07/01/2016 BBC Newsline

Tonight's top stories: Ministers hold urgent talks to discuss

the flooding crisis, but what's being done to help those

whose homes and businesses have been left in ruins?

I don't know, I'd just can't live here like this. You can see all

around the country, it's a complete disaster.

Ryanair is to begin operating services out of Belfast

Bombardier announces further job cuts at its Belfast factory.

An expert panel is appointed to help shape the future

In this place of historical record I have an extraordinary story

of love between an Irish rebel and an Ulster volunteer.

Another weather warning in place, this time for ice and snow.

Stormont ministers have been holding an emergency meeting to discuss

the flooding which has affected low lying areas across Northern

The ministers for Environment, Agriculture and Regional Development

Rain last night wasn't as bad as had been initially feared but dozens

of homes and businesses are still affected.

Our agriculture and environment correspondent Conor Macauley

The flood is no respect of heritage or history. Here the Walker

encircled a 300-year-old listed thatched cottage near Portadown. It

is owned by Dan and Kate McQuillan. The water has been sleeping in for a

week, bad news for a property the walls of which are made of clay. The

walls need a certain amount of damp to stay up but not this much, so the

house could fall down. So far at the Rivers agency has managed to save

this house by committing men and machinery. The line of sandbags here

is keeping the bulk of the floodwaters away from the house but

if those pumps were not running 24 is a day, within 20 minutes this

house would be ended. On this farm they are pumping to save sheds and

livestock. Two brothers farm 50 acres here, 30 of them underwater.

The brothers believe salt deposits where the River ban enters Lough

Neagh makes the River back up and threatened their livelihoods. We are

pumping at over sandbags, circulating the water and keeping

the yard dry so it doesn't come in. The option to do nothing is not an

option. People are being stressed out, trying to look after families

and animals and get on with life. In Cookstown, very ministers met this

evening to assess the flood response. ?1.3 million is available

to Northern Ireland, the spin off from a Westminster fund, but first

the Executive must agree it will be spent on flood relief and then

departments must make a pitch for the cash. So far neither has

happened. We had some discussions about how to use the money to make a

difference to people's lives. We will have a further discussion next

week at an executive meeting to decide how to make most effective

use of the money. It is the effect on livelihoods that makes this a

pressing issue. Adrian had been renovating this cottage for his son,

who returned from Australia after three years to move in. Now those

plans are dashed. I came home with great hopes for a life here but I

don't know, I just can't live here like this. These are tough times for

those affected, the lack of answers come pounding their misery.

Ryanair is - for the first time - to begin operating out

It will start with one route in March.

But more destinations will be added before the end of the year.

It says to where exactly will depend on action by the Stormont Executive.

Here's our business correspondent, Julian O'Neill.

This was when Ryanair was at Belfast City Airport

before it quit over delays to a proposed runway extension.

Six years later, Ryanair is making a comeback.

But this time it is going to Belfast International.

A Gatwick service will start in March.

Where could depend on Stormont acting on air passenger tax -

If we get the right level of support from the government, we can see the

roots everyone wants, Copenhagen, Madrid, and we will get them if we

get the right level of support and get rid of APD.

If Stormont wanted to get rid of the ?13 tax on fares it

It would add up to tens of millions each year and so far

Would it be fair to say you were dangling a carrot in front of the

Northern Ireland Executive, if you want those desirable routes then do

something on APD? That is overstating it. We will make

musician waste on facts available to worse and at the moment there is a

high cost, if that changes we will look at that again.

Ryanair intends to have three aircraft operating on around half

a dozen routes by the turn of the year.

The airport anticipates handling an additional one

If action on air passenger duty remains too expensive for Stormont,

there is an alternative - a government fund to help start

routes considered important for inbound tourism and the economy.

