Browse content similar to 08/03/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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This is BBC Newsline with Tara Mills. | :00:14. | :00:15. | |
A murder suspect is on the run after being released by mistake | :00:16. | :00:19. | |
The talks continue at Stormont with this note of urgency from | :00:20. | :00:25. | |
the Irish Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan. | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
We are operating under a very strict timeframe. I detect a willingness on | :00:32. | :00:41. | |
the part of all parties involved to sit down, engage constructively. | :00:42. | :00:48. | |
Threats against the former Ulster Unionist MLA Jenny Palmer, | :00:49. | :00:50. | |
Jenny is worried, not just for herself, she's bearing the | :00:51. | :00:58. | |
responsibility for her husband and children. | :00:59. | :01:10. | |
Ireland and Wales are both unchanged for Friday evening's Six Nations | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
showdown in Cardiff. It's been a lovely day today and | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
another decent day to come tomorrow. I will have the full forecast just | :01:17. | :01:18. | |
before 7pm. A man who's on remand accused | :01:19. | :01:25. | |
of murder has been released 38-year-old Michael Lawrence Smith, | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
who's been described by police as dangerous, was last seen | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
in the Belfast area on Tuesday. The police have taken | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
the unusual step to publish his photograph and make an appeal | :01:37. | :01:43. | |
for his whereabouts. They say he's dangerous with | :01:44. | :01:45. | |
an extensive history of violence. He was last seen in the Belfast area | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
around 2pm yesterday afternoon. Michael Smith applied for bail two | :01:49. | :02:01. | |
days ago via video link. It was refused. The police say he was freed | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
by mistake. The Prison Service say they're investigating. | :02:06. | :02:08. | |
We have a number of lines of inquiry we are following. Detectives are | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
doing at the minute. And I hope that some of them will maybe lead to us | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
Michael Smith, but it is about members of the public, if they see | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
him at all, or if he himself is watching, that he would give himself | :02:21. | :02:21. | |
up. He's awaiting trial accused | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
of murdering a 28-year-old man at Walmer Street off | :02:27. | :02:27. | |
the Ormeau Road last year. Stephen Carson was killed | :02:28. | :02:30. | |
while he was eating dinner with his partner and nine-year-old | :02:31. | :02:32. | |
son at their home in Walmer Street. The victim tried | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
to hide but was shot The police are urging the public not | :02:36. | :02:37. | |
to approach the prisoner The Irish Foreign Affairs Minister | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
Charlie Flanagan has warned that the political talks at Stormont | :02:42. | :02:48. | |
are operating under He held talks today with some | :02:49. | :02:50. | |
of the parties and the Secretary The DUP leader, Arlene Foster, | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
says Sinn Fein has not raised the issue of her stepping aside | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
in either of the two Here is our political | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
correspondent Stephen Walker. And seasonal change is clearly | :03:06. | :03:08. | |
on display at Stormont. But what of the political | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
temperature? Today, Charlie Flanagan, | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
the Irish Foreign Affairs Minister, We are operating under a very strict | :03:19. | :03:31. | |
time frame. I detect a willingness on the part of all parties involved | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
to sit down, engage constructively on what is a challenge. | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
Charlie Flanagan's meetings included talks with the DUP leader | :03:40. | :03:41. | |
Arlene Foster who met him with the Secretary of | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
Afterwards Arlene Foster suggested that Sinn Fein had not | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
Well, maybe they didn't feel they had to, Mark. I am not saying that | :03:50. | :04:00. | |
it's not an issue for them. It may well be an issue for them but as I | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
have always said, if we get into a situation when we are telling each | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
other's parties who we should nom thought that becomes dangerous | :04:12. | :04:12. | |
because we will obviously want to have an indication around Sinn Fein | :04:13. | :04:14. | |
as to who they nominate. . All the parties | :04:15. | :04:17. | |
had a series of meetings today Sinn Fein insist when it comes | :04:18. | :04:19. | |
to legacy matters the discussions What I am interested in is action. | :04:20. | :04:32. | |
Bewe need to see delivery. The public rightly are demanding | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
delivery on equality issues, on the legacy issues. That's what we are | :04:36. | :04:38. | |
interested in and that's what we are putting all of our efforts into | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
dealing with these issues. We don't want to go through the process of | :04:42. | :04:44. | |
meetings after meetings. We need to see action. We need to see delivery | :04:45. | :04:45. | |
on these keyish use. On legacy, the SDLP say this | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
is the time to strike a deal. Let's make sure that the Irish | :04:50. | :04:56. | |
Government are fully involved and that the victims and survivors are | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
