:00:12. > :00:18.These are the headlines this Friday evening...
:00:19. > :00:20.The DUP reveal how they got over ?400,000 for their Brexit
:00:21. > :00:25.We examine the background of the Scottish businessman
:00:26. > :00:32.A lorry driver who killed this man while on the wrong side of the road
:00:33. > :00:42.We're knocking on doors in County Tyrone to find out
:00:43. > :00:44.what people think of politicians with less than a week
:00:45. > :00:58.Exploding some preconceptions about career choices for schoolgirls.
:00:59. > :01:03.When I started secondary school it was sent the girls were two domestic
:01:04. > :01:05.science and the boys would do science. No questions.
:01:06. > :01:08.Ireland take on the French in Dublin in a crucial battle in this year's
:01:09. > :01:27.And Saturday afternoon looks like the pick of the weekend.
:01:28. > :01:34.After pressure to reveal details about the Brexit campaign, the DUP
:01:35. > :01:39.has confirmed its pet a donation of over ?400,000, the donor was the
:01:40. > :01:43.Constitutional Research Council. A little-known group of pro-union
:01:44. > :01:48.business people. Led by a Scottish Conservative, Richard Cook. The
:01:49. > :01:51.Electoral Commission published a much parties promoting leave and
:01:52. > :02:01.remain spent on the referendum campaign. Stephen Walker reports.
:02:02. > :02:03.Scottish Conservative Richard Cook is the man behind
:02:04. > :02:06.the Constitutional Research Council - a group that has attracted little
:02:07. > :02:09.A former Tory parliamentary candidate, he has a pro-union
:02:10. > :02:21.This organisation made a decision that it thought that Brexit would be
:02:22. > :02:25.better for the union and because of that it decided it wanted to invest
:02:26. > :02:31.in the Brexit campaign, it had a lot of money, more than ?400,000, and it
:02:32. > :02:33.started to look at where it could put that.
:02:34. > :02:37.The breakdown of the DUP's spending provided by the Electoral Commission
:02:38. > :02:39.shows that the party spent a total of ?425,621.
:02:40. > :02:43.Of that, ?10,823 was spent in Northern Ireland -
:02:44. > :02:47.more than half of that with Belfast Telegraph owners,
:02:48. > :02:56.The biggest single spend was the ?282,000, which went
:02:57. > :02:58.on the advertising pages in the Metro - a freesheet
:02:59. > :03:04.Almost ?100,000 was spent with a Cambridgeshire company
:03:05. > :03:08.supplying promotional and advertising material.
:03:09. > :03:15.A further ?32,750 went to a Canadian IT and consultancy company.
:03:16. > :03:18.The DUP say they were given more by the group than they actually
:03:19. > :03:27.spent and the remainder - some ?9000 - was used by the party.
:03:28. > :03:41.We received ?435,000 and we spent over ?425,000 in the EU referendum
:03:42. > :03:46.campaign and we had around ?9,000 left and we transferred that to the
:03:47. > :03:48.normal funds for prounion campaigning and so we're giving
:03:49. > :03:49.total transparency on this. So does this donation
:03:50. > :03:58.raise any questions? Who are these people and why are
:03:59. > :04:03.they getting so much money to the DUP? Why did they decide that in
:04:04. > :04:06.order to help support Brexit, they wanted to give money to the
:04:07. > :04:08.Democratic unionists in Northern Ireland?
:04:09. > :04:11.The DUP say they have been transparent and say the issue
:04:12. > :04:13.of party funding needs to be addressed.
