Browse content similar to 16/01/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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You're watching a specially extended BBC Newsline, | :00:12. | :00:15. | |
An election is called as the Stormont crisis heats up. | :00:16. | :00:27. | |
No one should underestimate the challenge faced to the political | :00:28. | :00:33. | |
institutions here in Northern Ireland. And what is at stake. | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
I'm live at Stormont with reaction and analysis on how | :00:38. | :00:40. | |
Our political editor Mark Devenport will give his take on the collapse | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
And we'll hear live from the parties as the blame game continues. | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
They will take everybody for them as encouragement that they can bring | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
down the Northern Ireland executive whenever they don't get their own | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
way, whatever the cost to Northern Ireland. We have called in the Times | :01:00. | :01:07. | |
the behaviour of the DUP and we look forward to giving the public their | :01:08. | :01:08. | |
say on these matters. The political crisis means no | :01:09. | :01:10. | |
budget has been agreed. We'll be examining the impact that | :01:11. | :01:12. | |
could have on the purse strings. Also on the programme a former pupil | :01:13. | :01:15. | |
is charged with the manslaughter of this 13-year-old in a school | :01:16. | :01:18. | |
playground two years ago. And it is milder but not don't be | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
counting on a lot of sunshine. The 2nd of March, the date | :01:23. | :01:31. | |
of an Assembly election. Exactly a week after | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
Martin McGuinness resigned as the Deputy First Minister, | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
Sinn Fein failed to put forward a replacement by today's deadline | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
and so it was left to the Secretary of State to take the next step | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
and he called an election. He called on the parties to work | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
towards re-establishing a Government But it's clear that many problems | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
remain to be resolved Let's get the latest | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
from the Assembly. BBC Newsline's Tara | :02:04. | :02:11. | |
Mills is at Stormont. It's one week on from | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
the drama of last week And within the last hour we've had | :02:16. | :02:18. | |
that announcement from the Secretary Our political editor | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
Mark Devenport is here. What else did he have to say? He | :02:23. | :02:36. | |
really was left with little choice but to call an election, that is | :02:37. | :02:39. | |
what the law states he must do. What he basically said is that he | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
acknowledged this could be a divisive election campaign that he | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
was reminding the parties of their responsibilities, hoping that | :02:48. | :02:50. | |
somehow they can moderate some of the brittle exchanges which have | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
been predicted with a mind to piecing things together on the other | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
side of the election. It here what he had to say. No one should | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
underestimate the challenge faced to the political institutions here in | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
Northern Ireland and what is at stake. While it is inevitable that | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
debate during an election period will be intense, I would strongly | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
encourage the political parties to conduct this election with a view to | :03:20. | :03:26. | |
the future of Northern Ireland and re-establishing a partnership | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
government at the earliest opportunity after that poll. This is | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
essential to the operation of devolved government and this means | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
that all must remain open to dialogue. Despite all of this, there | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
is still some action in the assembly chamber? James Brokenshire has given | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
the assembly a bit longer. We thought he might bring the shutters | :03:52. | :03:54. | |
down this week but they are going to work on Toby end of next week and | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
that it had an effect on things here today. We thought they would make at | :03:59. | :04:04. | |
breakneck decision on Simon Hamilton 's plan but in the last little | :04:05. | :04:07. | |
while, they have adjourned that and said they will come back to that | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
next week although not because there were some explosive allegations made | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
by the former minister Jonathan Bell who once again highlighted what he | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
claims is the role of DUP advisers in relation to this scheme. Now they | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
are getting onto the equally fractious manner of debating a | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
no-confidence motion brought by Sinn Fein in the speaker, Robin Newton, | :04:27. | :04:30. | |
over his handling of last months because assembly session here. What | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
about dates, but do-gooders need to be an mind? If you want to take part | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
in this snap election, if you are not put off by this negativity, you | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