fully involved, as well. We know how to make progress on legacy, it needs | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
people now to move a bit and be prepared to open up the books around | :05:06. | :05:06. | |
what happened in the past. For James Brokenshire it has | :05:07. | :05:09. | |
been a busy few hours. He began it in London on Budget Day | :05:10. | :05:11. | |
and ended it in Belfast. There have been helpful discussions | :05:12. | :05:20. | |
that have taken place over recent days. And a real commitment that I | :05:21. | :05:27. | |
have discerned from the parties to get back into Government, to get | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
back into an Executive. With the involvement of two | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
governments and the parties it is inevitable there are going to be | :05:35. | :05:37. | |
many, many meetings. The The Irish Foreign Minister, | :05:38. | :05:40. | |
Charlie Flanagan, was unable to see was unable to see | :05:41. | :05:43. | |
The everyone he wanted so he will stay | :05:44. | :05:44. | |
in Belfast and tomorrow Police are investigating threats | :05:45. | :05:47. | |
made on social media against the former UUP MLA Jenny | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
Palmer. Ms Palmer lost her seat | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
in Lagan Valley last week. The threat, which was made | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
on Facebook, told her to leave I give notice the following | :06:03. | :06:04. | |
candidates are deemed elected... Jenny Palmer wasn't | :06:05. | :06:14. | |
on the stage when the results That's because she lost her | :06:15. | :06:16. | |
Lagan Valley seat less than a year Like all politicians she's had | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
to face her fair share But on Monday evening she received | :06:21. | :06:23. | |
a particularly threatening message which told her and her husband | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
to leave their home. I have spoken at length | :06:28. | :06:35. | |
to Jenny Palmer today but she says she's too upset to do a television | :06:36. | :06:38. | |
interview and she wants to wait for the outcome | :06:39. | :06:40. | |
of a police investigation. The police say those | :06:41. | :06:42. | |
inquiries are ongoing. In the meantime, her party | :06:43. | :06:45. | |
colleagues have rallied around. Jenny is very worried at the moment, | :06:46. | :06:55. | |
not just for herself, she obviously is bearing the responsibility for | :06:56. | :06:58. | |
her husband and their children. Some of the threats that were made were | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
specific and some of the details put on social media would add to that | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
worry for her. So she's genuinely concerned for her own safety and | :07:08. | :07:08. | |
that of her family. The person behind the message | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
claimed Jenny Palmer Three unionists were returned | :07:12. | :07:13. | |
in Lagan Valley where there had But all local representatives say | :07:14. | :07:16. | |
there is no excuse for such threats. Politics is about democracy. People | :07:17. | :07:27. | |
make a democratic decision. You can be annoyed about it, you can be | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
angry, that does not give you any right whatsoever to threaten another | :07:33. | :07:35. | |
individual. I totally and wholeheartedly condemn it. Social | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
media is a valuable tool for politicians and also a tool to be | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
used against politicians and anybody else in public life. We have to | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
suffer these things. But this is particularly disgusting. | :07:46. | :07:48. | |
Jenny Palmer's political career has been anything | :07:49. | :07:50. | |
She left the DUP to join the UUP after bullying claims. | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
Defeat last week came only months after she joined the Assembly. | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
And now threats which have left her badly shaken. | :07:59. | :08:01. | |
Despite all this, she says she isn't finished with politics yet. | :08:02. | :08:09. | |
A scheme which was to allow older teachers to take early retirement | :08:10. | :08:12. | |
and be replaced by those more recently qualified has | :08:13. | :08:14. | |
just been suspended by the Department of Education. | :08:15. | :08:21. | |
It means that around 100 teachers who expected to retire this | :08:22. | :08:24. | |
Our education correspondent Robbie Meredith is outside the department | :08:25. | :08:27. | |
This scheme has been dogged by problems in the detail. Yes, it was | :08:28. | :08:39. | |
initially announced by John O Dowd in 2015, he wanted to created up to | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
500 jobs by allowing the same number of senior teachers to retire early. | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
It didn't get off the ground because there were disagreements, especially | :08:50. | :08:52. | |
over just how newly qualified a young teacher would have to be to | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
apply for a job under the scheme. When Peter Weir became Education | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
Minister he introduced a slimmed down version. In that, 120 teachers | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
aged between 55-60 would be able to retire this year. Schools had to | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
replace them with 120 young teachers who had qualified since 2012. | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
Eventually that would save ?8 million from the education budget. | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
Why has it been suspended now? Well, it's facing a legal challenge from a | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
teacher who says that 2012 cut-off means they can't apply for a job | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
