20/09/2016 BBC Newsline

The Ryanair boss has accused the Executive of hampering airport

growth in Northern Ireland by not scrapping or cutting

Michael O'Leary questioned the wisdom of recent rescue deals

for the Belfast/New York route, as well as for

Our business correspondent Julian O'Neill has more.

The vast majority of Northern Ireland flights

are taxed at ?13 - money we pay added

A better use of money - he argues - than the recent ?9 million subsidy

for United Airlines and its Belfast-New York flight.

Subsidising a rich American airline which will stay here for as long

as it gets the subsidy and the day the subsidy ends will leave is not

a sensible use of scarce resources here in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Executive have got to get rid of it.

But the figures do not make it so straightforward.

Removing all tax has been estimated at costing the Executive

at least ?55 million, as it has to cover the loss

The recent rescue packages to United and to City of Derry Airport total

?16 million, and not all of it is public money.

Total abolition would require more cash.

But Mr O'Leary believes at least some intervention is needed

to support airport growth and, in the case of Derry,

to keep what few Ryanair services which remain there.

We are guaranteeing that we will continue the Derry services

to Glasgow and Liverpool for summer 2017, but unless there is some

movement here on the APD taxes I think it is inevitable over time

that the Glasgow and Liverpool services will migrate to Aldergrove.

Mr O'Leary was in Northern Ireland to talk about Ryanair schedules out

of Belfast International, and said the uncertainty of Brexit

For the foreseeable future, expansion will be concentrated

The Westminster Government has said it will step in to give financial

support to the Londonderry to London air route out of Derry City Airport.

It follows Ryanair's decision to end its service

The money will be in addition to assistance the Executive

The multiple medal-winning Paralympic swimmer Bethany Firth has

received a heroes' welcome on her return to Northern Ireland.

The County Down woman was Paralympic GB's most successful competitor

Normally Hollywood actress Kim Cattrall of Sex And The City

fame is the centre of attention when she walks through an airport.

This was the superstar everyone was gathered to see.

Happy to be home, the biggest welcome for Paralympic golden girl

It was hard to know who was happier to see who.

I am so overwhelmed and I was very emotional to see everyone

I went off social media so I didn't get to see all the support,

so I can't wait to go home and look at it.

Maybe it was Russell who was happiest to see you?

So much, I have been away from home for so long,

Now I just get time with him which will be so good.

I know when you're out there in Rio you had so many messages of support,

what would you like to say to everyone who was in touch

It brought a little bit of Northern Ireland to Rio for me.

I loved that so much and I couldn't have done it

It is hard to believe that Bethany only took up swimming

seven years ago as a way of overcoming her fear of water.

Mum thought we would have difficulty.

She had packed two swimsuits thinking Bethany would hide one

of them, but we got her into the pool and she went up like a fish,

The magnitude of her success, three gold medals and one silver

saw her return as Paralympic GB's most successful competitor.

In her four races she had three PBs, and the only one she didn't,

she had a tummy upset that day, though she still won it comfortably.

It is a hard question to ask at the moment but she has four gold

She should be able to go on for at least two more Games

She should be more in her prime even in four years' time than now.

First, a well-deserved holiday for the local star

The Justice Minister has told MLAs that prison officers in Maghaberry

were not equipped to deal with a mentally ill inmate

Claire Sugden also accepted that the Prisoner Ombudsman

report into Sean Lynch's treatment was damning.

It found that two prison officers watched as the 23-year-old injured

I have had a conversation about it, over more than an hour.