should remember February 14, Valentine's Day but in relation to | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
our not particularly lovey-dovey election, it is also the deadline | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
for voters to register. There is an earlier deadline if you want a | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
postal or proxy vote of February ten but the all-important date is March | :04:57. | :05:02. | |
two is voting day and after that, we have a three-week period and that is | :05:03. | :05:05. | |
when the government will have their work cut out to try and put Humpty | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
Dumpty back together again and tried to restore devolution here. | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
After the surprises of last week today we had a better idea of where | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
this was going with Sinn Fein not re-nominating a candidate | :05:21. | :05:22. | |
So how did the Fresh Start between Sinn Fein and the DUP | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
Our political correspondent Enda McClafferty charts | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
We have had political break-ups at Stormont before | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness's relationship has been | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
in meltdown for months and today their power-sharing pact was reduced | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
They even struggled to face each other across the chamber floor. | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
This is the moment their separation was rubber-stamped. | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
One was prepared to stay and the other wanted out. | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
I am nominating Arlene Foster to be the First Minister. It has her | :06:03. | :06:11. | |
rightful position. I am not alone because the DUP says that, but | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
because 200,000 people in the country see it. We, as a DUP, we | :06:17. | :06:24. | |
will decide who the leader of our party is. Not someone else sitting | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
in this chamber. Today it Sinn Fein will not be nominated for the | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
position of Deputy First Minister. Sinn Fein has honoured all | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
agreements, we have striven to make these institutions work. Martin | :06:39. | :06:41. | |
McGuinness has acted at all times with integrity, with dignity and | :06:42. | :06:43. | |
with respect. Moments later Martin McGuinness left | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
the chamber, leaving many to wonder if he had played his | :06:47. | :06:48. | |
last political hand. While Arlene Foster faced up | :06:49. | :06:50. | |
to her next challenge, blaming Sinn Fein for sending voters | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
back to the polls. They have forced an election that | :06:54. | :07:04. | |
risks Northern Ireland 's future and it stability and since nobody apart | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
from themselves. They will take every vote for them as an | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
encouragement that they can bring down the Northern Ireland executive | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
whenever they don't get their own way up the cost to Northern Ireland, | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
Big Yin and again and again and again. Today we have called time on | :07:24. | :07:30. | |
the arrogance of the DUP and their behaviour in these institutions. We | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
have done so because we can no longer accept how these institutions | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
will be treated with contempt and continue today to be treated with | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
contempt by the DUP which in turn treats the public with contempt. For | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
our part, Sinn Fein and barking McGuinness have stretched ourselves | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
to the limits to try and keep these institutions working. They have been | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
let down by the did behaviour of the big DUP, in the Jewish and of Tory | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
policies and inaction of the Irish front. | :08:00. | :08:00. | |
In fact Martin McGuinness phoned the Prime Minister Theresa May this | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
morning to let her know how much he felt let down by the government. | :08:05. | :08:07. | |
Though the clock is now ticking, the speaker Robin Newton | :08:08. | :08:10. | |
will still face a vote of no confidence in the | :08:11. | :08:12. | |
He will survive as his party, the DUP, is | :08:13. | :08:15. | |
planning to use a petition of concern to keep him in office. | :08:16. | :08:22. | |
The class of 20 02 new all about stop start politics but this is | :08:23. | :08:31. | |
going to be a new experience for those MLAs bathing Stormont this | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
week not knowing when or if they might return. As they know, | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
collapsing the institutions is the easy part, bringing them back and | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
rebuilding trust is the real challenge and that is the test | :08:44. | :08:46. | |
awaiting our politicians on the other side of the election. Let's | :08:47. | :08:55. | |
hear it now from the DUP and Sinn Fein. What can you tell us? We have | :08:56. | :09:03. | |
not made the motion because the DUP have introduced apparition of | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
concern and I take it the 11th hour of this assembly, the introduction | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
of this shows that the DUP have not learned anything from the last six | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