under the scheme because they qualified before that. They're | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
saying that's unlawful, age-related discrimination. The department are | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
challenging that. But the judicial review into the scheme isn't due to | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
take place until May this year. The department says no matter what the | :09:47. | :09:48. | |
outcome that means there isn't enough time for the scheme to go | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
ahead this school year. That will have serious consequences? | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
It will. This scheme had been in train since last autumn so around | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
100 teachers who had been told they could retire this summer will have | :10:04. | :10:06. | |
been getting calls and e-mail this is afternoon to say that's not going | :10:07. | :10:09. | |
to happen, you will have to change your plans. Also, schools were set | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
to recruit young teachers to replace them, they're now going to stop that | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
process. That means fewer jobs for young teachers this year. Finally, | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
this scheme would have saved schools a significant amount of money by | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
allowing them to replace a senior teacher with a younger one further | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
down the pay scale. According to five figures according to one | :10:31. | :10:33. | |
principal I spoke to this afternoon. There is a triple whammy from the | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
suspension of this scheme today. Thank you. | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
Some self-employed people are facing a higher tax bill as a result | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
He's increasing their National Insurance contributions. | :10:43. | :10:44. | |
Our economics and business editor John Campbell is here. | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
Recap what national insurance is. For the purpose of this discussion | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
we should think of national insurance as a form of income tax | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
that you start paying when your annual salary reaches about ?8,000. | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
If you look at the numbers. If you are an employee, so you are not | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
self-employed, employed by somebody else, you pay national insurance at | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
a rate of 12%. However, if you are self-employed you pay at a lower | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
rate, 9% at the moment and it's that that's going up, up to 10% next year | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
and 11% the following year. There you have it. An effective tax rise | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
for self-employed people. The self-employed tend to be in | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
different sectors, for example, in arts and entertainment, it is full | :11:27. | :11:29. | |
of freeLancers and somebody from that world speaking today said | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
people are worried. I think it's going to have a huge impact. Artists | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
and the freelance self-employed that support the arts sector are already | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
some of the lowest paid members of society with 80% earning less than | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
?10,000 a year. So any small increase in tax on national | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
insurance is going to have a disproportionate effect of the | :11:52. | :11:54. | |
lowest paid people of society already at a disadvantage to those | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
who are employed, with lack of benefits such as maternity and sick | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
pay and holiday pay. I should put minds at rest there, this won't | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
largely hit the lower paid self-employed people. So, those | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
people on lower self-employed salaries, or profits, don't need to | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
worry too much. The Government say some of those self-employed below | :12:19. | :12:21. | |
16,000 pz a year will probably be better off. They say is when you | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
combine this with changes to the income tax system, it is really only | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
going to have an impact on people who have self-employed profits of | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
around ?33,000 a year. It is that sector who will end up paying more. | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
It is those up the higher end of the self-employed scale. How many people | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
are self-employed here? Well, it's about 15% of the working population. | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
If we look at the figures again. We can see it equates to about 130,000 | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
people, just over 15%. That's of the total workforce. Where those numbers | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
are concentrated is in the construction sector, about one in | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
five construction workers are self-employed. We are expected to | :13:02. | :13:04. | |
have the biggest impact there. Thank you very much. | :13:05. | :13:06. | |
Firmus energy has announced it will put up gas prices by more | :13:07. | :13:09. | |
The company supplies around 50,000 customers in the greater Belfast | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
