Browse content similar to 19/05/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight's top story - major developments at Stormont | :00:00. | :00:16. | |
as the SDLP say they will not be joining the Executive | :00:17. | :00:22. | |
and the Alliance say their key demands have been rejected. | :00:23. | :00:29. | |
The SDLP is tonight announcing that we will go into opposition to form a | :00:30. | :00:37. | |
constructive opposition to the main party Executive. I'm not in a | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
position to make a recommendation to the Alliance Party cancel this | :00:42. | :00:43. | |
evening that we should nominate a Justice Minister. | :00:44. | :00:45. | |
We'll be bringing you all the latest news and analysis. | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
Why elderly residents may have to move 30 miles | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
because of the closure of a church-run care home. | :00:53. | :00:59. | |
I would be sorry if I was pushed away somewhere else. | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
An arson attack on a Baptist church in County Down - | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
the pastor says the community is stunned by the incident. | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
How fears over security in France have halted a cross-community school | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
A solid round at the K Club leaves tournament host Rory McIlroy | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
very well placed after day one of the Irish Open. | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
And the changing weather theme continues - | :01:23. | :01:24. | |
I'll be back with the latest forecast. | :01:25. | :01:35. | |
Stormont politics has been reshaped today as a second major party | :01:36. | :01:37. | |
announced they would not be taking their seat at | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
The SDLP expressed disappointment at the planned programme | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
for government, but the First and Deputy First Ministers accused | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
the party of slavishly following the Ulster Unionists to opposition. | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
Then Alliance confirmed they aren't willing to take the Justice Ministry | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
after their demands for reform were rejected. | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
So could the DUP and Sinn Fein govern on their own? | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
Or might the Secretary of State be forced to call a fresh election? | :02:06. | :02:08. | |
Our Political Editor Mark Devenport is at Stormont. | :02:09. | :02:15. | |
Quite the dramatic afternoon. Absolutely, it has had me scurrying | :02:16. | :02:24. | |
around some of the reference books in the Assembly line library to try | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
and find a precedent. We have the clock ticking down towards | :02:29. | :02:31. | |
Wednesday, which is the last day we have to have a raft of ministers | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
appointed, if we are not going to have the Secretary of State calling | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
a fresh election. It has been clear for some time that the SDLP was as | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
unhappy as the Ulster Unionist Party becoming junior partners in the | :02:46. | :02:52. | |
power-sharing Executive but we have had deep unhappiness from the | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
Alliance, who have put forward petitions are concerned about | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
aspects of the Stormont system but seemed to get it all thrown back in | :03:00. | :03:03. | |
their face, so we are looking at the real prospect of a 2-party | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
coalition, even though it isn't entirely clear how the DUP and Sinn | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
Fein will solve the problems surrounding the sensitive Justice | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
portfolio. And the MacLaverty reports on a day which has included | :03:17. | :03:18. | |
some unexpected twists and turns. It has been a high back or delete | :03:19. | :03:27. | |
later day of high drama at Stormont. The SDLP is announcing that we will | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
go into opposition to conform a constructive opposition to the | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
Executive. The SDLP's decision to quit the Executive came after a day | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
of hard talking at Stormont Castle. It had been clear over the last | :03:45. | :03:47. | |
number of days that the party was getting ready to turn its back on | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
government. That decision was rubber-stamped after a meeting with | :03:54. | :03:55. | |
the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister. We are very | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
disappointed with the approach that has been adopted. We have tried time | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
and again and have met as many departments and departmental | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
officials as we possibly can. But that wasn't the only surprise as the | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
first and Deputy First Minister tried to find a new Justice | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
Minister. And the first candidate through the door was the Green party | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
leader Stephen Agnew. We were invited to put forward our views on | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
what we would like to see in a future programme if we were to | :04:26. | :04:27. | |
consider taking up the Justice Ministry. Next up was the | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
Independent Unionist MLA Claire Sugden. She stepped out without | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
giving too much away. Then it was the turn of the Alliance delegation, | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
led by former justice Minister David Forde. But they were in and out in | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