weeks, they have not woken to the reality that their arrogance of the | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
denial of democratic rights of others in this chamber and society | :09:21. | :09:23. | |
is not acceptable so we have decided not to move the motion this evening | :09:24. | :09:26. | |
and we will not involve ourselves in a debate which is effectively | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
blocked. Does that achieve anything? Our views on the speaker have not | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
changed, our views on the DUP have not changed but it does show that we | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
will not be a ourselves to be drawn in to meeting with this debate in | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
the assembly and after the elections we will not a ourselves to be drawn | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
into meaningless discussions with parties who are not serious about | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
equality or change or sharing the spread of the island with the rest | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
of the people. If Robin Newton off the hook for now? What this is about | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
is Sinn Fein using all of these issues to distract from the core | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
agenda that they have and they have outlined that repeatedly now around | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
equality, the Trojan horse to break unionism. They feel they can use RHI | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
now as a reason to go to the country because they believe that will | :10:21. | :10:23. | |
inflict damage. Is it not a good reason given the amount of money | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
involved? I want to get to the truth of that, I want an inquiry and | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
should be no hiding place for anybody and Arlene Foster has made | :10:32. | :10:34. | |
that clear but they are using that to try and undo what happened only | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
eight months ago when our party came back with over 200,000 boats and key | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
Republican demands that they are insisting upon, they have not | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
delivered. Everybody needs to respect each other's mandates but | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
that cuts both ways. Sinn Fein are ticking down these institutions | :10:52. | :10:53. | |
because they want to break unionism and we're going out into an election | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
that will ultimately lead to negotiations and they want to have | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
rolled over unionism and this party will be putting forward a strong | :11:02. | :11:04. | |
team, recognising that we are beer being tested as never before by | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
Republicans and we will continue to hold our ground. There will be a | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
different strategy this time, it will not be team Arlene? Arlene | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
Foster is leading our party into these elections. She was voted in as | :11:19. | :11:21. | |
the First Minister because that is what the public voted for. Will it | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
be the same this time the flag is whimsical and had an election, Sinn | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
Fein are using the ballot box strategy to continue to pursue their | :11:31. | :11:33. | |
key Republican objectives and we will continue to use the ballot box | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
to get a mandate to represent the people who elect us so we will put | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
people first, our country first, Sinn Fein are putting party first to | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
pursue their key goals. Do you want give them be to get up and running | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
again? We do, we want a functioning, working assembly vote on the | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
foundations of the Good Friday agreement on the other agreements we | :11:56. | :11:57. | |
have worked out with the other parties and the British and Irish | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
Lions a month. There is a responsibility on us all to get | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
these institutions up and running again but they have to be built on a | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
firmer foundation on an agreement. You don't wait ten years to | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
implement parts of the agreement or make boasts about blocking of the | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
agreement. The agreement. There is a responsibility in local parties but | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
also in the British government in relation to legacy issues. James | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
Brokenshire and the British government are also part of the | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
problem. You said in November that you will not deserve the electorate, | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
you will not leave the electorate with a long period of direct rule, | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
only three months ago? We are not deserting the electorate. You have | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
real concerns you will get agreement with your partners in government? | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
Everyone has commented on this. It is now over to the electorate to | :12:46. | :12:51. | |
make decisions about the future of this society. What are they putting | :12:52. | :12:58. | |
for? They are voting for accountability, ensuring the | :12:59. | :13:00. | |
corruption, whether alleged or other ways, is held to account. Are they | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