The hike means a typical household customer will see gas | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
The company says the price rise reflects the rising wholesale | :13:21. | :13:27. | |
Still to come on the programme: Over the bridge. An East Belfast honour | :13:28. | :13:37. | |
for the late Belfast actor Jimmy Ellis. | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
A woman and two young girls, aged two and three, have died | :13:43. | :13:45. | |
in a fire at a women's refuge in Dublin. | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
This report from our Dublin correspondent, Shane Harrison. | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
It was on the first floor of this apartment building - | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
a women's refuge centre - in Clondalkin that emergency | :13:59. | :14:01. | |
services were called to at half past two this morning. | :14:02. | :14:03. | |
A fire that resulted in the deaths of a woman | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
The scene is sealed off, there is going to be a full investigation | :14:09. | :14:18. | |
into relation to it. We are going to liaise with all the relevant | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
authorities. At the moment we are keeping an open mind on the | :14:22. | :14:22. | |
incident. that the woman who died | :14:23. | :14:24. | |
was heavily pregnant. Another woman and a 4-year-old boy | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
in the apartment at the time are said to be | :14:31. | :14:33. | |
in a critical condition. The building - described | :14:34. | :14:35. | |
as supported housing - was run by the domestic | :14:36. | :14:37. | |
violence charity Sonas. We want to express our absolute | :14:38. | :14:46. | |
condolences and search thees to the families, relatives, friends of all | :14:47. | :14:49. | |
those who lost their lives and all those affected. As it stands right | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
now, we have no further details and are awaiting details from the | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
Gardai. We will obviously work with all relevant authorities to pursue | :15:00. | :15:02. | |
any inquiries that may emerge. It may be sometime before the cause of | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
the fatal fire is known. But there is a suspicion of a faulty domestic | :15:07. | :15:15. | |
appliance may have been responsible. It's justice been confirmed that a | :15:16. | :15:18. | |
four-year-old boy became the fourth victim of the blaze. | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
A County Tyrone cattle dealer who scammed an 83-year-old | :15:24. | :15:25. | |
farmer has been given a suspended prison sentence. | :15:26. | :15:27. | |
A judge told David Lee he'd also shown complete disregard for rules | :15:28. | :15:30. | |
Our agriculture correspondent Conor Macauley reports. | :15:31. | :15:39. | |
Patrick McGorrey and his son James had arranged to buy 8 cattle, | :15:40. | :15:42. | |
but they didn't know the seller was planning to scam them. | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
83-year-old Patrick was at home alone after dark, when the dealer | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
arrived unexpectedly to deliver them - with two extra | :15:52. | :15:53. | |
The cattle cost ?4,000 but weren't what had been ordered. | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
And some were sick, leaving the family with a ?2,000 vet bill. | :15:59. | :16:07. | |
You have a father, you adore and respect your father. You know, he is | :16:08. | :16:15. | |
an old man now. You have to respect that but to take advantage of an | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
older man, they don't think, people don't think that in life they get | :16:21. | :16:22. | |
old themselves. 56-year-old David Lee | :16:23. | :16:24. | |
of Carrickaness Road, Dungannon, was convicted of fraud and pleaded | :16:25. | :16:35. | |
guilty 14 charges of failing to keep the rules around animal | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
sales and movements - rules put in place to protect | :16:39. | :16:40. | |
the food chain, human The judge said he found it alarming | :16:41. | :16:48. | |
that someone like him could be heavily involved in cattle dealing. | :16:49. | :16:51. | |
The court heard he sold 3,000 animals in a ten-month period. | :16:52. | :16:54. | |
Breaking the rules is taken seriously by the department. | :16:55. | :16:57. | |
It undermines the integrity of animal traceability | :16:58. | :16:59. | |
which is the bedrock of Northern Ireland's reputation | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
Traceability is of vital importance to provide food chain information | :17:04. | :17:12. | |
from the farm to the fork, right through the food chain to give | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
assurance to the consumers that the food they eat is fit for human | :17:17. | :17:17. | |
consumption. Patrick McGorrey back | :17:18. | :17:20. | |
the ?6,000 he cost him, but he's planning to appeal | :17:21. | :17:31. | |
his fraud conviction. Effectively delaying | :17:32. | :17:33. | |
the compensation payment. More details about the revised plan | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
for developing the Casement Park GAA stadium in West Belfast | :17:39. | :17:41. | |
have been revealed. The project has been the subject | :17:42. | :17:43. | |
of fierce opposition over the past number of years by some residents | :17:44. | :17:46. | |
who live in the area objecting The latest plan for | :17:47. | :17:48. | |
the redevelopment of Casement park Now some of the new features of that | :17:49. | :17:57. | |
plan have been revealed. These include LED lighting | :17:58. | :18:07. | |
on the stadium canopy so that it can The GAA's latest application | :18:08. | :18:10. | |
would have a spectator capacity of just over 34,000 - | :18:11. | :18:13. | |
down by almost 4 thousand on the original plan however this | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
is still around ten thousand more spectators than what some residents | :18:17. | :18:19. | |
