11/01/2016 BBC Newsline

The new First Minister has said she will do all she can to change

the political culture but Arlene Foster has warned

that it can only be done by working together.

Mrs Foster is the first woman and the youngest person

Peter Robinson confirmed his resignation to the Assembly this

Our political correspondent Chris Page has more.

Striding downstairs to go up to the highest office.

The new DUP leader was about to become First Minister.

Arlene Foster was asked probably the easiest question she has ever

Are you willing to take the office of First Minister?

It sounded rather technical but it officially marked her start

There was a time she wouldn't have believed it.

As a young girl growing up in rural Fermanagh,

in the days when we were plagued by terrorism and decisions

affecting our fear and future were taken far away,

I could not have dreamt that I would be in this

Is it any wonder that in politics, I believe nothing

Watching her at the pinnacle of her career was her

The DUP leader's late father was shot and injured by the IRA

The Deputy First Minister acknowledged the hurt

Mrs Foster's family has been caused and said he would work

positively with his new partner in government.

I pledge a positive spirit, a constructive spirit and a good

heart in working with Arlene as First Minister through these

In politics, every entrance means an exit and Peter Robinson's last

duty is First Minister was to nominate his

I hereby resign the offic of First Minister with

confidence that the political institutions we have together

created will be here for generations to come.

The Ulster Unionist leader noted the DUP's

unprecedented little success under Mr Robinson.

I am sure at least privately, a part of the drop in some will join

with me in hoping that history reflects that that was the peak

Arlene Foster surely has other ideas.

Good wishes and wishful thinking! After the laughter, the long haul

will begin. It's been a day of political

choreography, of carefully crafted speeches and generally warm,

witty words but now that the new First Minister has been formally

installed in office, attention will turn more

and more to the assembly elections which are due to take

place in under four months. Arlene Foster grew up

and still lives in County Fermanagh. BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson went

to her old school to see what young people there think of her

as the new First Minister. It's not everyday a former pupil

becomes First Minister. These sixth formers were not even

born when a young Arlene Kelly, as she was then, left

Enniskillen Collegiate in 1989. She was a prefect,

she was on the hockey team but unlike now, she was

seen but seldom heard. I remember her as

a very quiet pupil. She has obviously made

up for it since then! Little did I think all those years

ago that I had a future leader of the DUP sitting

in front of me and obviously now today,

our new First Minister. These pupils watched and listened

as she took the top job. I can see the values

of our school coming through, that our school reinforces

that it doesn't matter that you are a woman

and you can achieve anything. No matter what you believe

in Northern Ireland, you can see from Arlene that she has

risen through the ranks. She is from our background

and has been able to get her way through

a stereotypical man's world. It shows that no matter

what stereotype with women and careers, it

doesn't matter because with hard work and determination

you can get to the highest level. The fact that she is from rural

Fermanagh and she is from our school and our community,

it is nice for us. Would you consider going

into politics yourself? What is the view of Arlene Foster

in the wider community? Can she as First Minister

represent everyone? If she is the leader of our country,

she will have to remember that I think she can and I think

she has a lot of respect She has worked to gain

a respect so yes I would I think it's brilliant,

a breath of fresh air. She did very well

when she was at school. Her final report said

she accepted hard work was needed to progress, is reliable

and assumes responsibility. BBC Newsline's Tara Mills

spoke to the DUP leader, now First Minister,

Arlene Foster this afternoon and asked her if she was concerned

that there's only a short period of time before

the Assembly election. Despite the fact I have just

become First Minister, I have been a minister

for a considerable record and what I need

to do now is to move ahead and give hope to everybody

in Northern Ireland, that the vision of Northern Ireland

I have is a positive one and one When the elections do come,

what is your vision When it comes to 1916,

the Taoiseach has said today you will not attend

the commemorative events. You talked about wanting people

to be proud of being from Northern Ireland, do you think

you are wrong in this? Not at all because the Easter

Rebellion in 1916 was a violent attack against the State

towards the place where The government of the

Republic of Ireland have only moved recently to become

involved in the commemoration To be honest, I think people

in Northern Ireland are more concerned with what

is happening in 2016. They want us to get on with the job

of work and not become embroiled in relation

to historical events. History is very interesting

and I love it, I am an amateur student of history but I want

to focus on the future You've been described by your

colleagues as compassionate and caring, would you bring those views

to the laws around abortion and same-sex marriage. I hope that

people will take me as in open person. I will not be discriminated

against anybody in terms of who they are all the background is another

something I communicate it today when I spoke in the house. It

doesn't take away from the fact that I believe and additional marriage

between a man and a woman but that doesn't mean I denigrate those who

decide they want to celebrate the, sexuality in civil partnerships.

