06/01/2016 BBC Newsline


06/01/2016

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There's to be an urgent ministerial meeting tomorrow to discuss

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the authorities' response to the flooding.

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Taking part will be the Ministers for Agriculture,

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Regional Development and the Environment.

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It was organised as more heavy rain is predicted overnight,

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to add to the problems suffered by businesses and homes over

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Our reporter Mervyn Jess has been to Portadown tonight to see

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the latest efforts to protect homes there.

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Heavily saturated ground and existing high water levels are

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raising concerns over the projected rainfall overnight. In Portadown

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sandbags have been dropped off ready for use should the need arise. If

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this river overflows these pensioners's cottages Yarmouk stud

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risk. Sound bites are not much of a cure, I can tell you. They didn't

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stop getting in the last time. They had these pumps the last time. There

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is a bitter over there that runs into the River band. It does. It is

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still up, Lough Neagh is still up. There is nowhere for it to go.

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Nowhere. It flooded two years ago. It makes a mess of the house. You

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are afraid of that happening again. Water levels are already high with

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some roads closed to traffic. This latest health of heavy rainfall is

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sweeping in from the West and is already falling in County Fermanagh

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and County Armagh, but the bulk of that is not due until the early

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hours of the morning. The rivers agency said that flood squads are on

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stand-by to deal with emergencies. Flood-hit businesses on the shores

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of Lough Neagh have questioned whether enough was done

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to prevent rising waters. The level of the lough

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is at a 30-year-high and several business properties

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have been badly damaged Our environment correspondent,

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Conor Macauley, reports. The lough had reached record heights

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at the recent rain storms but the water has now reached the businesses

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on shore. They have been inundated putting 20 jobs here at risk. It is

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heartbreaking for everybody on the premises. We are small businesses,

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we put our livelihoods into it and it is heart-wrenching. In the

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interim, we are going to have to look of laying people off. I can't

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sustain wages going out. I still have to pay my rent, my rates, all

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the other overheads that go with running a business. People can come

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in through the shop door, there is no income. Lough Neagh is that a 30

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year high. Its level is controlled by these gates. Questions are being

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asked if they should've been open sooner. You need to ask the

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question, with the amount of water forecast, was of sufficient? It

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clearly wasn't. There are other reasons I'm sure whether floodgate,

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the level of the water... Baby people were caught by surprise. The

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agency responsible for regulating the level of the lough said they

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acted appropriately. 42% of the landmass of Northern Ireland drains

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into Lough Neagh. In situations where we have heavy rain across that

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catchment it is inevitable that we will get rising water and

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appropriated flooding. It is heartbreaking for the owners. Some

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of the decades, others just moved in Christmas. Some money has come from

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central government. The executive has been told to hurry up and decide

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how it will be spent. They want to know they will get any assistance,

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can they get any help to ensure that their business opens quickly. The

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money will be of little comfort to these business people. They can't

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even start to clear up until the level of the lough begins to fall.

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Good Morning Ulster on BBC Radio Ulster will be hearing

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more about how people are coping and talking to Stormont Ministers

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ahead of their flood response meeting tomorrow.

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A car has crashed through a sea wall on the Portaferry Road near Mount

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The vehicle ended up on the beach and one of two people

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Coastguard, ambulance and fire workers managed to free the person

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The accident happened near where a bus crashed

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through a wall into the sea four weeks ago.

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Gardai have warned that dissident republican paramilitaries

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are becoming increasingly skilled at making bombs.

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Officers today held a news conference and showed a sample

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Gardai today put on a display a selection weapons seized

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from dissident republicans over the last two years.

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Rocket launchers, rifles, Semtex and a beer keg bomb.

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That beer keg was ready for use in Northern Ireland.

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It was found within 300 or 400 metres of the border to take over

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the border to cause damage and potential injury and murder

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to people living in Northern Ireland.

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Although gardai say they have had significant success in disrupting

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attacks, there is concern that dissident republicans are becoming

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I can say with confidence that our interventions have,

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When you look at some of these devices and the way

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they are operated, it shows an increasing sign of sophistication

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I suppose the finding of such items such as detonators are indicative

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of the business that these people are in.

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22 people have been charged in connection

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The gardai today urged the public to be even more vigilant.

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The electricity supplier SSE is cutting its prices from next

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week, and bills from other energy suppliers are also set to fall.

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The Utility Regulator is reviewing electricity and gas tariffs

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and will make an announcement next month.

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I've been hearing more from our Economics and Business Editor,

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SSE, the second-biggest electricity supplier here are going to prices by

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just over 1% from Monday and that comes on top of an ape percent that

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they delivered last year. What is underpinning all of this is that

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wholesale energy prices, what is paid for energy on the world

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markets, is continuing to fall. Natural gas, for example, is down by

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20% compared to this time last year. What about the other suppliers? The

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Utility Regulator, which has the power to influence prices amongst

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the biggest suppliers, they are undertaking a review that will

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report next month. Because those prices are coming down globally,

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they will come down locally as well. It is the job of the regulator to

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make sure that the prices we pay reflect the wholesaler price. We

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would expect him to's prices to come down quite substantially. --

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PowerNI's prices to come down. What we will continue to see is energy

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prices are still coming down. The Department for Education is

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facing a cash reduction over the next year. The Minister said that

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the full impact on school budgets would not be clear until March.

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It's going to be very wet again tonight.

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With the forecast, here's Geoff Maskell.

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The rain is back with a vengeance tonight. We are expecting up to 40

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millimetres of rain. A weather warning is in place. It will take

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six to nine hours for that room to clear us. Although the rainfall

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totals are not huge, given the very wet ground that we have a moment it

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could cause localised flooding. That ban the brain were polite to the

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East in the early part of the morning. Behind it we have clearing

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skies. There is a risk of some icy patches on untreated roads in the

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early part of Thursday. We are by no means getting the worst of the

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weather, that is reserved for the northern part of Scotland where they

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have an amber warning in place because of strong winds and snow.

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The further south you go the drier and brighter it gets. Through the

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afternoon tomorrow, not a bad picture in Northern Ireland. Recent

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spells of drier weather. It will feel cooler temperatures and low

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single figures. Have really cold night Thursday into Friday with the

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widespread frost by Friday morning. Fried itself a reasonably pleasant

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day. Between the odd shower some of those wintry over them on mountains

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in particular, it will be at full day, but also brighter. The general

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theme of the downward trend in temperatures continues as we head

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Our next BBC Newsline is at 6.25am in the morning during Breakfast

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