:04:14. > :04:19.We have revealed the details of the dollar for the referendum and the
:04:20. > :04:25.ball is in the Court of the other parties, will be to the same? The
:04:26. > :04:33.only other parties to spend money in the campaign by the SDLP and the TV,
:04:34. > :04:38.who spent under ?10,000. The issue of wider political funding has been
:04:39. > :04:39.raised on the campaign trail, some parties keeping their donations
:04:40. > :04:42.secret and others making it public. All parties say they
:04:43. > :04:44.support transparency. After the election we will see
:04:45. > :04:51.if words and actions match up. A lorry driver who was on the wrong
:04:52. > :04:55.side of the road when he collided with a van, killing the driver,
:04:56. > :05:00.has been jailed for nine months. Albertas Daskevicius is originally
:05:01. > :05:13.from Lithuania and now lives He was passing another lorry turning
:05:14. > :05:18.left when he struck the oncoming vehicle. Sean McElwee was driving
:05:19. > :05:25.between Strabane and, around ten o'clock on a per night in 2015 when
:05:26. > :05:29.he was suddenly confronted by every driver's nightmare, an articulated
:05:30. > :05:33.lorry bearing down on him on the wrong side of the road. There was
:05:34. > :05:37.just time for his father, a passenger, to shout, where is that
:05:38. > :05:42.man going? Before the terrible impact took his life. His father
:05:43. > :05:46.survived and was in court today to see the driver sentenced. Albertas
:05:47. > :05:51.Daskevicius is 51 and originally from Lithuania but with an address
:05:52. > :05:54.at Bawn Court in Ballykelly. He was jailed for nine months for causing
:05:55. > :06:01.death by careless driving. With a further nine months on licence. He
:06:02. > :06:04.had been initially caused with causing death by dangerous driving
:06:05. > :06:08.but later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge. The defence said
:06:09. > :06:12.there was no evidence his client had been speeding are using a mobile
:06:13. > :06:16.phone, he had not been drinking and the lorry was noteworthy. He said
:06:17. > :06:21.his client had not taken a calculated risk but that it was
:06:22. > :06:25.simply a terrible error of judgment with tragic consequences. At the
:06:26. > :06:28.time of the accident, Albertas Daskevicius had no insurance and he
:06:29. > :06:33.was given a separate nine-month sentence for that and banned from
:06:34. > :06:37.driving for ten years. Several members of Sean McElwee's family
:06:38. > :06:41.sobbed quietly in the public gallery as a prison officer put handcuffs on
:06:42. > :06:43.Albertas Daskevicius and led him away. The family declined to say
:06:44. > :06:46.anything as they left court. A man has been arrested
:06:47. > :06:48.in connection with the death The 48-year-old is accused of having
:06:49. > :06:55.and supplying drugs. The woman, who was in her 30s,
:06:56. > :07:00.was found in the Orior Park area. Mike Nesbitt admits his time in
:07:01. > :07:03.charge of the Ulster Unionist Party But he goes into next week's
:07:04. > :07:09.Assembly election hoping to emerge He's been talking to our political
:07:10. > :07:16.correspondent, Gareth Gordon. Whether it's votes for the party
:07:17. > :07:20.he leads or in the greenhouse with his wife, Mike Nesbitt
:07:21. > :07:27.is looking for growth. He and Lynda Bryans were once
:07:28. > :07:33.Northern Ireland's best-known So how does she think Mike Nesbitt
:07:34. > :07:45.the politician is doing? There have been several changes of
:07:46. > :07:51.career along the way and everyone he has made a success. And he is making
:07:52. > :07:56.a success of what he is doing right now so I support him. All political
:07:57. > :07:58.careers end in failure. So they say. Is this one of them? It is not over
:07:59. > :08:00.yet. And Mike Nesbitt says he's confident
:08:01. > :08:11.more success is on its way. I am used to people saying in the
:08:12. > :08:15.supermarket, but not people queueing up to talk to me, people stopping
:08:16. > :08:20.their cars in the middle of the street or a man driving a bus and
:08:21. > :08:25.stopping to shout encouragement at me so there is a different feel to
:08:26. > :08:26.this. People are more engaged and I would be surprised if the turnout is
:08:27. > :08:29.not up rather than down. He's lead the Ulster
:08:30. > :08:44.Unionists for five years. I challenge. Setting up the Victims
:08:45. > :08:48.Commissioner was difficult, they appointed four equal commissioners
:08:49. > :08:55.without consultation or morning. If there is any common thread to these
:08:56. > :08:57.things, what is a policy for the Victims Commissioner? For the Ulster
:08:58. > :09:02.Unionist Party? There was also people management. And in this job,
:09:03. > :09:08.people management is almost all-consuming. I want to do onions
:09:09. > :09:09.successfully. One seed he sowed recently
