:00:08. > :00:14.A radical plan by Northern Ireland's most senior judge to deal
:00:15. > :00:16.with inquests into controversial Troubles-related killings
:00:17. > :00:21.The Stormont Executive failed to sign off
:00:22. > :00:26.The Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan wanted funding for a five
:00:27. > :00:31.year programme to hear the inquests, but a proposed bid for the money
:00:32. > :00:35.Our home affairs correspondent Vincent Kearney has
:00:36. > :00:48.Dozens of outstanding legacy inquests were main to be heard. --
:00:49. > :00:53.remain to be heard. They include some of the Troubles's is
:00:54. > :00:58.controversial killings with security force involvement and collusion
:00:59. > :01:03.allegations. The Lord Chief Justice announced three years ago a plan to
:01:04. > :01:07.deal with the inquests for the victims. He said all inquests would
:01:08. > :01:13.be heard in five years. Among those was the daughter of one of those
:01:14. > :01:17.killed in Barry Murphy in 1971. The Lord Chief Justice was very
:01:18. > :01:22.positive. He gave that family in that they come home. The rest of the
:01:23. > :01:26.valley firm of the families too. The plan is now on hold. The BBC has
:01:27. > :01:30.established at the Department of Justice spoke Declan Morgan about
:01:31. > :01:34.his plan and then submitted to papers on the issue to the Stormont
:01:35. > :01:38.Executive in March. The papers included a proposal to ask the
:01:39. > :01:43.Secretary of State to release more than ?10 million of funding stop the
:01:44. > :01:46.government had promised its to do with the past. But the issue was an
:01:47. > :01:50.included on the agenda for discussion at the last meeting of
:01:51. > :01:55.the Executive in March. The discussion, no agreement, no
:01:56. > :02:00.funding. Last week, the judge in charge of the coroner's cord broke
:02:01. > :02:11.the news in a letter to legal teams representing the families. Mr
:02:12. > :02:14.Justice Cockburn submitted the letter last month. He said the Lord
:02:15. > :02:24.Chief Justice is still awaiting a decision. As a result the letter
:02:25. > :02:25.said it's all clear -- unclear when Sir Declan's plan can be
:02:26. > :02:28.implemented. The Lord Chief Justice is understood to be disappointed by
:02:29. > :02:36.the Executive Mike 's failure to act on the present. This man's son was
:02:37. > :02:41.with him on the day he was killed. He is now seriously ill in hospital
:02:42. > :02:46.and this delay fears that he will now load longer see the outcome. I
:02:47. > :02:50.promised him before he died that the case would be close, and I now feel
:02:51. > :02:57.if I'm letting him down because of what I have promised him. He's not
:02:58. > :03:02.going to see what he is fighting for four Justice, for his dad. Under the
:03:03. > :03:09.sector's rules, the funding proposal needed agreement of the for deputy
:03:10. > :03:14.ministers. Several pros have told the ministers that First Minister
:03:15. > :03:18.Arlene Foster blocked its inclusion. In a statement this afternoon the
:03:19. > :03:24.DUP said that the proposal would have impacted on the proposal of the
:03:25. > :03:30.Executive to address the needs of the victims. The new executive with
:03:31. > :03:36.the addressing the issue next week after it is formed. It is said that
:03:37. > :03:39.the British Government has a responsibility to fund the legacy
:03:40. > :03:41.request, according to Sinn Fein. A 34-year-old man has pleaded
:03:42. > :03:43.guilty to the manslaughter Margaret Evans, who was known
:03:44. > :03:47.as Margo, was found dead in June 2014 at the house she shared
:03:48. > :03:49.with her son. Alun Kinney Evans had previously
:03:50. > :03:52.denied murdering her but today he changed his plea to admit
:03:53. > :03:54.manslaughter on the grounds The final televised debate
:03:55. > :04:05.of the assembly election campaign has taken place involving
:04:06. > :04:09.the five main parties. The DUP's Arlene Foster,
:04:10. > :04:13.Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, Mike Nesbitt of the UUP,
:04:14. > :04:15.Colum Eastwood of the SDLP, and the Alliance Party's
:04:16. > :04:20.David Ford all took part. They discussed a series of issues
:04:21. > :04:23.including who should be First Minister, hospital waiting
:04:24. > :04:27.lists, the past and Our political correspondent
:04:28. > :04:44.Stephen Walker watched the debate. In the BBC's Studios, politicians
:04:45. > :04:46.from the five main parties were put through their paces by audience
:04:47. > :04:50.members and presenter Noel Thompson. It was the issue of who should be
:04:51. > :04:56.First Minister that brought the first clash. Between Mike Nesbitt
:04:57. > :05:01.and Arlene Foster. What Arlene has is a five word plan, do not mention
:05:02. > :05:06.Peter Robinson. I have... I have a 1-point plan, though. The Ulster
:05:07. > :05:12.Unionist 1-point plan is make it work. Make Stormont work. That is
:05:13. > :05:15.what I'm hearing. I would like to come back on that. Busy Mike has
