because the winds are light, if you get a heavy

job it could take a while to move but it will not rate all the time,

there will still be dry and bright weather in between although with

winds in the north-west it will feel a little cooler and fresher,

especially towards the north coast. Tomorrow night fairly quiet but it

is time to look ahead. There is still some uncertainty but it looks

like the west is best, parts of Fermanagh and Tyrone. Northern and

eastern counties will have rain and strong winds. Saturday is the better

of the two days but you can see rain glancing parts of the east coast,

then on Sunday it will affect the north and east for a while with

quite a brisk wind before it moves away. Join me for our late summary

at 10:25pm. Enjoy your evening.