An air route development fund has been under consideration for some

time. Today Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell said he was close to

making a decision. The aerospace firm Bombardier

is cutting another 60 jobs. The company, which has been

under financial pressure, has made a series of lay-offs

over the past two years. Our economics and business editor,

John Campbell, is here. These are going from the

complementary labour force, temporary contract workers who work

alongside her mum staff. Whenever jobs go at Bombardier, they are the

jobs that go first. Just put these job

losses in some context. The company has been under pressure,

developing a new airliner the wings of which are made in Belfast and

that object has gone way over budget, it had to be ill died but

that Canadian government and cash has been draining out of the

business, so when Bombardier said they had to cut costs by 20% in

Belfast, the workforce had recently rejected a cost-cutting plan and now

they have decided to lay off 60 people. There is no way these 60

jobs come anywhere near the size of the saving Bombardier want to make

so we will have to see what the company will do over the coming

weeks and months. A number of families have been moved

from their homes in Londonderry It follows reports of a suspicious

object at Southway, The Long Tower Youth Club has been

opened for people in the area who are unable to get

to their homes. A prominent loyalist has been

refused bail at the High Court. The hearing was told that material

linked to a proscribed loyalist terrorist organisation was found

at Mark Harbinson's property He's been charged with possession

of a pistol, a silencer and ammunition with intent

to endanger life. Mark Harbinson, who had previously

been convicted of sexual offences against a child, also had his early

release licence revoked. Our reporter Kevin

Sharkey was in court. More details were revealed

about what was found during a police search at a barn beside

Mark Harbinson's home in December. Along with the gun and ammunition,

officers also found three balaclavas and a banner for the banned

"Orange Volunteers" group. Mark Harbinson told police

the banner was displayed during the Drumcree dispute 20

years ago and he kept it The police also found

what they described as a shebeen, or bar, in the building It was also

revealed that Mark Harbinson's car A defence barrister explained Mark R

Benson held a fancy dress party in the summer and suggested the

balaclava may have been left behind by some of those attending. It was

was involved in a high spee ??Transmit d

he said he was not driving the car and lent it to a diesel fitter but

did not tell them who the diesel fitter was.

The defence team told the judge that Mark Harbinson denies the charge

he is facing and has no links with loyalist groups.

He told the police he is no longer involved with loyal orders and said

he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and was having a

mental meltdown. He said he has no interest in modern loyalism.

The judge refused bail, saying there was a risk

of reoffending and a further attempt to abscond.

Still to come on tonight's programme: With over ?57 million up

for grabs in this Saturday's lottery draw, we've been asking people

Anything can happen to you, but it's never going to happen, is it? I will

do was on Saturday, yes! A week into the new year,

our health service has already been in the spotlight, with managers

calling on the public not to attend emergency departments

unless they have urgent need. It exposed other problems in getting

care packages for patients Today the minister has announced

the names of an expert panel which will be tasked

with finding some solutions. We'll hear from him in a minute

but first, Our health system is under pressure

and there are no easy solutions. A report last year said a panel

of international experts should be free to take big decisions

about reform without having But the Health Minister,

Simon Hamilton, has decided His panel is made up

of two local doctors, two health service managers

originally from Northern Ireland This is where the chair of the panel

currently works as an academic. Professor Rafael Bengoa is also

a former Health Minister He's previously worked as an advisor

to the EU and the current US administration on

so-called ObamaCare. We have been centred in the last few

years on planning around structures and planning around patient needs

and outcomes, so the important thing with the bus to be at the panel

thinking in outcome terms and then see whether there is any structural

or system restructuring that is needed.

The panel's precise remit will be decided at a political

Whatever the proposals this panel comes up with, difficult decisions

like potentially reducing the number of acute hospitals will

still ultimately be down to our politicians.

And most experts seem to agree time is fast running out.

Well, earlier I spoke to the Health Minister,

He said the expert panel has the potential to deliver the ideas

which will ensure the highest quality of care.