:05:16. > :05:24.different versions of the letters because we've sent three different
:05:25. > :05:29.letters... That is version four, and that is version three. That's talk
:05:30. > :05:33.about that. Unlike Mike Nesbitt, I remember the bad old days of
:05:34. > :05:37.pushover unionism. I remember what it was night in 1998 when we had a
:05:38. > :05:42.connection to the IRA. I remember what happened on the issues of
:05:43. > :05:45.prisoner... David Ford said the ultimate Oliver Houston the First
:05:46. > :05:49.Minister was about trying to frighten people. It is rather sad
:05:50. > :05:54.that it is now the third election in the road in the DUP's campaign has
:05:55. > :05:57.been based on the politics of fear, not looking forward, but looking
:05:58. > :06:00.back, and the first question you asked, we get this discussion,
:06:01. > :06:04.looking back to what happened in the bad old days not looking forward to
:06:05. > :06:08.the future, not looking about growing our country, building a
:06:09. > :06:12.united community, not looking to meet needs for the children to stop
:06:13. > :06:16.emigrating to stop just days who's biggest and he was not. Tension
:06:17. > :06:23.between Martin McGuinness was on display -- between him and Colin
:06:24. > :06:29.eastward. Column really doesn't know what he wants to do because on the
:06:30. > :06:34.one hand he is telling people that he is fighting this election on the
:06:35. > :06:46.basis of being a government, but on the other hand he is saying... The
:06:47. > :06:50.people will speak! With all of the challenges that we face and the
:06:51. > :06:56.reality that we had to negotiate the trees as a programme for government
:06:57. > :07:04.with the needs of government. People. David Ford. Not like the
:07:05. > :07:10.south, by the way, where they have used to go into government. The
:07:11. > :07:15.leaders also faced persons in the past and the economy. This debate is
:07:16. > :07:19.over and the election campaign now enters its final hours. Voting is on
:07:20. > :07:23.Thursday and counting begins on Friday, but it's likely to be
:07:24. > :07:27.Saturday before we start to get a glimpse of what the new assembly
:07:28. > :07:30.looks like. Stephen Walker, BBC newsline, and the leader' debate in
:07:31. > :07:31.Belfast. Two people remain in a critical
:07:32. > :07:33.condition in hospital The crash which involved three cars,
:07:34. > :07:39.happened on the Collin Road between Ballyclare and Ballymena
:07:40. > :07:44.yesterday evening. The double killer Hazel Stewart has
:07:45. > :07:47.been denied legal aid for her attempt to keep police
:07:48. > :07:51.pension benefits given to her after the death
:07:52. > :07:53.of her first husband, Stewart is serving a minimum
:07:54. > :07:57.18-year jail sentence for murdering the police officer
:07:58. > :08:01.and Lesley Howell, the wife The National Crime Agency is seeking
:08:02. > :08:06.a court order to make The fallout has continued over
:08:07. > :08:13.a tweet posted by the Sinn Fein president at the weekend
:08:14. > :08:17.in which he used the 'N' word. He apologised and said he was trying
:08:18. > :08:21.to compare the plight of US slaves to the treatment of
:08:22. > :08:25.Irish nationalists. Today the DUP leader Arlene Foster
:08:26. > :08:28.said his social media message was a massive test of leadership
:08:29. > :08:32.for Sinn Fein. Our political correspondent
:08:33. > :08:44.Enda McClafferty reports. Even by his own admission, Gerry
:08:45. > :08:50.Adams lives life on the edge when it comes to Twitter. But this latest
:08:51. > :08:53.tweet is one he went to go away. The Sinn Fein president has hoped his
:08:54. > :08:57.apology yesterday for using the N word would draw a line under the
:08:58. > :09:03.controversy, but today his political opponents upped the ante. What is
:09:04. > :09:09.does is call into question once again Gerry Adam's leadership of
:09:10. > :09:12.Sinn Fein, and Gerry Adams' fitness to be a political leader in Ireland
:09:13. > :09:17.in this day and age. In any other political artsy in the other country
:09:18. > :09:22.the world in any dramatic Arctic society, anyone trying to defend
:09:23. > :09:30.remarks like this, it is usually the end of their political career. The
:09:31. > :09:32.DUP leader Arlene Foster were those that Foster suggesting Sinn Fein
:09:33. > :09:37.needed to do more than except what was a half-hearted apology. This is
:09:38. > :09:43.a big challenge for the Sinn Fein leadership, it is a similar service
:09:44. > :09:46.to one faced by Jeremy Corbyn faced in the Labour Party with
:09:47. > :09:52.anti-Semitic behaviour in the Labour Party, and Gerry Adams needs to set
:09:53. > :09:57.up to this issue, as the Sinn Fein, and everyone is watching how they
:09:58. > :10:00.deal with it. But in response, the Sinn Fein said unlike the DUP they
:10:01. > :10:04.have been unequivocal in word and stayed in their opposition to racism
:10:05. > :10:09.and they described Arlene Foster's remarks as a cheap political swipe.