in the area would like. The plan also outlines new "park | :18:20. | :18:21. | |
and ride" transport measures aimed at reducing congestion and these | :18:22. | :18:24. | |
would involve spectators parking at Boucher Road playing | :18:25. | :18:27. | |
fields, the Maze site Last October saw the stadium design | :18:28. | :18:29. | |
reducing its height, While the GAA says the latest plans | :18:30. | :18:35. | |
have received a positive report from the Safety Technical Group, | :18:36. | :18:43. | |
which advises on the construction The STG has raised concerns around | :18:44. | :18:46. | |
the potential interaction between pedestrians and emergency | :18:47. | :18:49. | |
vehicles in the vicinity of Casement One of our best-known actors has had | :18:50. | :18:51. | |
a bridge in East belfast The Jimmy Ellis Bridge | :18:52. | :19:01. | |
is part of the latest phase of the Connswater Community Greenway | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
- a wildlife and cycle corridor stretching from Belfast Lough | :19:07. | :19:08. | |
to the Castlereagh Hills. East Belfast has long | :19:09. | :19:10. | |
been Northern Ireland's The Connswater Community | :19:11. | :19:17. | |
Greenway aims to provide the city with lungs - | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
a place for people and When completed later this year it | :19:24. | :19:26. | |
will provide 16 kilometres 23 bridges have been built | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
or improved, the latest named after actor Jimmy Ellis remembered | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
fondly for his part Let me tell you I have been promoted | :19:37. | :19:38. | |
to crime patrol. East Belfast was where Jimmy Ellis | :19:39. | :19:52. | |
was born and went to school. His family home is metres from the | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
bridge so we were delighted when his family agreed to open it with us | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
today. But we have been out to the public to name the bridges and links | :20:05. | :20:11. | |
and Jimmy Ellis came out tops. That will be the Fenian blood in her... | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
If Z Cars brought Jimmy Ellis national fame, his participation | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
in the Billy Plays and Across the Bridge had more profound meaning | :20:19. | :20:21. | |
for audiences here, the place he always counted as home. | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
Today, Jimmy Ellis's family joined people from East Belfast | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
Despite his later acting years I think he was most proud of putting | :20:30. | :20:41. | |
on Over The Bridge with Sam Thompson which was about the sectarianism in | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
the shipyards and a plea for tolerance and people to stick | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
together. The fact a physical bridge is here next to Sam Thompson's | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
physical bridge when they put on a play called Over The Bridge about | :20:53. | :20:55. | |
bridge-building between communities and religious groups is incredibly | :20:56. | :20:58. | |
apt and incredibly apt in the times we live in today, as well. | :20:59. | :21:01. | |
Three years to the day after his death and East Belfast has | :21:02. | :21:04. | |
now provided a lasting memory to one of its favourite sons. | :21:05. | :21:11. | |
The Ireland team to play Wales in the Six Nations Now:. | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
Mark Sidebottom is here with this evening's sport. | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
Both sides declared their hands today ahead of the match in Cardiff. | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
Wales, despite losing to Scotland and England, | :21:24. | :21:25. | |
Niall Foster has spent the day at the Ireland | :21:26. | :21:34. | |
It's a case of as you were for Ireland as the coach named an | :21:35. | :21:42. | |
unchanged starting 15 for the first time in his four-years in charge. | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
It's a luxury that you don't often get in championship rugby because | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
France, Wales, England, Scotland, they're all so competitive and going | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
ahead now to Wales with an unchanged team it's very much the same for | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
them. They've an unchanged squad through to number 23, so they will | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
have that same continuity. It's challenging and it's Six Nations | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
championship rugby really. Rory Best will captain the side with | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
Jonny Sexton retaining his position ahead of Paddy Jackson who will be | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
joined on the replacements by Ian Henderson and a name familiar with | :22:22. | :22:29. | |
the principality stadium. He's not going to get the Ulsterman! | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
Tommy has trained really well. I think his last couple of games for | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
Ulster have been incrementally improving and some of the things we | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
have asked off him we have seen in what he is doing. Also I think in | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
the context of what we think Wales will bring, Tommy is so strong in | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
the year that his experience as well, it was a good decision in this | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
context. Whether the roof at the Welsh capital's famous stadium will | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
be open or closed for Ireland's first ever Friday night Six Nations | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
fixture, is yet to be decided but one thing is for sure, the | :23:05. | :23:06. | |