That is a matter for them and I am not going to be involved in judging

anybody but the way they live their lives. The vote is getting closer

and closer, would you give your party a free vote on it? That is

something we will discuss the future. I know when Peter was asked

that, he said he would consider it. Even if there were a free vote, I

know that all of my colleagues believe the definition of additional

marriage and therefore it is semantics to talk about a free vote

because I am sure we would get the same result. There's talk now of a

European referendum. Sammy Wilson has laid out where his views are.

What is your position? We are as a party are Euro-sceptic. I was at an

event recently where Charles Flanagan, the public about and's

Foreign Minister, set out what he believes the best way forward in

regards to Europe and I said out my vision. There are still questions to

be answered regarding Europe and we do await the outcome of the prime

ministers negotiations and then we will make a final call. I think it's

right to say that Europe has had an overbearing impact in relation to

the United Kingdom. Will she as the new First Minister

inspire more women to get involved That's under discussion tomorrow

on Good Morning Ulster. That's on Radio Ulster

starting at 6:30. A murder inquiry has begun

into the death of a man The 28-year-old man

died in hospital today. It was outside this bar

into an bridge that James McDonagh was attacked in the early hours

of yesterday morning. He suffered a head injury and was

taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast in a critical

condition but never The 28-year-old from Castledawson

died this afternoon. Three men aged 54, 24 and 20,

who were arrested in the Toomebridge area last night, are still being

questioned by detectives. Police are appealing

for anyone who witnessed the assault around 2am

on Sunday to contact them. Work will start later this year

on a major improvement of the A6 - the main road between

Belfast and Londonderry. The Transport Minister Michelle

McIlveen has announced that work will begin this year on making

the section between Randalstown and Castledawson into

a dual carriageway. The news has been

welcomed by motorists. It is badly needed. That road is a

disaster. You have the end 22 and after that, nothing. It is a big

problem. Any time I have gone on it, it is a bottleneck. The money is

well spent and it should have been spent years ago.

Stormont ministers have agreed to spend the full ?1.3 million

of additional funding for flooding on preventative measures

30 properties were affected in the recent floods that affected

The three departments dealing with the recent flooding briefed

the Executive today and have been asked to bring detailed proposals

to the next Executive meeting later this month.

The weather is next. It is certainly the coldest week of

winter so far and it has allowed us to get some snowy pictures. This was

the more mountains over the weekend. Tonight we will continue to see a

scattering of showers along with the north-westerly wind and as

temperatures fall quite low, some of those showers will fall as sleet and

snow. Some areas may see a wintry mix. Quite a chilly start tomorrow

and will stay cold through the day. A scattering of showers will

continue along with the north-westerly wind and for the

north coast, feeling quite cold but it will break up through the day and

will improve but some heavy showers first thing across parts of Antrim

and down are likely. Some southern areas across Ireland and the south

of England not bad to begin with but as we make our way through the day,

the scattered showers pushing their way south and east. A mixture of

sunshine and showers further north but across Ireland, temperatures up

to five or 6 degrees but when you factor in the winds, it will feel

colder than that. We are looking at highs of six or maybe 7 degrees. It

is normal for the time of year. Most of the showers tomorrow evening die

away and it will be a cold night. Many areas will fall to freezing and

below so a chilly start of Wednesday. Through the day,

temperatures barely struggling at three or 4 degrees. Some of the wet

weather following as sleet or store. It will stay mixed until the end of

the week. Our next BBC Newsline

is at 6:25 in the morning So, no-one pays tax here?

No-one pays taxes.