voting for a Stormont assembly or direct rule? They are voting for the | :13:07. | :13:09. | |
working institutions of the Good Friday agreement but the emphasis is | :13:10. | :13:16. | |
on working. Joint authority, is that possible to? I know that what Mike | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
Nesbitt has said but if you vote for him,, that is not our position. Sinn | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
Fein are clear on what they are trying to do, they are walking away | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
from this difficulty for political advantage when they cost us ?174 | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
million over welfare reform, we won't go away -- we didn't walk | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
away. They are using RHI is a distraction from the core agenda | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
they have. That is to weaken unionism and the public know what | :13:44. | :13:50. | |
that is about. Is he seriously suggesting that Unionist viewers | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
watching this tonight are going to accept the fact that the DUP put | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
together a package which is costing the taxpayer four million ? the | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
leader of the party is refusing to step aside without prejudice and | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
allow and encourage take place? Don't believe that is what unionism | :14:09. | :14:15. | |
or nationalism is about. The final point from you. Remarkably, Sinn | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
Fein think they know what Unionists believe that reminds me of a story | :14:20. | :14:22. | |
in the Bible about the man who built the gallows for Mordechai believing | :14:23. | :14:29. | |
that which lead to their downfall. They know the plot they are trying | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
to conspire against the DUP and to weaken unionism and they will rally | :14:35. | :14:37. | |
around the calls that we will go to the country for. What about the | :14:38. | :14:40. | |
analysis that you don't want Stormont on running again? It is the | :14:41. | :14:47. | |
agreements that we have signed up to in the last ten years and that is | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
working, functioning as it uses of the Good Friday agreement but all | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
the parties have to deliver and that includes the British and are | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
government 's and the DUP. We believe we can govern ourselves | :15:01. | :15:03. | |
better than anyone else. But we cannot govern ourselves with | :15:04. | :15:06. | |
corruption at the heart. Alleged corruption? Alleged financial | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
corruption but certainly political corruption in the last couple of | :15:13. | :15:15. | |
years so do we want working instructions? Of course but they can | :15:16. | :15:18. | |
only work on the basis of the agreement upon which they were | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
built. When Sinn Fein don't get their way, the President has now | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
been set, they will bring the institutions down because they will | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
not respect democratic will of the people in order to force the agenda | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
that they have so the public have a clear choice, do they reward Sinn | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
Fein 's bad behaviour or do they respect the results that happened | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
only eight months ago was like we have put forward a strong case to | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
the public because Sinn Fein want to break us and the unionist people | :15:45. | :15:46. | |
know that and we will be resolute in the face of it. I share the concerns | :15:47. | :15:53. | |
around RHI, that is why we are trying to do with it. Plenty of time | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
over the next few weeks to have an election campaign. Let's hear from | :15:59. | :16:05. | |
the opposition parties now. Danny Kennedy, is that the case that a | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
vote for the UUP will lead to joint authority? | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
Absolutely not. We're made it abundantly clear that we would not | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
support any prospect of joint authority. Let me say, this is a | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
deeply depressing day that the people of Northern Ireland and for | :16:24. | :16:26. | |
the electorate who are watching this and the spectacle of the collapse of | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
the political institutions that have been so hard-fought four and so much | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
demanded. But you walked away from those institutions. The sole | :16:37. | :16:40. | |
responsibility for that breakdown as a collective failure, a DUP and Sinn | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
Fein failure of working cohesively together. Added that, unacceptable | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
manner in which an R a H I scheme has been allowed to continue. It is | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
time for the electorate to give its verdict on RHI and the appalling | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
loss of potential monies to the Northern Ireland executive. It is | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
time now for change any Ulster Unionist Party will fight a | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
constructive election campaign seeking change. This is a good | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
opportunity the body, but do you think you have a different methods | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