I asked him if he was confident that it would be up

Back in November I set out a range of reforms including taking out a

letter of bureaucracy by closing the health and social care abroad, we

are consulting on that and this is progress by appointing that panel,

so we are making progress on those reforms, I want to see the panel

start to work work late and moved to the next stage, we need to have

brought the logical support for the changes re-record and the Donaldson

report said was needed, and the next report will be to agree on health

and social care in Northern Ireland. Is the political will is there to

make changes? I have shown willingness by taking the process to

the stage and my party will have input into this process, and it is

incumbent on other parties to engage in this recess because health

belonged to us all and we do not know who the minister will be in

future, in many respects that is not the point, we all have to take a

collective decision. Do you have the courage to make brave decisions?

This is the latest in a series of reforms I have made to bring us to a

world-class hosting care situation, and this is the necessary next up to

take forward the recommendations put forward, learning from experience as

elsewhere, taking expert advice from outside Northern Ireland also

listening to clinicians here. All the panels in the world will not

help the current 221 people who cannot get out of hospital because

there is no home care package. I know the health service is under

pressure especially at this time of year with pressures within an

emergency Department, last weekend there was an 8% increase in people

coming into emergency departments, compared to the previous year, and

in those challenging circumstances, it does not take away from people

who have been waiting for a bed or a care package, our staff have coped

well. But they have to cope well in incredible circumstances all the

time, why can they not run a proper service? I put additional money into

dealing with winter pressures, getting people back into their homes

or into residential homes and we have been learning from lessons in

the past. Two years ago there was a major incident declared at the Royal

Victoria Hospital, that has not happened this year because people

have learnt the lessons and implemented change. It could be

argued we have not had a cold weather snap, gloop pressure of

previous years, so it might just be luck. Good planning has been put in

place all year, trying to learn mistakes and learn those lessons. Do

you think this time next year wings will be different, there will be a

different service in place across Northern Ireland? We are learning

lessons and implementing change all the time. The reforms I hope the

panel announced today will look at but take years to implement but that

does not mean we are not to win things now, making reforms happen

that will improve the care people received and make sure they get the

highest standard of care. A veteran civil rights activist,

Paddy Doherty, who was better known Mr Doherty was a key figure

in the Civil Rights movement of the late 1960s and early '70s,

and went on to work with the Irish Foundation

for Human Development in the city He received an honorary degree

for his services to Already this week we have had

a glimpse of the big events that have their centenaries this year -

the Easter Rising These are big moments in history

and we'll be marking them But history isn't just

made from events. Donna is at the Public

Record Office. Tara, history is also made up

of people and this evening we are going to feature just two

individuals who helped shape and who were shaped

by those huge events. They were Winnie Carney

and George McBride. Theirs is a story of ordinary

people, extraordinary passion George McBride did an interview

for the Somme Centre in the 1980s and we begin with his words

from that recording. Both were socialists, both were in

the labour movement and that brought them together.

George McBride, a Shankill Road Protestant,

We met in Yarrow Street, then we marched up to

Captain Stack's place up at Ardoyne to drill.

But on the morning we joined up we all went down

Winnie Carney, from County Down, joined the Labour and

Republican-orientated Irish Citizen Army.

She was a radical, somebody who had very strong views, she stood for a

workers Republic. Winnie Carney was one of six

children and well-educated. She'd become interested in politics

through the women's suffrage movement and then

trade union activity. At Easter 1916, at the age of 29

she was at the side of one of the leaders of the rebellion,

James Connolly, playing a vital role She also had a gun, she knew how to

use them and that was there for her protection if it became necessary,

so she was known as the typist with the web late but she also played an

essential role in terms of communications.

George McBride walked a very different path and was in a very

different place by July 1st 1916 - the Battle of the Somme in France.

Men were being killed and then a kind of disorder set in.

It seemed more like a riot that a battle.

The following year Winnie Carney, who was one of the founders

of the women's IRA, Cummann na mBan, was released from

George McBride survived the French battlefields.

He was a German prisoner of war and when the fighting

He became a member of the Labour movement,

and then, as he explains, something extraordinary happened.

Well, in the Labour Party I met a Miss Winifred Carney.

I came from the Shankill Road and she was a Roman Catholic.

And she fought in the Dublin rebellion.