less than ten minutes. But there was no sign of panic among those they | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
left behind in the room. We are in control, we know exactly what we are | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
doing, and we are very confident that come next Wednesday, the hunt | :04:56. | :05:02. | |
will be run in the Assembly. Ministers will be appointed and the | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
Executive will meet on Thursday. We are very clear that we both campaign | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
to be in government, and others didn't campaign in such a clear way | :05:12. | :05:14. | |
and we are seeing the fallout over that over the past few days. We are | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
clear that we are going to be in government, there will be an | :05:20. | :05:22. | |
Executive in place by the end of next Wednesday and we are also very | :05:23. | :05:24. | |
clear that it will meet next Thursday. Arlene Foster and Martin | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
McGuinness may be clear on what they expect to happen next, but they may | :05:31. | :05:33. | |
have to plan for an Executive without the Alliance Party. | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
Following the exchange of papers and in particular a brief meeting which | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
we had with the First Minister and deputy First Minister this | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
afternoon, I am not in a position to make a recommendation to the | :05:48. | :05:49. | |
Alliance Party cancel this evening that we should nominate a Justice | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
Minister. Martin McGuinness and Arlene Foster are no closer this | :05:55. | :05:57. | |
evening to finding a Justice Minister, but they do know who else | :05:58. | :06:00. | |
will be joining them around the Executive table. | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
Well, the SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, who made that | :06:04. | :06:05. | |
announcement within the last hour, joins me now from Stormont. | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
Mr Eastwood, what was the deal-breaker, why couldn't you go | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
into government? Well, it is very clear that this is a very important | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
day for the SDLP, but equally, it is a very important paper this process | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
and our politics. We know what a big decision this was because | :06:27. | :06:29. | |
nationalism, for decades, spent all that time in opposition, but we | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
can't go into a government that continues with the old ways when we | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
have such a new mandate, new ideas, new policies and new politics. We | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
wanted to seek a programme for government, as we said throughout | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
the election, that would reach those people left behind, reach those | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
areas left behind and deal with all of the systemic problems we have in | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
our economy. What were you looking for specifically that you didn't | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
get? Well, we wanted to see investment in infrastructure, | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
investment in higher education, investment in apprenticeships, in | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
education, but also an attempt by this government to do things | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
differently. It is absolutely clear that the DUP and Sinn Fein have no | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
intention to do things differently, they don't want to put a programme | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
of government to the people that will have actions, that will have | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
implementation and thinks they can be held accountable to. We have no | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
interest in putting out a programme for government that talks about a | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
healthier society, more jobs, blue sky and greener grass, we want to | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
see action. People told us very clearly, all of us, that they want | :07:38. | :07:40. | |
to see change. We were proposing change and no one wanted to | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
negotiate back. Is this not a case of the UUP putting you on the back | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
foot and forcing your hand? No, the SDLP has a mandate from our own | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
electorate. We told the electorate, we told the media, we would go in | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
and negotiate hard for a programme for government and it is now very | :08:01. | :08:02. | |
clear that we cannot achieve that. You only negotiated for a week, Mr | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
Eastwood. The DUP and Sinn Fein today told us it was their process | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
or no process. We are not signing up to a process that does not involve | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
actions and interventions to economy and society that will turn this | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
place around. We need to see a new type of politics. We have a new | :08:22. | :08:24. | |
mandate with new people and new ideas and we are not prepared to be | :08:25. | :08:27. | |
sucked into the old ways of doing business. That is clear that is what | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
is going to happen. The DUP and Sinn Fein are offering the Justice | :08:33. | :08:39. | |
Ministry to everyone they can find. We want to see different politics | :08:40. | :08:41. | |
that ends the failure of the last nine years. Is this what your | :08:42. | :08:44. | |
supporters wanted, to have all of the power go to the DUP and Sinn | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
Fein? No, they wanted us to stand up and fight for them, to make a change | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