of the one Sinn Fein is putting out? A very different message. It is very | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
worrying that we are now clearly adding to to election but also | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
allowing it to collapse. I genuinely want to get these institutions up | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
and running again. Especially people vote for the same old. If they vote | :17:34. | :17:37. | |
for the DUP amateur volley Sinn Fein, they know what they're going | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
to get. They broke the ground, then we can work together. Can you | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
imagine a coalition again? The old party without a 2-party system? It | :17:48. | :17:51. | |
is not about seeds France. It is about delivery. -- seats for us. We | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
told them that they couldn't deliver. We told the more the things | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
that Sinn Fein are now saying they are all annoyed about. Sinn Fein did | :18:02. | :18:08. | |
listen and the DUP didn't listen. It only took seven months of proper | :18:09. | :18:11. | |
accountability for this Government to collapse, that tells you | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
everything you need to know. When it comes the next step then, can you | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
imagine a situation when we will have this act together and have The | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
Assembly running again? That is done to the public. They have an | :18:23. | :18:28. | |
opportunity to make decisions to who want the -- to who they want to send | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
back to The Assembly. We did not bring them down. We have been | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
consistent in our support for these institutions. When talking about | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
plan B what should happen next, the only thing that the public want is | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
that these institutions should work. We want people who will be | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
transparent and accountable and who are enthusiastic about taking | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
responsibility and taking power and do the work on behalf of the people | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
who do electors. Eight months is a disgrace for a Government to fall | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
apart and to see people so gleefully electioneering as they have been | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
this afternoon when has been a huge collapse under huge uncertainty | :19:10. | :19:16. | |
about the future of Northern Ireland I think is disgraceful. We will be | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
back a bit later in the programme with the latest on the RHI | :19:21. | :19:21. | |
legislation debate. The current Assembly | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
comes to an early end without agreeing a budget for start | :19:27. | :19:28. | |
of the new financial year in April. A senior civil servant has warned | :19:29. | :19:31. | |
that could lead to a huge range of difficulties, | :19:32. | :19:34. | |
particularly for the health service. Our Economics and Business Editor | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
John Campbell is here. No budget in place, | :19:40. | :19:42. | |
no likelihood of one What happens is what the senior | :19:43. | :19:54. | |
civil servant is trying to spell out to MLA today, mist or Stirling | :19:55. | :20:01. | |
struck an optimistic note saying that there will be election which | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
will give a few weeks to potentially put an executive back together again | :20:05. | :20:07. | |
and agree a budget just in time before the start of the financial | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
year in April. That means he is a bit more optimistic than many people | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
around Stormont. An executive can't be put together, then there will be | :20:17. | :20:24. | |
enormous powers for him. On the 29th of March, we will have access to 75% | :20:25. | :20:30. | |
of this year's budget. Immediately on hand, public services will | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
continue to operate even if there is a Government no budget agreed. What | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
does that mean for the running of the departments? The normal business | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
of Stormont? Even though mist or Stirling was people he said it was a | :20:45. | :20:52. | |
very unsatisfactory situation. He precisely set up there with the | :20:53. | :20:55. | |
Government in place for a prolonged period of time, part a couple of | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
months, that would pose a huge range of difficult as in a wide range of | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
areas. They gave it wide a specific example which was the hill fog | :21:07. | :21:12. | |
service. In other words, the Department of Health is a huge | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
department and has half of the budget. They need to have certainty | :21:17. | :21:19. | |
at the start of the year so they can plan the certainties. If there is no | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
budget in place, that will cause difficulties to services majority | :21:24. | :21:24. | |
under pressure. And there's also a big | :21:25. | :21:28. | |
issue with rates bills, Mist or Stirling will get access to | :21:29. | :21:35. | |
a huge range of powers. Setting rates is one of those. It is a piece | :21:36. | :21:44. | |
of legislation which allows people to levy tax on business and | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
households. If there is no power to collect those raids, then what | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
happens? There is contingency ban in place, usually the rates are | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
