26/02/2016 BBC Newsline

The prominent republican Thomas "Slab" Murphy has been

sentenced to 18 months in prison in the Republic for tax evasion.

The 66-year-old from Hackballscross in County Louth is alleged to be one

of the most influential figures within the IRA.

He denied the nine charges against him.

Our Dublin correspondent Shane Harrison reports.

He walked into court this morning but he would later leave in a prison

van. He evaded tax on his cattle dealings between 1996 and 2004, even

though we received state grants. -- he received.

When officers from the Criminal Assets Bureau raided

his family's farm, right on the border, in 2006,

hidden in black plastic bags covered by hay.

Over 250,000 euros, over ?110,000 and

cheques and drafts totalling over 670,000 euros.

A detective had previously told the court the bureau

estimated Murphy's tax bill to be over 5.3 million euros,

with the farming income on which he was tried coming

to nearly ?190,000 when interest and penalties are taken into account.

-- 190,000 euros. The court said it took into account

a number of factors, including his age and lack of premieres

convictions but the three judges also noted there had been a lot of

media coverage about his alleged past, which they said would have

prejudiced a jury. That, I said, was not a matter for them and so was not

taken into account. Shortly after his sentencing,

a statement was issued on Murphy's behalf in which he

maintained his innocence and said he would

appeal the verdict. The Criminal Assets Bureau has

decribed the conviction as a good outcome that was not in

any way politically motivated. The bureau has established

independently, it conducted business in a particular way, to remit is

very clear. Never is there any political consideration in terms of

what cases are taken on or what investigations are pursued.

A loyalist and a victims' campaigner who was in court said

he and his supporters were over the moon

This man can put his hand up in Northern Ireland to all that he had

taken part in under the Good Friday Agreement, he would not got as long

as what he has got today. Now perhaps we can move on, because the

South of Ireland is no longer a safe haven for terrorism.

Thomas "Slab" Murphy is tonight beginning a sentence behind bars.

Not the first man with a reputation to be

Shane Harrison, BBC Newsline, Dublin.

Sinn Fein's John O'Dowd is to stand down as Education Minister

Mr O'Dowd has been in the role since 2011.

He has been an Assembly member for Upper Bann since 2003 and says

he will run for re-election as an MLA.

He says he fully supports his party's policy of

Polls closed in the Republic's General Election at ten o'clock.

The election count is expected to last over the weekend.

Our political editor Mark Devenport joins me now from Dublin.

I am at the Dublin counting centre where we are waiting for the ballot

boxes to arrive. As an educated guess at what kind of secrets they

might yield, I'm joined by Professor Gary Murphy of Dublin city

University. It looks like Fine Gael will still be the biggest party but

not of the same can size that they have had so far. Yes, at the

beginning of this campaign it was assumed that Fine Gael would get

close to 70 seats. Putting together a Government pretty quickly but they

have had a disastrous campaign and we now expect them to get some in

the mid-50s. That is a long way of forming a government with either

their coalition partners or whatever other parties. So we are in a fluid

situation, a very volatile situation, anything could happen

tomorrow, the polls have been all over the place, during a downward

trend for Fine Gael, an upward trend for Sinn Fein and lots going to

independents and small parties so interesting times tomorrow. You

mentioned Sinn Fein, how do you think they might feature? They are

expecting to make significant advances. All the polls suggest they

could get into the high 20s and a doubling of their seats and the

percentage from nine in the last election, I think they will be

disappointed. Even at 30, they could get to 30 seats and they would be in

a strong position to be the Stalinist party in opposition foster

maybe that is what they would prefer once all the votes are counted. --

the strongest party. The big parties have been reluctant to go into

coalition with them. Indeed Sinn Fein ruled it out at the recent Ard

Fheis. I think this is one of the troubles we have here, in the

Republic at the moment, it is difficult to see how a government

will be formed when Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have ruled out working

with each other. It is the big question in Irish politics. I think

the government will be very difficult to form. Professor Murphy,

I give very much and we will have some of those answers over the

course of the weekend. -- thank you very much.

A nine-year-old boy witnessed last night's murder in South Belfast.

He was in the house at Walmer Street when a gang forced their way in.

The police believe the killing of 28-year-old Stephen Carson

It was a quiet family meal that ended in murder.

Stephen Carson was at home with his son and partner

when a gang of men carrying hammers and a shotgun forced their way in.

As he ran to the bathroom, he was shot through the door,

in the head, in front of the terrified nine-year-old boy.

Police say his family have been left traumatised.

They believe he was killed as part of a criminal feud.

He had previously been involved in drugs and other criminal activity

and had a conviction for robbery. They are also investigating

a possible link to the murder The pizza delivery driver was shot

dead on Kennedy Way in 2013. Stephen Carson had only recently

moved to Walmer Street. But today, the community

there was shocked to wake up to a murder investigation

on their doorstep. It is disgusting. We had just moved

into the area. For that to happen to the family. It is disgraceful.

Earlier today, a house in Sunnyside Street,

just yards from the murder scene, was raided by armed police.

No arrests were made, and the PSNI say their investigations continue.

Police say Mr Carson was known to them and

Setting up home here in South Belfast, they say,

he had been trying to get his life together.

A life that has now come to a violent end.

A bullet found in the exhumed body of a man killed in shootings

in Ballymurphy in 1971 was not sent for forensic examination

The tests confirmed that it was fired from a military-issue weapon.

Joseph Murphy's family has criticised the delay.

We are waiting to bury my dad. We can't do that until everything has

been done. And I just come I would like to know why or who was

responsible, why they sat on this bullet for over three months before

even handing it over to be tested. The Belfast Giants had beaten the

Nottingham Panthers 5-1 away tonight.

Now finally, on to the weekend weather forecast,

This weekend is the last weekend of the winter season. Spring starts on

the 1st of March, at least in meteorological terms. It will be

cold this weekend but brighter. Winter sunshine but also some frost,

particularly on Saturday night. Some pockets of frost tonight, it will

end up largely dry with a few gaps in the cloud. Temperatures will drop

slightly below freezing in a fuse box. There are maybe a touch of

frost first thing on Saturday. But brighter day compared with today. In

most places, most of the showers tomorrow will be to the server boss.

Even here there will be moving away. Drying up down South. 12 showers

towards the East coast doing that. Otherwise a fine day. There could be

the odd shower across Northern Ireland tomorrow but the bulk of

places will stay dry. Temperatures around six or seven Celsius. Cold on

Saturday night, some sharp frost on Sunday morning. Lots of winter

sunshine, the rain is back on Monday, the last day of February.

Then march comes in with temperatures in double figures. Have

a great weekend. Our next BBC Newsline is at

six o'clock tomorrow evening. In the meantime, you can keep

updated with News Online. From all of us here

on the programme, goodnight