:10:10. > :10:16.Jerry's human just like the rest of us, is just an honest mistake, I
:10:17. > :10:20.think that Gerry Adams's credentials in standing up for people
:10:21. > :10:25.marginalised and discriminated in society, right across, suggests to
:10:26. > :10:32.me that on this occasion this was an aberration. It was something that no
:10:33. > :10:39.doubt Gerry regrets. The bigger concern for Sinn Fein might be the
:10:40. > :10:43.controversial treat coverage in the US stop it has been covered by some
:10:44. > :10:48.of the big news organisations. I think it will do Northern Ireland
:10:49. > :10:51.damage in America, and we look to America for inward investment, to
:10:52. > :10:58.create jobs and wealth that I want for people of northern Ireland. In
:10:59. > :11:01.explaining why he wants to draw a comparison between the plight of
:11:02. > :11:03.slaves in America and the Irish nationals here, Gerry Adams claimed
:11:04. > :11:08.he was a founding member of the civil rights movement. But not
:11:09. > :11:13.according to the commentator Brian Feeney. In 1964 he was 18, and
:11:14. > :11:16.everyone knows who the family members were. He set up the Civil
:11:17. > :11:24.Rights Association. Gerry Adams was involved in protests about housing
:11:25. > :11:26.and associations and flats and joined the association, but
:11:27. > :11:32.certainly wasn't involved in founding the Civil Rights
:11:33. > :11:38.Association. The Sinn Fein president went back on Twitter this morning,
:11:39. > :11:42.telling his 100,000 plus followers of his media engagements today.
:11:43. > :11:45.There seems to be one tweet still missing from his account, which will
:11:46. > :11:45.follow him for longer than you might like.
:11:46. > :11:50.Angie Phillips has the latest weather forecast.
:11:51. > :11:57.Hello. Good evening. After a couple of bright showery days we have a
:11:58. > :12:01.little bit of a change on the way for tomorrow, but staying mainly dry
:12:02. > :12:06.tonight, initially with some clear spells but tonight a little bit more
:12:07. > :12:09.of a breeze from the south and abysmal cloud starting to edge in.
:12:10. > :12:12.At least that means it won't be too cold, maybe around four or 5 degrees
:12:13. > :12:19.or so in the countryside. Through tomorrow it is a slightly different
:12:20. > :12:21.day. Cloudier skies very last couple of days, the breeze picking up
:12:22. > :12:24.against them and for some of us a little bit of rain in the forecast
:12:25. > :12:27.as well. In the morning, still not too bad. There will be a fair amount
:12:28. > :12:30.of cloud, but Sunrise held at this point in time, but the breeze
:12:31. > :12:35.continuing to pick up. That is ahead of a weather front pushing in to the
:12:36. > :12:37.west of Ireland and west of Scotland, becoming quite naturally
:12:38. > :12:42.in places as it does but there will be probably some persistent bursts
:12:43. > :12:44.to the north-west. Clouding over towards the north of England,
:12:45. > :12:48.north-western parts of Wales but other than that it is dry in the
:12:49. > :12:53.west of England and Wales -- rest of England and Wales. Decent averages
:12:54. > :12:58.as well, light winds, highs of ageing in the south-east. Northern
:12:59. > :13:04.Ireland, the afternoon, the rain starts to get its way in the west,
:13:05. > :13:07.mainly light, and it continues to push its way eastwards later in the
:13:08. > :13:13.day, becoming even more patchy, so part of the east may not see it at
:13:14. > :13:16.all. Even then, only a few spits in spots. Fairly most averages, 13
:13:17. > :13:20.degrees will stop things improve, the fund moves away and on Thursday
:13:21. > :13:21.and Friday we are back to dry weather, variable a crowd, and some
:13:22. > :13:25.brightness around as well. Our next BBC Newsline
:13:26. > :13:30.is at 6:25am in the morning You can also keep updated
:13:31. > :13:31.with News Online.