:09:10. > :09:12.was saying he would give his second The SDLP leader stopped short
:09:13. > :09:27.of returning the compliment. I think he came around to that we
:09:28. > :09:31.are thinking after a day or two and I am pleased that of people are
:09:32. > :09:34.thinking about this election, they are thinking about it other than
:09:35. > :09:40.terms of orange and green. The union is safe but it will be safer and
:09:41. > :09:42.more people are content and if they have a good devolved government
:09:43. > :09:46.working for the benefit of all people, whether Protestant or
:09:47. > :09:48.Catholic, national or unionist. Should you have joined the Alliance
:09:49. > :09:52.Party? No, I am unionist. The coming election may
:09:53. > :09:54.be his biggest challenge of all. By this time next week,
:09:55. > :09:56.the votes will have been cast and counting will be well underway
:09:57. > :09:59.in the Assembly election. We've been looking through the BBC
:10:00. > :10:02.archives and found that on this day in 1969,
:10:03. > :10:07.voters were going to the polls to elect MPs to the ill-fated
:10:08. > :10:19.Northern Ireland Parliament. All the signs are that voting in the
:10:20. > :10:19.highest political struggle in Northern Ireland's history will
:10:20. > :10:22.reach record levels. It was the first election to split
:10:23. > :10:24.the unionist vote and culminated in the resignation of the then
:10:25. > :10:27.Prime Minister, Terence O'Neill, a few months later after he almost
:10:28. > :10:30.lost his Bannside seat to Ian Back to the present day and ahead
:10:31. > :10:34.of this election next Thursday, we've been visiting various towns
:10:35. > :10:37.to gather the views of some voters. This evening, BBC Newsline's Mark
:10:38. > :10:39.Simpson has been on the doorsteps of Coalisland in the constituency
:10:40. > :10:55.of Mid Ulster. What do you make of what has
:10:56. > :10:59.happened at Stormont? Disgrace, but disgrace. There are a lot of issues
:11:00. > :11:04.to be sorted and in my view it is all one sided. The days of standing
:11:05. > :11:12.back and being locked over are long gone. It will not happen. In my
:11:13. > :11:21.view, anyway. For nationalists? Yes. Hello! How are you doing? Can I talk
:11:22. > :11:26.to you about the election? What is the big issue? Getting things are
:11:27. > :11:33.bad going again. That has to be everybody's priority. Stormont is a
:11:34. > :11:45.disgrace. That is what it is. It seems to be one-sided. The big issue
:11:46. > :11:56.is RHI. Equality. Are you going to vote? I have not decided. No. Why
:11:57. > :12:01.not? There is not much faith in politicians these days. Because they
:12:02. > :12:12.cannot agree. Two children fighting, you would separate them. Will you be
:12:13. > :12:23.voting? No. No. What about it? No. No. You will not be voting? No, no
:12:24. > :12:29.interest. People don't want the same old issues, they want to get on with
:12:30. > :12:38.their lives, they want more quality. Equality? Yes, equality, even with
:12:39. > :12:44.gay marriage, people don't want the churches running the country because
:12:45. > :12:48.that is what it seems like. That is what I call a doorbell! It has been
:12:49. > :12:53.a long time since the money has asked me for my vote. Somebody did
:12:54. > :12:57.that three years ago and I did because he wrapped my door.
:12:58. > :13:05.Politicians are not at the doors? Not mine. I want to see a quality
:13:06. > :13:13.and be able to get married in this country. I have the right like
:13:14. > :13:18.anybody else. And to be seen as not a second-class citizen because of my
:13:19. > :13:24.sexuality. If I was a politician rather than a journalist, what would
:13:25. > :13:27.you say? Get it sorted out! We are tired all the time of the same thing
:13:28. > :13:30.happening and no change. Everything should become clearer after polling
:13:31. > :13:37.day. The loss of another tree
:13:38. > :13:39.at the Dark Hedges - made famous by Game of Thrones -
:13:40. > :13:42.has led to fresh calls Only around 90 of the original 200
:13:43. > :13:50.trees are still standing. Our North East reporter,
:13:51. > :13:52.Sara Girvin, has been And another victim felled
:13:53. > :13:59.at the Dark Hedges. These trees have been
:14:00. > :14:03.here for more than 200 years, but just a few seconds on Game
:14:04. > :14:06.of Thrones saw them become More tourists means more vehicles
:14:07. > :14:12.and traffic is thought to be weakening the roots
:14:13. > :14:16.of the aging trees. These tourists agree
:14:17. > :14:27.something should be done. It is mother nature as well,
:14:28. > :14:31.something you need to look after. Protection is important to see this
:14:32. > :14:37.in the future. It is something we have to look after. He would not see
:14:38. > :14:39.this shutdown as a tourist destination but you have to take
:14:40. > :14:41.into account looking after the surroundings.