of the type of politics we have seen here for far too long. That is why | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
we went into this negotiation, we met with the head of the civil | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
service a number of times, almost every department we could meet with, | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
we put in papers, I don't see any other party doing that, to bring | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
about a programming government with actions and implementations and | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
thinks we can be held at count -- to account for. The DUP and Sinn Fein | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
did not want to do that. We will former constructive, positive | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
opposition. Just briefly, what does that mean, a constructive opposition | :09:24. | :09:30. | |
mean? It means we won't oppose things for opposition's sake, we | :09:31. | :09:33. | |
will put forward ideas and plans on some of those ideas will be based | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
around how we make this Assembly work better because I think people | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
have lost confidence in this Assembly. We want to see it more | :09:41. | :09:43. | |
accountable, holding the Executive to account. That is what we will do, | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
support the good things the Executive does but hold them to | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
account when it does wrong and put forward positive ideas to change | :09:52. | :09:54. | |
society because I think that is what people want to see happen. Thank you | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
for joining us. And we will hear from Mark Davenport again before the | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
end of the programme. Still to come... | :10:04. | :10:06. | |
Nearly half of the people claiming unemployment benefits have been | :10:07. | :10:09. | |
without a job for a year or more, but there are signs that things are | :10:10. | :10:10. | |
looking up. Join me in Newton Abbey. Elderly residents at a Londonderry | :10:11. | :10:20. | |
care home have called on the Presbyterian Church not | :10:21. | :10:22. | |
to shut it down. The church wants to close it, | :10:23. | :10:24. | |
along with another home in Portrush. They say both places were built | :10:25. | :10:27. | |
in the 19th century and can't be updated, so they want to move almost | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
40 residents More than 60 staff are | :10:31. | :10:32. | |
affected by the proposal. Here's our north-west | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
reporter, Keiron Tourish. Ard Cluan on Limavady Road has been | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
operating since 1971 and, over that time, residents say it has | :10:42. | :10:44. | |
been like a home from home. But the 13 elderly people who live | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
there may be forced to move to a different home | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
almost 30 miles away. The Presbyterian Church has proposed | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
to close this facility and another home in Portrush, | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
which has 26 residents, and transfer everyone | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
to a refurbished 50-bedroom I'd be very disappointed if we had | :11:02. | :11:18. | |
to leave and go away so far. I didn't realise what they were | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
talking about. They were crying. I said, "What are you crying for?" I | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
thought something had happened to them. But I realise now. You | :11:27. | :11:37. | |
couldn't get any better anywhere. You can put that into smart words, | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
if you like, but the staff are all lovely. And caring. You know, they | :11:44. | :11:52. | |
are not ordinarily, they are caring staff. Our home in Londonderry and | :11:53. | :12:00. | |
at home import rush are fast becoming untenable. For many years, | :12:01. | :12:10. | |
they were first-class facilities but now we need to move to first-class | :12:11. | :12:17. | |
facilities and the Garver home gives us that opportunity. I know there | :12:18. | :12:29. | |
are only 30 miles separating them, but they are not 30 easy miles and | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
in the winter, it will be difficult journeys for staff and relatives, so | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
I am observing the impact it will have, it is heart-wrenching. | :12:39. | :12:40. | |
Politicians and the trade unions have called for urgent meetings | :12:41. | :12:43. | |
with the Presbyterian Church to try and get this decision reversed. | :12:44. | :12:46. | |
They say any possible closure and relocation would cause massive | :12:47. | :12:49. | |
A church in County Down says its congregation will have | :12:50. | :12:58. | |
to meet elsewhere after an arson attack on its building. | :12:59. | :13:00. | |
against Rathfriland Baptist Church last night. | :13:01. | :13:07. | |
The church's pastor says the attack has stunned the local community | :13:08. | :13:10. | |
and it will be weeks before they able to hold services | :13:11. | :13:13. | |
The clear up work at this church will take weeks, but it could have | :13:14. | :13:26. | |
been much worse, had a passer-by not noticed this fire last night and | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
alerted the emergency services. These tyres were already in the | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
church grounds and shortly after 11 o'clock last night, they were moved | :13:37. | :13:39. | |
against the side of the building and set on fire. The church says the | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
damage caused means the building won't be able to used -- be used for | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
several weeks. The pastor says there is good community relations here and | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
there has been very little anti-social behaviour in the past. | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