collected over a ten month period, so could be possible than rather | :21:57. | :21:59. | |
gaining your rates in April, it could be made or June and you're | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
paying the ten months after that. That is the initial contingency | :22:04. | :22:06. | |
plan. If there was no money coming in, what are the councils do? Mr | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
Stirling said he could make money available to them for at least a | :22:11. | :22:13. | |
couple of months. He was emphasising that can only be a very short-term | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
solution, it if this runs on much more Cejudo or early July, there | :22:20. | :22:26. | |
will be a relief budget crunch. When he was hinting at if there is no | :22:27. | :22:29. | |
executive or budget in place at the end of July, then a minister would | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
have two step in and impose a budget to avoid a complete collapse of the | :22:34. | :22:35. | |
budget. The MLAs have been | :22:36. | :22:37. | |
debating the bedroom tax As Mark Davenport was saying | :22:38. | :22:53. | |
earlier, the renewable eat plan was -- eat plan was just in time to the | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
severed comeback next week and scrutinise that properly. You could | :23:00. | :23:05. | |
still get a financial resolution before the election. The bedroom | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
tax, the regulations have gone through, so that means the | :23:10. | :23:12. | |
mitigation is in place for the bedroom tax. So, people who feared | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
they might lose out, they will not. That has been sorted. | :23:17. | :23:24. | |
Two years after the death of a 13-year-old Fermanagh boy | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
following a playground incident, a former pupil at his school | :23:28. | :23:29. | |
has appeared in court charged with manslaughter. | :23:30. | :23:31. | |
Our South West reporter Julian Fowler was at the hearing | :23:32. | :23:33. | |
Oisin McGrath died four days after an incident at this college in | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
Francis Maude Dermot was in the sixth form at the | :23:39. | :23:47. | |
The 19-year-old is accused of unlawful killing. | :23:48. | :23:54. | |
The family were in court and the defence | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
asked to express continuing sympathy to them, saying that what had | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
happened had devastated two families. | :24:06. | :24:06. | |
The solicitor said that Francis would carry | :24:07. | :24:08. | |
the memory and effect of what | :24:09. | :24:10. | |
happened in the schoolyard that day with him for the rest of his life. | :24:11. | :24:13. | |
He said that he was instructed to minimise the pain the justice | :24:14. | :24:16. | |
process would have for the McGrath family. | :24:17. | :24:24. | |
Sentiments which the judge said were laudable in an | :24:25. | :24:26. | |
extremely difficult set of circumstances. | :24:27. | :24:27. | |
Francis Maude Dermot confirmed he understood the charge | :24:28. | :24:29. | |
and when asked if he had anything to | :24:30. | :24:31. | |
He was released on bail for ?500 and will appear in | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
Efforts to stop the closure of a GP practice in Portadown have failed. | :24:36. | :24:50. | |
A contractor withdrew from the process. | :24:51. | :24:52. | |
Bannview practice faced closure after its last | :24:53. | :24:55. | |
Our Health Correspondent Marie-Louise Connolly reports. | :24:56. | :24:57. | |
At one time there were four full-time GPs working from this | :24:58. | :24:59. | |
Portadown practice caring for around 5,200 men, women and children. | :25:00. | :25:08. | |
the years as GPs retired, they were not replaced. | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
Despite the warning signs, after Christmas the last | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
remaining GP resigned saying she could no longer cope with the | :25:17. | :25:18. | |
Nearby practices told the BBC they were too overstretched | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
and unable to take on the patients and instead it was left in the hands | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
of the Health and Social Care Board to fix. | :25:27. | :25:28. | |
While a contract has been found, late this afternoon it emerged | :25:29. | :25:35. | |
that that GP has now withdrawn from the contract. | :25:36. | :25:37. | |
the health minister said: the move was extremely | :25:38. | :25:47. | |
disappointing and that she has called for an urgent meeting with | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
the Health and Social Care Board to ensure patients receive high-quality | :25:51. | :25:52. | |
The statement added that the health board will continue | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
to manage the practice until a new contractor is appointed. | :25:57. | :25:58. | |
It is not ideal that locums could be in charge | :25:59. | :26:00. | |
Patients those who are older often require someone who knows their | :26:01. | :26:11. | |
Unless problems are addressed, the BMA is warning this | :26:12. | :26:14. | |
Nearly 400 people were arrested for drink-driving in | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
Northern Ireland over Christmas, that's a slight fall on last year. | :26:21. | :26:35. | |
The police say warned hundreds of others | :26:36. | :26:37. | |
who tested positive for alcohol but were within the legal limit. | :26:38. | :26:39. | |
But today a senior police officer said many people are still ignoring | :26:40. | :26:45. | |
They will face fines, they will face disqualifications, some of them may | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
even lose their jobs and will not be able to travel and will be looking | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
at increased insurance bills. Hopefully it will be a stain for | :26:55. | :26:57. | |
people who know them socially, as well. | :26:58. | :26:57. | |