atmosphere will be on fire. Meanwhile, Ulster have | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
signed prop Schalk van der The 26-year-old South African moves | :23:12. | :23:13. | |
to Belfast this summer. He weighs in at eight stone three | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
pounds, he's potentially one fight who tops the bill at the Waterfront | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
Hall in Belfast this Friday evening After 18 fights and 18 wins it's all | :23:24. | :23:38. | |
about titles now for Jaime jib conlan, 2017 could be the defining | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
year for his career. All I got to do is keep winning, managers and | :23:43. | :23:45. | |
promoters have to do their job and keep getting me bigger fights and | :23:46. | :23:48. | |
hopefully a world title at the end of it. But my job that I can do is | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
win. In terms that was world title there's been talk about a number of | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
times with you, when do you see that happening? I think the deal is | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
already done. It's about a waiting game now it seems. Hopefully it's | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
happening at the end of May. The bill was put back from its | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
original date in February because conlan picked up a chest infection. | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
A change that impacted one of the under card boxers more than most. I | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
was due to get married the day after the fight which was an exciting | :24:20. | :24:26. | |
time, I was in camp the whole way prior to the fight and then before | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
we got the news I had to come home, get married. And to the delight of | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
my new wife, go back out to camp the next two days later, I think it was. | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
So, I think I have been married and been home for about two days. How | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
has she taken it? She's brilliant, takes me well, gives me a bit of | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
stick. I would say I am on dishes duty for about the next year when I | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
get home. The washing up can wait. Ward is hoping to clean up in the | :24:52. | :24:52. | |
ring to celebrate in style. Finally this evening, in a first, | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
a lifeboat took centre stage at Croke Park in Dublin today | :24:59. | :25:00. | |
where a joint initiative saw Stars from hurling and football took | :25:01. | :25:03. | |
the plunge into a shock pool. The campaign's aim is to reduce | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
the number of drownings That's the sport. Thank you. | :25:11. | :25:18. | |
Straight to the weather now. Is spring going to hang around? | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
It certainly is. Hasn't it been a beautiful day? Such a joy to get to | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
see a little bit of sunshine this morning. | :25:26. | :25:28. | |
And it is going to be another great day tomorrow. | :25:29. | :25:30. | |
This was the scene in Belfast this morning. | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
Maybe too much breeze on the north coast for everyone to have a great | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
day. But we will see more blue skies tomorrow. | :25:40. | :25:42. | |
Tonight a bit of rain in the forecast, just along the north | :25:43. | :25:45. | |
coast. Further inland things staying dry. Clearing skies and temperatures | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
could get cooler tonight. Tomorrow another very good day. It's going to | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
be dry and mild. There will be a bit more cloud around through the day. | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
That's not the story in the morning. The morning is going to be more of | :25:59. | :26:01. | |
the same. Bright weather, top temperatures ten or 11. | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
We saw the magic 14 in Newcastle this afternoon. I don't think we | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
will get up to those heights tomorrow. Through the afternoon | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
increasingly you are going to notice skies clouding over. That's a sign | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
of what is to come. A weather front is moving in from the south-west and | :26:21. | :26:23. | |
through the evening and overnight that will spread to all parts and | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
bring rain. That weather front introduces some more mild air with | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
it. It means that on Friday and Saturday we are in this triangle of | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
mild air, we are going to see a rather different feeling day. It's | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
going to be grey on Friday, cloudy and drizzly for a time. That light | :26:40. | :26:45. | |
rain never very far away. But the temperatures holding up really | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
rather well, despite that. Because we are drawing in mild air from the | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
south, even without the benefit of plenty of sunshine, we will still | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
see temperatures of 11 or 12, which for early March is still pretty | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
good. Friday is really the only grey day. For the rest, it's starting to | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
feel a bit like spring. No complaints about that, Geoff, thank | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
you. I will be back with our late news at 10. 30pm. | :27:12. | :27:13. |