I had heard the story that when they got married, George's friends own

difficulties he was marrying a Republican and some of Winifred's

friends had difficulty because she was marrying a Protestant labour

man. A picture of Winifred Carney's headstone, and we have a photo of

George McBride sitting beside her headstone in Milltown Cemetery in

Belfast. They were separated in death

because she is buried in Milltown Cemetery in Belfast

while he is in Clandeboye The anniversaries of big events this

year will prompt many people to dig into their families'

past and to this place. What can people discover here? Many

people come here looking for family history and while many sources have

gone online, a lot of material you still need to come here for, like

church records, births and marriages, the only records would be

in those of the churches which we have on microfilm, then school

records from the 19th-century own words, primary schools, records of

the workhouse, many families ended up using the poor law system, and

records of illnesses, landed estates, so there is a range of

material. We will have documentaries about the centenary this year, what

interest does that generate in people to come and find out about

family history? That has been shared by people who had a relative in the

war or who was involved in the centenary is and they wanted to look

at the wider picture and family are crowned, so there has been interest

in family history this year. Ian, thank you.

And you can find out more about Winnie, George and so many

others involved the big events in 1916 on a new BBC

Northern Ireland website - bbc.co.uk/voices16.

From the Public Records Office, back to you in the studio.

Last night's National Lottery draw went unclaimed which means

there's now a huge ?57.8 million up for grabs this Saturday.

It's gone through the roof because no-one has won the jackpot

The chances of winning the Jack what are 45 million to one, slim to say

the lead, but here last year a woman once ?13 million in the lottery.

Maybe it is a lucky garage. We didn't think we were lucky until

Mary. Since that big win, Mary spends

a lot of time Imagine how you would feel if you

want a fortune, she was shaking, we all work, we had to take into back

and make a cup of tea. Seems to have a bit

of a winning streak. Did you win some money? Three quid.

It's a start. My mates and I bought lottery

tickets every week but won a tender, and that finished me.

Whilst many of us would take the money and run and more

than likely hide, this woman's happy to spread it around anonymously.

I wouldn't tell anybody but I would do things with it, good deeds but

hopefully very anonymously. Anything can happen to you that it will never

happen, will it? I will do with on Saturday, yes, and to the Euros

tomorrow night. Your chances of winning this

weekend are improved. The money can't be rolled over any

longer and that means Well, one thing money cannot change

is the weather. Geoff is here. It will just buy you a flight to

somewhere warmer, which would not be a bad thing tonight because it is

chilly, we already have reports of black ice on some high routes, so

with good reason the Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for

snow and ice. We expect the coldest part of the night to come through

the early hours of darkness, dropping 2-3 in some rural areas.

Temperatures will recover later on as this rain moves in but with that

rain falling as sleet or snow on high ground, so it will be a chilly

start to Friday. There will be brightness later on but wintry

showers continue for a time over high ground in the early part of

Friday and as we get into the day proper, once the sun comes out there

will be more cloud around so that will restrict temperatures, some

brightness but wrap up if you are heading out because we will see

highs of five or 6 degrees, so a cold end to the week. Where we have

clear skies that will help the temperatures to drop again, another

cold night, some brain working its way up through the Arab Seacoast

into County don't in the early part of Saturday morning. We also have an

unsettled picture over the weekend, this area of low pressure, decaying

fronts and fragments of rain so a messy picture. We do not expect the

volume of rain we saw in recent days so that should let the ground dry

out, there will still be showers around across the east coast on

Saturday. There will be a cold feel to the day. Temperatures not

recovering much about four or 5 degrees, but I Sunday it will be

more of a chilly theme to the weather, four or five Celsius and

the few showers but not the volume of rain we have seen. At the start

of next week, hopefully the ground will have a chance to dry out but

those temperatures are heading down and next week seems like the coldest

week of the winter so far. Geoff, thank you, I will take you up on

that flight if your numbers come up at the weekend.

You can also keep in contact with us via Facebook and Twitter.

Welcome back to the extreme world of Irish dancing.