I have had a conversation about it, and I think, moving forward, we need

to look at staff training. This was an exceptional mental health case,

but, to be honest, our officers were not equipped to deal with that

exceptional case. Moving forward, we need to look at how better to equip

our officers to deal with these cases. Severe lessons have been

learned. A man who says he was a former agent

within the IRA and Sinn Fein will feature in tonight's Spotlight

investigation into the secret The programme will also broadcast

new revelations on the so-called Stormontgate affair and murder

of Denis Donaldson. You can see more on that

here on BBC One, after this news. Footage of two people

narrowly avoiding being hit by the Londonderry to Belfast train

as it passes through a tunnel has The company say that over the summer

there have been more than 300 incidents of pedestrians

wandering onto train lines. A lifeguard on duty

has seen trespassers. And as the train flies

on into the tunnel, this. The two people can be seen running

by the tracks. They narrowly escape

being hit by the train. It takes almost 17 seconds

for the train to stop There were more than 300 incidents

of trespassing on the railway lines They include people using the tracks

and tunnels as a shortcut, people playing chicken

on the tracks and people trying to touch trains

as they fly through stations. Translink is warning that doing any

of these things could have The message to people

is clear and simple - If you play on the railway,

there's a chance that you will get hit by a train and you could be

injured and killed. Modern trains are faster

and quieter, making it harder for people

to hear them coming ahead. It also means there's less time

for drivers to take action The trains go at 90mph

on the network, and their stopping distance could be up to three

quarters of a mile. So, really, it's very,

very difficult for a driver to be able to see somebody and to be able

to stop the train in advance. Translink says the problem

of trespassing often increases during the summer, but steps have

been taken to try to reduce trespass, and people will be

prosecuted where possible. These two people were lucky to get

away with just scratches. The company is warning the next ones

may not be so lucky. A major office development next

to Belfast Central Station has been given the go-ahead

by the City Council's The Kilmona Group intends to build

around 300,000 square feet of office space,

spread across four blocks. Some residents in the nearby Markets

area have objected to the scheme, saying it will overshadow

their homes and add A former police woman

from County Tyrone has denied causing the death of a man

by dangerous driving It follows a fatal crash

in Omagh last October. 41-year-old Eilish MacSherry

leaving court in Dungannon She was a serving off-duty PSNI

officer at the time of the fatal Two vehicles were involved

in a head-on collision. 49-year-old Paul Mills,

a father of two from In the dock today, she was quite

emotional and she choked back tears She pleaded not guilty to causing

death by dangerous driving dangerous driving on the Clanabogan

Road, failing to stop at the scene of an accident,

and driving while unfit Her defence barrister told the court

that he had no instructions to challenge the primary facts

of the case. He said that his principal issue

of concern was MacSherry's state of mind on the night

of the fatal collision. The case was adjourned for four

weeks for medical reports. Three jobs and benefits offices

are under threat in Cookstown, The Department of Communities says

it's holding a public consultation It also said there are no plans

for any redundancies, and where there is a need to reduce

staff, they will be offered suitable posts in another

part of the department. BBC Northern Ireland drama The Fall

is back on our screens later this month, but one of its stars -

Jamie Dornan - has been keeping busy His latest film tells the story

of Irish troops who find themselves under siege in the Congo

in 1961 during a The Holywood actor has been

cast as an Irish soldier You're just trying to train up and

look good, but you also have to learn it. Leave it behind for the

boys, because they were naive to the wall. After two weeks in boot camp,

the most valuable part was just bonding with the lads. As of the ten

principal cast, most of's were Irish. The Irish guys bonded quicker

than the English ones! Football now, and Ballymena United

beat Harland and Wolff Welders 3-0 in the first round of

the County Antrim Shield. Tony Kane opened the scoring

from the penalty spot, before Johnny McMurray

grabbed the second And a mistake in the Welders defence

let Cathair Friel in for the third. A full list of the rest

of tonight's local results can be found on the

BBC Sport NI website. It was a lovely sunny day today,

how long will it continue? Here's Angie with the weather

for the next few days. Good evening. We have some rain

heading our way tomorrow afternoon. Before that, mainly dry. Available

amounts of clouds, the breeze picking up and cloud breaking.

Spells in rural areas dropping into single figures. The weather

continues to pick up ahead of a weather front bringing that spell of

rain. Not too bad during the morning, though we have that

increasing wind. Dry and sunny spells, the best across central and

eastern areas. I mainly dry, bright start, and elsewhere across Britain

a fair the to begin with, and mist that will gradually lift. A few

showers, particularly for Wales, central and western England, some of

them could be sharp. The best of the sunshine in Scotland and eastern

England. Temperatures getting into the low 20s. Towards the west, this

band of wet and windy weather moving eastwards across the remainder of

Northern Ireland during the afternoon. Persistent and heavy, not

nice and eastern areas in the evening. Brightening up in the west,

feeling cooler, temperatures around 14 degrees. A cold night with

lighter winds tomorrow all and then the breeze picks up, many parts dry

with bright spells. Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25am

during Breakfast, here on BBC One. You can also keep updated

with News Online. 50 years ago,

they became superstars in astronomy, They represent the most productive

period astronomy has ever had. And now,

they're taking an anniversary trip.