19/05/2016 BBC Newsline

The Alliance Party has yet to decide whether it will follow

the Ulster Unionist Party and SDLP into opposition at Stormont.

Earlier today the party was offered the Justice Ministry,

Tonight the Alliance leadership met with the party's council

Our Political Editor Mark Devenport joins me now live from East Belfast

Mark, have there been any developments in the Alliance

Well, what has happened to note is that the 120 members of the Alliance

ruling council discussed the situation with the justice portfolio

for just over two hours or so in East Belfast. They, so far as we

could tell as we weren't allowed to speak to the ordinary members, have

fairly fully endorsed the leadership position that they shouldn't take

the job at this stage is because both the DUP and Sinn Fein rejected

their demands to change at Stormont including the so-called petition of

concern system which allows measures to be vetoed on the Assembly floor.

Tonight they First Minister Arlene Foster has described some of the

developments as that of a small parties searching for relevant. I

put that to David Ford and he said both the DUP and Sinn Fein had

recognised the Alliance relevance by coming to them and offering them the

Justice Ministry. I think it is slightly ironic given that Arlene

Foster and Martin McGuinness Alastair Lyons to give them are just

as Muslim. That suggests that they know -- Justice Ministry. We had

decisions in the last Executive on the basis of entitlement and a cross

community boat. It seems they are not prepared to give fundamental

reforms to make Northern Ireland better and get away from the

problems which we saw in the last Assembly and it was there

unwillingness to move in any way which have contributed to the

decision of the Alliance Party tonight. Tonight's alliance ruling

council meeting followed a dramatic day at Stormont with the SDLP

following the Ulster Unionists into opposition. My colleague Ende

MacLaverty has been following the twists and turns of the day.

It has been a day of high drama at Stormont.

The SDLP is announcing that we will go into opposition

to conform a constructive opposition to the Executive.

The SDLP's decision to quit the Executive came after a day

It had been clear over the last number of days

that the party was getting ready to turn its back on government.

That decision was rubber-stamped after a meeting with the First

Minister and the Deputy First Minister.

We are very disappointed with the approach that has been adopted.

We have tried time and again and have met as many

departments and departmental officials as we possibly can.

But that wasn't the only surprise as the first

and Deputy First Minister tried to find a new Justice Minister.

And the first candidate through the door was the Green Party

We were invited to put forward our views on what we would like to see

in a future programme if we were to consider taking up

Next up was the Independent Unionist MLA Claire Sugden.

She stepped out without giving too much away.

Then it was the turn of the Alliance delegation,

led by former Justice Minister David Ford.

But they were in and out in less than ten minutes.

But there was no sign of panic among those they left behind in the room.

We are in control, we know exactly what we are doing,

and we are very confident that come next Wednesday,

Ministers will be appointed and the Executive will meet on Thursday.

We are very clear that we both campaigned to be in government,

and others didn't campaign in such a clear way and we are seeing

the fallout over that over the past few days.

We are clear that we are going to be in government, there will be

an Executive in place by the end of next Wednesday and we are also

very clear that it will meet next Thursday.

Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness may be clear on what they expect

to happen next, but they may have to plan for an Executive

Elderly residents at a Londonderry care home have called

on the Presbyterian Church not to shut it down.

The church wants to close it along with another home in Portrush.

They say both places were built in the 19th century and can't be

updated, so they want to move almost 40 residents to a refurbished

More than 60 staff are affected by the proposal.

Here's our North West reporter Keiron Tourish.

Ard Cluan on Limavady Road has been operating since 1971 and,

over that time, residents say it has been like a home from home.

But the 13 elderly people who live there may be forced to move

to a different home almost 30 miles away.

The Presbyterian Church has proposed to close this facility

and another home in Portrush, which has 26 residents,

and transfer everyone to a refurbished 50-bedroom care

And I know the surroundings, like, you know?

And I would be sorry if I was pushed away somewhere else.

The Presbyterian Church has insisted the well-being of its residents

Though the Church acknowledges the reaction of residence

We do not want to come to the stage where we are forced

We are providing a better class of care and an easier regime

Politicians and the trade unions have called for urgent meetings

with the Presbyterian Church to try and get this decision reversed.

They say any possible closure and relocation would cause massive

A church in County Down says its congregation will have

to meet elsewhere after an arson attack on its building.

