31/07/2014 BBC Newsline

That's all for now. There is a first look at the papers too.

A budget crisis at Stormont has been averted - for now, at least.

All departments, apart from Health and Education,

The figures were revealed at a meeting

Our political correspondent Gareth Gordon reports.

Weeks of wrangling, claim, counterclaim and slow negotiation.

Now a kind of deal has been done, bar the rubber-stamping.

What was it about and what was at risk?

Every four months the Executive does its internal housekeeping.

It 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

The amount is substantial, ?87 million,

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 quarterly budgets in October and January.

The deal has not come a moment too soon for some of those

At one point the failure to agree a budget was said to have jeopardised

funding for the Historical Abuse Inquiry and there were claims that

free public transport for pensioners was at risk.

The Finance Minister Simon Hamilton is facing a budget deficit

His solution is to make cuts of 2% across all departments,

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,

John O'Dowd clearly does not understand the document says ?13

million has already been taken from our budget, already,

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

The deal was not supported by other parties.

What is being presented as decisions being taken is merely

decisions postponed, it is a failure of responsibility

There is a degree of unreality from Sinn Fein and the DUP

And that has led to hoodoo economics being practised by both. -- voodoo

economics. There will be relief 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. Well, as part of today's budget,

money was set aside for the The visitor attraction has faced

financial difficulties Local campaigners had fought

hard to keep it open. Today's cash will go to Ards Borough

Council, which runs the facility. It's hoped it will also be

refurbished as part of the plans to A woman with an address in Belfast,

who abandoned her three children at home overnight with no food,

has been given a six-month jail The children, two girls and a boy,

were all under the age of eight The woman,

who cannot be named to protect the children's identity, admitted six

charges of neglect and abandonment. A UDA garden of remembrance has

been opened in South Belfast. Several hundred band members made

their way earlier this evening from Ballynafeigh Orange Hall

on the Ormeau Road to Wreaths were laid

in tribute to five local men who They included UDA members Joe Bratty

and Raymond Elder, who were shot dead by the IRA 20

years ago, just weeks before the Questions are being asked

about the efficiency of a new sewerage pumping station in

Warrenpoint after heavy rain caused Houses and businesses

in the Claremont Gardens and Charlotte Street areas were

affected by the rising water after Sandbags were drafted

in to protect vulnerable properties with fears that the open sewerage

posed a health risk. The failure of a new pump station

on the Newry Road has been blamed. Skellig Michael Island,

off the coast of Kerry, has reopened to tourists after filming

for the new Star Wars movie ended. Our reporter Andy

West went with them. A film set on a mysterious lump

of rock is back to being simply The crew, helicopter,

and stars all left last night. The security has gone too, along

with the Irish naval patrol ship. Here we are, the first camera crew

to set foot on Skellig Michael And that was a very bumpy ride,

no wonder Mark Hamill, the original Luke Skywalker,

took a helicopter to the island. The only audience the stars would

have had since shooting were There were fears they would be

frightened off, They can fly to the top but for me

it was a steep climb, up and up. These weather-battled walls and

huddled domes are centuries old. UNESCO has asked for a report

on the impact filming has had I will be writing the report and I

do not think it has, but my bosses will have to make up

their mind if I am right or wrong. The world is desperate

for a glimpse of Holywood glitter on this tiny rock, but films

and film stars, like the monks who Solid, stern,

beautiful Skellig Michael Now let's go to Stephen Watson with

the latest on the local They're getting ready for

a big day of semifinals tomorrow. Nine fighters are looking to get

into the finals of Tonight, though, the focus was

on Hampden Park, which is hosting And Northern Ireland 800-metres

runner Katie Kirk went in the semifinals tonight,

and acquitted herself admirably. It was a night to remember for Katie

Kirk. The 22-year-old's chief goal at these games was to run her

fastest time ever. She said she felt sick with nerves before her first

race, but looked good. And in a top-class field, including

world champions, the young Holywood athlete did just that. I kind of

thought I would be in with a shout for the final, I can run quicker

than that I am so pleased. That pace is pretty quick for me so I was

trading today like my final and generally just really pleased. Two

years ago, as a rising talent, Katie was chosen to light the Olympic

flame in London. Now she is determined to be known for more than

that. I hope people start to know me as an athlete rather than the girls

that that the torch, so I want to be known from my athletics. A personal

best by Katie Kirk. She just missed out on the final, but on her big

games their view, Katie has announced herself as a future world

competitor. -- big games their view. -- debut.

In lawn bowls, Team Northern Ireland started today with three teams still

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

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 line-up for tomorrow night at the Northern Ireland Milk Cup

County Antrim take on Corinthians in the Junior section.

And Manchester United will play Vendee of France

at the Coleraine Showground this evening.

Ogo Obi scored the only goal of the first half before the English

And Northern Ireland will play Canada in the elite final. You can

see all those games online. Rory McIlroy was back

in action tonight for the first time since winning the Open Championship

at Hoylake earlier this month. He shot a first round of 69

at the World Golf Championship at Akron, and is four

behind the leader, Mark Leishman. -- he is seven back. That set from

Glasgow. We are all looking forged to that special day of boxing

tomorrow and we will have special reports. Here is the weather. After

that thunderstorms and heavy downpours today, it looks drier and

quieter tonight. Fairly light winds so where there are clear skies

temperatures good dip to 10 degrees. Tomorrow there are showers but they

will not be as intense or frequent. To begin with there may be cloudy

skies in the south-east but they should brighten up west sunshine and

the best dry weather in the east, a few showers in western areas before

the end of the morning and they will become more widespread in the

afternoon. Showers extending across western Ireland, not too many

towards Dublin and the east, quite clearly to begin with but

brightening up. Chalmers will be frequent and intense over Northern

England and Wales, edging towards the Midlands and could have some

thunder mixed in. It will be cooler and fresher in many parts of

Scotland with a fair number of showers. Quite light winds but they

are coming from the north west so a little cooler than today. A few

sharp showers but not eight under risk and there will be sunshine in

between. On Saturday any showers in the west will be few and far

between, possibly rain for a time near the east coast, but otherwise

not too bad a day. There may be some heavy showers on Saturday night into

Sunday and quite brisk winds, especially up towards the north

coast and the east, but the best of the weather this weekend is in the

west. You can keep up today news online and fall of this programme on

Facebook and Twitter. Good night. -- and follow this

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Now it's hammered into Oscar statuettes

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OK, so, I'm just going to go in here and get myself all dolled up.

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