:14:42. > :14:44.There are proposals to close the road to traffic -
:14:45. > :14:48.Those who love this place say only an immediate change will guarantee
:14:49. > :14:59.These are our natural heritage and we must protect them, and building
:15:00. > :15:04.would have listed status, and these trees need to be listed and we must
:15:05. > :15:06.do all our power to ensure they are preserved and that should include
:15:07. > :15:09.restricting along this road. There are just two seasons
:15:10. > :15:11.lefts of Game of Thrones, but it's very much hoped
:15:12. > :15:14.the Dark Hedges will survive long after the programme that
:15:15. > :15:23.made them famous ends. An event for schoolgirls today in
:15:24. > :15:27.Belfast was aimed at changing that. Boys are still more likely
:15:28. > :15:30.than girls to study STEM subjects - science, technology,
:15:31. > :15:31.engineering and maths. As our education correspondent,
:15:32. > :15:33.Robbie Meredith, reports, a successful role model
:15:34. > :15:35.was the VIP. Today's experiment at
:15:36. > :15:47.Belfast Metropolitan College - Women are seen as not as clever but
:15:48. > :15:51.if we have a push more girls would do this because it is beneficial and
:15:52. > :15:55.we are just as clever. I don't think there should be preference for boys
:15:56. > :15:57.because girls are almost better. There has been an increasing number
:15:58. > :15:59.of girls taking STEM subjects at GCSE and A level in recent years,
:16:00. > :16:11.though many more boys When I started secondary school it
:16:12. > :16:15.was assumed girls were two domestic science and the boys were to
:16:16. > :16:18.science. No questions asked. That is what you did. I was not happy with
:16:19. > :16:20.that because I wanted to do science. Lurgan-born Professor
:16:21. > :16:22.Bell Burnell was once The award went to two men
:16:23. > :16:25.who worked alongside her. Although she doesn't put that down
:16:26. > :16:38.to sexism, she says attitudes If you look at other countries you
:16:39. > :16:43.will find lots of girls doing physics, engineering, science.
:16:44. > :16:46.Subjects like that. Something to do with the culture we have in the
:16:47. > :16:49.English speaking world about what is appropriate for each of the sexes.
:16:50. > :16:53.And it's women like her the next generation want to know about.
:16:54. > :17:00.If you look at the history of science it is male dominated. And to
:17:01. > :17:05.this day, men dominate this and go through it as a career and that can
:17:06. > :17:10.often be intimidating and harder for women to get in. There are not many
:17:11. > :17:14.role models in science for women to look up to. To think, I want to be
:17:15. > :17:18.like that, I want to do what they do. Because it is male dominated.
:17:19. > :17:27.Today's schoolgirls, tomorrow's scientists.
:17:28. > :17:32.For Ireland's rugby players it's their first home game in this
:17:33. > :17:36.They lie in second place in the table going into tomorrow's
:17:37. > :17:38.match against France at the Aviva Stadium.
:17:39. > :17:41.A win for Joe Schmidt's side would take them top of the table
:17:42. > :17:45.as leaders England don't play until Sunday.
:17:46. > :17:47.It promises to be an electric atmosphere in Dublin.
:17:48. > :17:56.The road to a third Six Nations title in four years has taken them
:17:57. > :18:03.to Scotland and Italy so far. Tomorrow, Joe Schmidt's side or in
:18:04. > :18:08.Dublin for the first time this year. It is great to be home, it is going
:18:09. > :18:13.to be quite a raucous environment. We have trained this week with
:18:14. > :18:19.signals instead of calls for some things because we believe it is
:18:20. > :18:22.going to be, the volume will be such that you will not be able to hear
:18:23. > :18:27.that sort of support. It lifts the team. It could be crucial against
:18:28. > :18:32.the French side who are known for the physical nature. Especially in
:18:33. > :18:36.the collision zone. The way we have performed well against France is
:18:37. > :18:41.getting physicality right. A massive French side with a lot of passion.
:18:42. > :18:44.That is the way they like to play and you must meet that and confront
:18:45. > :18:49.that and go beyond that. We cannot slip up, no second chances. They
:18:50. > :18:53.will put us under pressure and hopefully that will bring out the
:18:54. > :18:56.best. Trimble will win his 70th Irish Cup if called upon from an
:18:57. > :19:01.experienced Irish bench. Which could be the deciding factor tomorrow.