Between the end of November and the start of this | :26:58. | :27:00. | |
month, the police tested nearly 11,000 drivers. | :27:01. | :27:01. | |
That's more than twice as many as last year. | :27:02. | :27:04. | |
Of these, 383 were found to be over the alcohol limit, a marginal | :27:05. | :27:07. | |
In addition to the arrests, nearly 300 others received warnings | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
after testing positive for alcohol but within the legal limit. | :27:15. | :27:22. | |
The youngest offender this year was 17 years of age and the eldest 80. | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
The spam is right across the country and right across ages. Some | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
ridiculously high reading to people should be having medical digital to | :27:33. | :27:39. | |
-- medical difficulties let alone getting behind the wheel of a | :27:40. | :27:40. | |
vehicle. Police say anyone | :27:41. | :27:41. | |
who's drank even a small amount of alcohol should | :27:42. | :27:43. | |
never consider driving. A west Belfast man who denies | :27:44. | :27:44. | |
being Britain's former top spy inside the IRA is now facing | :27:45. | :27:48. | |
at least 20 separate lawsuits. The scale of litigation against | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
Freddie Scappaticci was revealed Writs have been issued | :27:54. | :27:56. | |
in a series of cases involving claims of kidnapping | :27:57. | :28:01. | |
and interrogating Mr Scappaticci left Nothern Ireland | :28:02. | :28:03. | |
in 2003 after being identified The police have asked for the civil | :28:04. | :28:09. | |
hearings to be delayed for two years because of an ongoing | :28:10. | :28:20. | |
criminal investigation. A man who sexually abused | :28:21. | :28:21. | |
an altarboy at the Clonard Novena in Belfast was spared | :28:22. | :28:28. | |
a jail sentence after Martin Cassidy was placed | :28:29. | :28:30. | |
on Probation for three years after he admitted abusing | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
the altarboy in 1988. Belfast Crown Court | :28:36. | :28:37. | |
was told that the 67-year old from Orchard Mews in Befast | :28:38. | :28:40. | |
was volunteering at the Novena at the request of his brother, | :28:41. | :28:43. | |
who at the time was a priest. We are on a bit longer this evening | :28:44. | :28:56. | |
because of the events at Stormont on the announcement of an assembly | :28:57. | :28:59. | |
election on the 2nd of March. We also have an extended late news at | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
half past ten tonight. Back to what has been happening at The Assembly | :29:05. | :29:07. | |
where they have been discussing the renewable heat incentive scheme. The | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
former enterprise Minister at the DUP has been addressing MLAs. This | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
is what he has to say. I believe these matters can be investigated in | :29:19. | :29:24. | |
this week, alongside the very first piece of information given to me in | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
the ministerial office. By the DUP, party officer appointed special | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
adviser Timothy Kearns that you will not be allowed to reduce the tariff | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
on the scheme because Timothy Johnson special adviser to the First | :29:38. | :29:45. | |
Minister and John Robertson special adviser to the DUP and now special | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
adviser to the column Minister has such interest in the poultry | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
industry, it is not been allowed on the agenda. I have the records in | :29:56. | :30:01. | |
many formats. This party has suspended me for telling the truth | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
while I give a First Minister and the deputy leader and the chairman | :30:06. | :30:10. | |
of the party all the information about this. People who are sitting | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
beside and behind them have much more serious offences. The special | :30:15. | :30:21. | |
adviser to the First Minister, Timothy Johnson, said, I have no | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
family connections to the poultry industry and I have no connection to | :30:26. | :30:29. | |
the RHI scheme, these are unsubstantiated allegations. I have | :30:30. | :30:35. | |
two brothers nor in the poultry industry and they have no connection | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
to the scheme. John Robinson the former DUP director to | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
communications now special adviser to the economy Minister Simon | :30:45. | :30:47. | |
Hamilton said I have no personal interest in the poultry industry, | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
two of my brothers are poultry farmers, but they have no | :30:53. | :30:53. | |
connections to RHI. Now sport, Stephen Watson's | :30:54. | :30:57. | |
here with news of new faces Ulster have announced two | :30:58. | :30:59. | |
new player signings today. The South African international back | :31:00. | :31:09. | |
row Arno Botha and the Connacht scrum-half John Cooney both | :31:10. | :31:11. | |
will join the province on two-year In the immediate future, Ulster have | :31:12. | :31:13. | |
just their Pro12 campaign to focus on after they were knocked out | :31:14. | :31:18. | |
of Europe yesterday And the European adventure ends the | :31:19. | :31:36. | |
Ulster, for the third season in a row, the side have failed to qualify | :31:37. | :31:39. | |
for the quarterfinal stages of the northern hemisphere's premier | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
competition. They said their intentions out early. And despite | :31:44. | :31:52. | |
some flashes of poised power and precision from this New Zealander, | :31:53. | :32:02. | |
the English premiership side turned the screw in the second half, | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
dominating territory and possession, citing their way through the Ulster | :32:08. | :32:14. | |