It is a very peaceful community here, a lovely place to live, a | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
great town and like I say, it is not something we expected at all. It is | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
totally out of character and out of keeping in the area. It is an attack | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
on the Lord and an attack on the Gospel. We are just here to preach | :14:11. | :14:13. | |
the gospel and we will continue to do that in spite of the fire. It has | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
taken the whole community by surprise, we are all shocked, but | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
community will rally around the church, I popped in to see the | :14:23. | :14:25. | |
pastor to show solidarity and I think that will happens in the weeks | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
ahead. Despite the quick response from the fire service, church | :14:30. | :14:32. | |
leaders say significant damage has been caused to this place of | :14:33. | :14:35. | |
worship. A meeting due to take place here today was held in a | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
neighbouring church and Sunday services are likely to be held at | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
the local high school until the repair work is completed. Meanwhile, | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
this morning, it was reported to police that Windows and an internal | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
door have been damaged in an attack on Enniskillen Baptist Church. | :14:53. | :14:55. | |
Police are appealing for information about both incidents. | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
The majority of the 870 staff losing their jobs at the JTI | :15:01. | :15:02. | |
in Ballymena are walking out through the factory gates | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
If they are looking for another job, they will join almost | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
There are signs, though, that the fate of people | :15:10. | :15:12. | |
who are long-term unemployed may be improving. | :15:13. | :15:14. | |
Donna Traynor was at Mallusk in Newtownabbey today to find out more. | :15:15. | :15:24. | |
Long-term unemployment means people have been out of work for a year or | :15:25. | :15:33. | |
more and that represents about 47% of the jobless total, although over | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
the past year, there has been an improvement in that figure of 15%. | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
Here at this facility in Newtownabbey, they train people in | :15:42. | :15:44. | |
forklift truck driving and also manual handling in factories. One of | :15:45. | :15:50. | |
those who benefited is John Ellis, who has got a job just yesterday, | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
congratulations. What were your circumstances? I was out of work on | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
and off for over a couple of years and it was difficult to find work, | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
because having to go back and almost retrain and start from scratch | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
again, from previous careers I had, it was just impossible, the jobs | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
went out there. So I found myself having to start again and | :16:13. | :16:19. | |
thankfully, people gave me support and encouragement and made me feel | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
like a human being again. What was the significant change that made | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
things work for you? I think it was just being given that confidence by | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
the organisation, given that self belief. It is a very difficult thing | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
when you are out of work, you can get out of it very easily and it is | :16:38. | :16:43. | |
hard and you wonder where you start, in today's world it is very | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
difficult to find out what you are good at, if you can't get the work | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
in what you have been good at before. Thank you, John. Operations | :16:52. | :16:58. | |
director here at People Plus is Andy O'Driscoll. What other sorts of | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
people that your people help out with reskilling? We have a variety | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
of people who come through the door and working partnerships across | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
Northern Ireland. John is a great example of one of the customers who | :17:13. | :17:15. | |
has come through from working in a different industry in the past. This | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
week, many of the JTI workers in Ballymena will leave for the last | :17:21. | :17:26. | |
time, the gates of the factory. Many well paid, highly skilled in that | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
industry. What sort of expectations should they have if they are seeking | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
a new job? The expectations, there are jobs out there, highly skilled | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
jobs. We monitor the labour market information throughout Northern | :17:43. | :17:44. | |
Ireland, so we know the industries that are up and coming and the | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
industries within that area. We would work with those customers who | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
have unfortunately been made redundant and highlight to them | :17:53. | :17:55. | |
those industries that are recruiting at this moment in time. We tailor | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
our academies to make sure they are linked into those industries that | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
are in those regions and we would work with those customers to try and | :18:06. | :18:08. | |
Rhys Gill them and retrain them. So there is always hope, many jobs out | :18:09. | :18:18. | |
there, so it is about the retraining and learning skills. In the run-up | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
to the Assembly election, but the DUP and Sinn Fein pledged they would | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