Tyres were set on fire against Rathfriland Baptist Church

The church's pastor says the attack has stunned the local community

and it will be weeks before they will be able to hold services

The clear-up work at this church will take weeks,

but it could have been much worse, had a passer-by not noticed this

fire last night and alerted the emergency services.

These tyres were already in the church grounds and shortly

after 11 o'clock last night, they were moved against the side

The church says the damage caused means the building won't be able

The pastor says there is good community relations here and there

has been very little anti-social behaviour in the past.

It is a very peaceful community here, a lovely place to live,

a great town and, like I say, it is not something

It is totally out of character and out of keeping in the area.

It is an attack on the Lord and an attack on the Gospel.

We are just here to preach the Gospel and we will continue

It has taken the whole community by surprise, we are all shocked,

but the community will rally around the church, I popped in to see

the pastor to show solidarity and I think that will happen

Despite the quick response from the Fire Service,

church leaders say significant damage has been caused

A meeting due to take place here today was held

in a neighbouring church and Sunday services are likely to be held

at the local high school until the repair work is completed.

Meanwhile, this morning, it was reported to police that

windows and an internal door have been damaged in an attack

Police are appealing for information about both incidents.

The West Belfast-based printing and packaging firm Delta Print has

been sold in an ?80 million deal to a Finnish company.

The business was founded in 1981 by Terry Cross and its major

Mr Cross will be staying on as an adviser to the new buyers,

Huhtamaki, which already has a factory in Lurgan.

This is a good day for West Belfast in particular. There was a dearth of

employment and manufacturing employment and it's pretty

indicative of the cut in corporation tax rates which are helping

investment and the potential for Abe better future for investing in

Northern Ireland. The professional services firm

Deloitte says it will create 300 more jobs in Belfast

than originally planned. It had aimed to employ 700 people

in the city by 2019. That will make Belfast the firm's

largest UK base outside London. On to golf now, and Rory McIlroy has

made an excellent start He's in second place, two shots

behind the leader Danny Willett. Rory McIlroy has struggled at the

Irish Open in recent times. He missed the cut at Royal County Down

last year and before that in Dublin and Cork. But today the tournament

host produced one of his best Irish Open displays. He found his touch on

the K Club Greens as well. And brilliant shots like this helped

McIlroy to three birdies in the opening nine holes. And more

followed in the back nine. This part of the 13th gave him a share of the

lead. And alongside him at that point of the top of the leaderboard,

the Masters champion Danny Willett from England. Graham Mick Doerr

struggled early on dropping shots to go to overpower soon bounced back

with a birdie at the seventh and an eagle at the 10th to move himself up

the leaderboard. -- Graeme McDowell. Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke had

three front line birdies at a course that holds fond memories for him.

Shane Lowry who won this tournament as an amateur seven years ago

started with a round of 100 par. While Paul Don also impressed

playing in his first Irish Open as a professional.

Now here's Cecilia Daly with a look at the weather

the thunderstorms we had earlier on. quite heavy, although not

By the end of the night many of them will have eased away.

One or two of them still lingering in the West.

We are expecting things to continue to dry up tomorrow.

The drier half of the day will be in the morning.

I'm afraid after a promising start it will end up rather

One or two showers and initially, but they'll fizzle out.

There will be a decent chunk of dry weather

It will start to warm up quite nicely.

Down to the South West, you can see where the

It edges in across the Republic of Ireland and it will land

across Northern Ireland tomorrow afternoon.

Also some rain eventually for parts of Wales and south-west England,

but bar the odd shower many parts of Britain will have

Tomorrow afternoon is looking pretty wet just about everywhere.

Persistent rain, heavy rain at times.

Temperatures not getting much higher than around 15 Celsius.

Maybe 16 towards the North Coast before the rain arrives.

It will start to ease away again tomorrow evening,

but if you're at the Ulster match down in Dublin tomorrow night

there could still be some rain around through the game.

As we look ahead to the rest of the weekend, there will still be

some unsettled weather at the Irish Open.

Some sharp showers around this weekend.

Northern Ireland will have some showers this weekend too.

There will be some sunshine at times.

At the moment it looks like we will probably have

fewer showers and lighter showers on Sunday.

So, that is maybe the drier of the two days.

You can hear from the Alliance Party's Naomi Long on the view which

follows this programme. Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25am

in the morning during Breakfast From all of us here

on the programme, goodnight. Soak up the atmosphere at the most

famous flower show in the world. from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

2016.