:19:02. > :19:04.Ulster take on Zebre in Italy on Sunday and Les Kiss has been able
:19:05. > :19:06.to name Jared Payne amongst the replacements in
:19:07. > :19:12.Payne has been out since he sustained a kidney injury
:19:13. > :19:14.while away on international duty in November, but he is
:19:15. > :19:20.Good news for both Ulster and, potentially, Ireland.
:19:21. > :19:22.Jonathan Rea begins the defence of his World Superbike title
:19:23. > :19:25.tomorrow as the new season begins with racing at Philip
:19:26. > :19:30.Rea, a back-to-back world champion with Kawasaki,
:19:31. > :19:34.is bidding to become the first rider ever to win three in a row.
:19:35. > :19:35.Carl Fogarty, who won four titles himself,
:19:36. > :19:43.is tipping Rea to get that special hat-trick.
:19:44. > :19:51.I feel he is the best rider Britain has got white knight in any
:19:52. > :19:55.challenger. And a really good package and a good team, he has
:19:56. > :20:01.changing like I did, too many times, it cost me. The same team, the same
:20:02. > :20:03.bike, and his talent is the reason he will win three in a row.
:20:04. > :20:05.Slaughtneil GAA club hope to make it an unprecedented treble
:20:06. > :20:07.when their hurlers attempt to match their football
:20:08. > :20:09.and camogie teams by making the All-Ireland club final.
:20:10. > :20:12.Tomorrow, Cuala from Dublin stand between them and the remarkable feat
:20:13. > :20:27.It is a young side that has had a lot of success at underage and
:20:28. > :20:30.elsewhere and they have come on leaps and bounds, getting over the
:20:31. > :20:35.hurdle of Ulster, this was massive having being pipped by crushing all
:20:36. > :20:39.recently but that galvanised us and we came back later. I am looking
:20:40. > :20:40.forward to the Cuala test and the challenge.
:20:41. > :20:42.Derry City play their first game of the new season
:20:43. > :20:44.in the Airtricity Premier tonight away to Bohemians.
:20:45. > :20:46.Tomorrow there's a full programme of fixtures
:20:47. > :20:50.Highlights of all of the games, including Glentoran v Linfield,
:20:51. > :21:06.Geoff Maskell has the weekend weather forecast.
:21:07. > :21:13.The weather is going downhill this weekend, like today. We started off
:21:14. > :21:19.on a promising note, the weather watcher was in Lambeg with this
:21:20. > :21:23.beautiful shot of the clear blue skies but it did not take long for
:21:24. > :21:27.those guys to cloud over and the rain to moving from the West and
:21:28. > :21:33.overnight. It will be a wet and windy night. I'll be at, one where
:21:34. > :21:40.we draw in milder air from the south-west. Not as cold tonight, no
:21:41. > :21:45.chance of frost, with all that rain. Quite breezy in terms of the North
:21:46. > :21:48.West headlines and we could see gale force winds and a wet and windy
:21:49. > :21:54.start to the weekend, this is a picture on Saturday morning as the
:21:55. > :22:00.rain continues to pile in and we can see those wind gauges, lively stuff.
:22:01. > :22:03.Once the rain goes through, we have the warmest temperatures and we get
:22:04. > :22:09.clearer skies through the afternoon. By the time we get to dusk,
:22:10. > :22:12.temperatures dropping away, maybe 7 degrees before dark. Secondly, the
:22:13. > :22:20.most usable part of the weekend in terms of getting out and about.
:22:21. > :22:23.Relatively chilly on Saturday to Sunday, temperatures dropping away,
:22:24. > :22:27.hovering above freezing in rural spots before the rain comes in.
:22:28. > :22:31.Lively weather systems in the Atlantic at the moment, tightly
:22:32. > :22:36.packed isobars sign of the strong winds we will see through the next
:22:37. > :22:42.readers. They will dry more rain through Saturday morning and a
:22:43. > :22:46.reasonably chilly feel to the day once that rain has gone through.
:22:47. > :22:52.Into next week, it will be still breezy but getting cooler so where
:22:53. > :22:57.we have seen temperatures in double figures through the weekend, by
:22:58. > :23:00.Monday, six or 7 degrees is more the case and it is not until the middle
:23:01. > :23:01.of next week that we start to see something more settled. Beautiful
:23:02. > :23:03.snowdrops. You can also keep in contact with us
:23:04. > :23:09.via Facebook and Twitter.