create 50,000 new jobs. The specifics weren't very clear, but | :18:28. | :18:30. | |
people who are training here and elsewhere will be hoping that that | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
pledge comes to fruition. If you would like to share your experience | :18:35. | :18:38. | |
of unemployment, check out our Facebook page. | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
The European Championships are less than a month away and thousands | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
of football fans here will be making the journey to France - | :18:45. | :18:46. | |
but that won't include over 50 pupils and staff from two | :18:47. | :18:49. | |
They've cancelled a planned trip to see games in Paris | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
because of concerns over security, as our Education Correspondent | :18:56. | :18:57. | |
France's set to host one of the biggest events in football. Northern | :18:58. | :19:10. | |
Ireland and the Republic will be there, but these are year ten fans | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
from St Mary's Grammar school in Gera felt will not be joining them. | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
We had 50 pupils signing up between ourselves and the local high schools | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
does go to the Euro 2016 Championships, five members of | :19:27. | :19:29. | |
staff, and we were hoping to go for the full week, take in a couple of | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
games around Paris. The trip had been planned for over a year and | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
recent attacks in Paris and Brussels led to the decision to cancel, but | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
was that an overreaction? We consulted widely with parents and | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
staff and governors and, in fact, when we decided to make the decision | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
to pull the trip, we wrote to them, we consulted with them and they were | :19:51. | :19:53. | |
more than happy and they felt we made the right decision. Many of us | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
have lived through the troubles in Northern Ireland, many would say | :19:59. | :20:01. | |
suck it up and get on with it but when you are talking about young | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
people and you are responsible for their well-being, you have to make | :20:05. | :20:07. | |
these tough decisions. No pupils ended up out of pocket, because the | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
schools cover the cost of cancelling, which ran into | :20:14. | :20:15. | |
thousands, but watching the euros from home will still be tough. I'm | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
still quite upset about it, I was looking forward to it. Safety is the | :20:21. | :20:24. | |
number-1 thing they couldn't guarantee it, I completely | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
understand. There is a state of emergency in France at the moment | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
and security will be tight throughout the tournament. Schools | :20:32. | :20:34. | |
here in Magherafelt have jointly taken schools to the Olympic Games | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
and Rugby World Cup in the past but after cancelling this, they say | :20:40. | :20:42. | |
future plans to big sporting events on hold. | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
-- are on hold. Goal and the host has made a positive start at the | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
Irish Open -- goal. Rory McIlory has never won his home event and has | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
missed the cut in the last three years but an opening-round 60 75 | :21:00. | :21:02. | |
under par leaves him in second place as he chases a first tournament win | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
of the season. From the K Club, Stephen Watson reports. | :21:09. | :21:10. | |
Rory McIlory has struggled at the Irish Open in recent times, he | :21:11. | :21:17. | |
missed the cut at Royal County Down last year and before that in Dublin | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
and Cork, but today, the tournament host produced one of his best Irish | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
Open displays. He found his touch on the K Club greens as well. And | :21:26. | :21:32. | |
brilliant shots like this helped McIlroy to three birdies in the | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
opening nine holes. And more followed on the back nine. It has | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
been an excellent nine holes for Rory. This plot at the 13th gave him | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
a share of the lead. And alongside him at that point at the top of the | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
leaderboard, the Masters champion Danny Willett from England. Danny | :21:51. | :21:57. | |
Willett goes to minus five. Graeme McDowell struggled early on, | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
dropping shots to go 2-over par, but soon bounced back with a birdie at | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
the 7th and an eagle at the 10th to move himself up the leaderboard. | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
Coming over the water and he gets the top spin lovely, just what he | :22:11. | :22:13. | |
needs. Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke had three front line birdies | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
on a course which holds fond memories for him. Shane Lowry, who | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
won this tournament as an amateur seven years ago, started with a | :22:22. | :22:28. | |
round of 1-under par. While Paul Dunne also impressed, playing in his | :22:29. | :22:30. | |
first Irish Open as a professional. If you were caught up | :22:31. | :22:39. | |
in the gridlock on the M1 coming into Belfast this morning, | :22:40. | :22:42. | |
you'll be pleased to know Three cows brought the city-bound | :22:43. | :22:44. | |
lane to a standstill. But as BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson | :22:45. | :22:47. | |
reports, the police quickly arrived on the scene and managed | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
to moo-ve them. Cars in one lane, cows in the other, | :22:51. | :22:58. | |