defence. Ulster 's European theatre was sealed when Jackson was yellow | :32:15. | :32:20. | |
carded in the closing minutes for a deliberate knock-on with the referee | :32:21. | :32:22. | |
awarding a penalty try, another defeat for Ulster, there is in the | :32:23. | :32:36. | |
last 12 games. Rory McIlroy has been forced to withdraw from the Abu | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
Dhabi championship after tests revealed he has sustained a rib | :32:42. | :32:49. | |
injury. He picked up the injury in South Africa last week. He thought | :32:50. | :32:55. | |
he had a back injury played through the pain yesterday only to lose | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
against Graeme storm. He had started the day three shots behind him but | :33:01. | :33:06. | |
five birdies in a final round of 68 to get to three extra holes before | :33:07. | :33:09. | |
the Englishman prevailed. Rory McIlroy will now commence | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
revalidation and will return to golf when he is fully recovered from that | :33:15. | :33:15. | |
stress fracture. Finally, snooker and Mark Allen has | :33:16. | :33:26. | |
beaten John Higgins 6-5 in the first round of the Masters in London. It | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
was quite a game today. That's the sport. | :33:33. | :33:39. | |
police in Craigavon have been kicking up a storm over a recent | :33:40. | :33:43. | |
Officers there issued a wanted posted for BBC | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
Weather Presenter Barra Best at the weekend - saying he had | :33:48. | :33:50. | |
destroyed the dreams of children and cops. | :33:51. | :33:52. | |
They even offered a reward of two doughnuts for his capture! | :33:53. | :33:59. | |
We've not been able to find him today, but Angie might be | :34:00. | :34:02. | |
able to shine some light on his whereabouts. | :34:03. | :34:14. | |
No more snow any more but it has turned milder. It looks as though | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
we're in for quite a settled and quiet week compared to last week | :34:21. | :34:23. | |
because we have high pressure in charge apart from some this evening. | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
Not a lot of rain in the forecast and maybe one or two bright spells | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
but generally a lot of cloud and things will cool down again later in | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
the week. Today it was mild and plenty of cloud. Some breaks towards | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
the East so in Newcastle we had the odd bit of blue sky. The mist | :34:43. | :34:48. | |
lifting and even some sunshine on the top of the lead honoured with | :34:49. | :34:50. | |
temperatures of 80 degrees there today. That cloud has been piling in | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
again as the weather front approaches. It is bringing in rain | :34:56. | :34:59. | |
throughout edge of Northern Ireland throughout the course of this | :35:00. | :35:02. | |
evening. It clears the way and we are left with a dry night, quite | :35:03. | :35:07. | |
misty but frost free. Those of around 7 degrees. Tomorrow the odd | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
spot of drizzle but a lot of dry weather. A lot of cloud as well and | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
it is likely to be quite a dull and grey start but hopefully as we go | :35:17. | :35:20. | |
through the day, we will see that lifting off the hills. That is when | :35:21. | :35:24. | |
we might get the odd ride a spell but we are looking at more cloud | :35:25. | :35:28. | |
than sunshine but looking pretty mild with temperatures of ten or 11 | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
degrees. We hold onto that mild area into tomorrow night with still a lot | :35:33. | :35:39. | |
of cloud and dry weather around. Temperatures of around five or 6 | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
degrees. Then on Wednesday, apart from the odd spot of just all, it is | :35:45. | :35:50. | |
looking miles. That trend continues through the rest of the week, a few | :35:51. | :35:53. | |
bright spells but after the cloudy and mainly dry. | :35:54. | :36:09. | |
The MLAs are thinking about the election but they have fought to get | :36:10. | :36:15. | |
through before that. They have put off until next week any discussion | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
of that eating plan, the plan from Simon Hamilton to recover some of | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
the potential losses of the renewable heating scheme, but won't | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
happen until next week. But they got onto this business of no confidence | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
in the assembly Speaker Robin Uden. That was a Sinn Fein motion. Then | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
they said because the DUP had put down their veto, they were going to | :36:38. | :36:45. | |
pull it but right now, we in a short adjournment, the MLAs are returning | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
at 7:30 as there is debate as whether it has gone past the point | :36:51. | :36:56. | |
of return. We heard from Sinn Fein in the DUP and it was quite heated. | :36:57. | :37:03. | |
Have had these statements from James Brokenshire and also from the Irish | :37:04. | :37:07. | |
Foreign Minister that they want these parties to be respectful of | :37:08. | :37:10. | |
each other in this election campaign. I think essentially that | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
we will have a tough election campaign. We have a Valentines day | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
registration date and that will be the only lovely Debbie thing about | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
this campaign. We will have all the latest on a bit | :37:25. | :37:32. | |
bulletin at 10:30. That was newsline on the day and election was cold by | :37:33. | :37:37. | |
the 2nd of March. Power sharing collapsed over a row over the RHI | :37:38. | :37:43. | |
which could cause tax payers nearly half ?1 billion. | :37:44. | :37:45. |