on one of the busiest roads into Belfast. And it could hardly have | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
happened at a worse time. Around half past seven this morning. This | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
is how BBC radio Ulster reported the traffic problems. | :23:08. | :23:08. | |
We had three cows walking into Belfast in the fast | :23:09. | :23:16. | |
Traffic is peeled back to junction eight. | :23:17. | :23:19. | |
It will take a while to get them off the M1. | :23:20. | :23:21. | |
It certainly did but by 8am, there was better news | :23:22. | :23:24. | |
The three cows were moved into a field near a service | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
The tailbacks heading into Belfast are still | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
It is not the first time that cows have escaped onto the | :23:32. | :23:38. | |
M1 and it probably will not be the last. | :23:39. | :23:40. | |
The big problem this morning was that it happened at rush hour. | :23:41. | :23:47. | |
And look where it happened. Only a few miles from Belfast city centre. | :23:48. | :23:54. | |
The police were quickly on the scene | :23:55. | :23:56. | |
and successfully managed to clear the road without any injury | :23:57. | :23:58. | |
The cows were secured into a field, we found a field that we were able | :23:59. | :24:07. | |
to herd them off into and secure them, so we are appealing to farmers | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
in all contexts, not just farmers whose lands are above the motorway, | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
but all roads, to check their fencing and make sure it is secure. | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
Injuries and damage were avoided this morning because the police were | :24:21. | :24:23. | |
in the right place at the right time Allsop unlike cows. -- unlike the | :24:24. | :24:28. | |
cows. Add to the top story, and the SDLP | :24:29. | :24:35. | |
announcing they will not take their seat at the Executive table. Mark | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
Devonport, the Alliance's ruling Executive meets tonight but it is | :24:42. | :24:45. | |
very clear they are not taking justice. Yes, we thought they might | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
have a crunch decision at the Alliance ruling council, that will | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
take place in an east Belfast hotel, but really there might be no | :24:55. | :24:57. | |
decision to make because the leaders have decided that what is on offer | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
from DUP and Sinn Fein in relation to issues like the petition of | :25:03. | :25:05. | |
concern to Stormont is not enough, so I am expecting the same kind of | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
holding pattern. I think Alliance, unlike the SDLP, is keeping a bit of | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
chink of light open in the door. It is still thinking that if DUP and | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
Sinn Fein comeback to them and re-engage with the party on its | :25:21. | :25:23. | |
concerns, it could consider the justice portfolio but on this basis, | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
tonight, we are not expecting that decision. And, mark, how would the | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
opposition were? We don't know yet, we are in uncharted territory. | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
Someone pointed out it is 18 years to the exact day that John Hume and | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
David Trimble stood together at the theatre on the waterfront Hall | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
selling the Good Friday agreement. I don't expect a a similar situation. | :25:48. | :25:55. | |
They may work together on issues but otherwise plough their own | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
particular furrows. Mark, we will leave it there, thanks very much. | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
Time for the weather and Cecilia is here, a pretty mixed bag today. | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
Yes, keeping an eye on the radar quite closely, especially the last | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
couple of hours, some really lively showers and some thunderstorms over | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
parts of County Antrim and towards the east coast. The worst of those | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
are now moving away so it will dry up briefly this evening but some | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
further showers for a wild, still the odd sharp one and by morning, a | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
lot of places will have dried up. Not too chilly a night to come. We | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
are expecting the drying up process to continue tomorrow morning, that | :26:35. | :26:38. | |
will be the dry our half of the day because unfortunately, after a | :26:39. | :26:41. | |
promising start with not too many showers, it will go downhill. So | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
another day for the umbrella eventually, but there will be some | :26:47. | :26:49. | |
fine sunny weather and bright weather around through the morning, | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
it will be a nice journey to work or to school in many places, not too | :26:54. | :26:59. | |
cold, ten or 11 degrees. Would you consider rain clouds gathering from | :27:00. | :27:02. | |
the south-west, it will end up wet and some of the rain will be heavy | :27:03. | :27:06. | |
and persistent and as a result, temperatures not much higher than 15 | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
degrees. It starts to drive from the south-west across Northern Ireland | :27:11. | :27:13. | |
tomorrow evening but if you are heading to Dublin for the all-star | :27:14. | :27:16. | |
Leinster match, it looks like there will be some rain close by. -- | :27:17. | :27:27. | |
Ulster Leinster match. The unsettled theme continues to the weekend, some | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
heavy showers and perhaps thunder, so heavy showers are also affecting | :27:34. | :27:35. | |
the Irish Open this weekend. You can also keep in contact with us | :27:36. | :27:36. | |
via Facebook and Twitter. | :27:37. | :27:43. |