04/01/2017 BBC Newsline

Hello and welcome to BBC Newsline. News

The DUP say they're working on emergency legislation to deal

with the overspend of the renewable heat incentive scheme.

They want to recall the Assembly next week, and economy minister

Simon Hamilton says they'll seek approval for proposals that

would reduce the cost to the Northern Ireland budget

to zero from the current projected overspend of nearly half a billion

But already Sinn Fein have given the suggestions a chilly response,

with finance minister Mairtin O Muilleoir saying he's

Earlier, I heard from our business correspondent, Julian O'Neill

This is a 20 year scheme which at the moment is projected to cost one

billion. Now, more than half of that, about 600 will be coming

directly from the Treasury, so not out of the Northern Ireland budget,

funded directly from London. Here is where the problem lies, a projected

overspend of 400. And it is that which the DUP now intends to

eliminate altogether. -- almost ?500 million. Their plan is to introduce

emergency legislation which would redraw the highly lucrative tariff

rates currently being received by about 1800 RHI beneficiaries. Now,

this is in the early stages. It still needs Sinn Fein's endorsement,

is my understanding, but the economy minister believes the plan offers

the real prospect of correcting a huge financial mess. We have come up

with that idea, it is an option that is being seriously considered. I

want to develop that further, put that to the Executive in the coming

days and bring it back to the Assembly for approval and get this

measure moving forward which will reduce the cost potentially down to

zero. Well the Sinn Fein finance minister,

Mairtin O Muilleoir, says his party has not received

a scrap of paper from the DUP detailing their plans,

and he's bemused that they announced them through the media,

rather than contacting him. I have no idea what is in this plan

but what I would say is this, to all those who are concerned about the

loss of money from our age DUP is in a whole. They should stop digging,

share whatever option or plant may have got, do it now, but nobody

should think within the DUP that they will budge the Department of

Finance in clearly within a do or two days a plan to sort out a ?600

million mess which they created. The First Minister Arlene Foster has

again rejected calls In an interview with Sky News,

she claimed some of the calls for her to go were made

because she's a woman, and her political rivals were trying

to remove a strong unionist leader. But the claims have been heavily

criticised by her opponents. Our political correspondent

Gareth Gordon reports. It is more than a fortnight since

we saw Arlene Foster in public. Since then, calls

for her to step aside Today, she said much of that was

down to the fact she is a woman. Oh, I think there is

a lot of it personal, sadly misogynistic as well, because

I am a female, the first female leader of Northern Ireland,

so I firmly believe I have come through a lot worse

than venomous attacks and I intend to continue

to lead. All of the other parties in

the Assembly have called for her to go, but she singled out her

Executive partners, Sinn Fein. It is no secret that

during my childhood secret that in the past

my father, it is no So, do I really think

that I am going to step aside at the

behest of Sinn Fein? I am here because

the electorate that There has not even been

an investigation into this The Public Accounts Committee

have not finished their investigation, I want

an inquiry take place so that we can deal

with Meanwhile, Sinn Fein are on a party

political mission to get me to step aside, to weaken Unionism,

which I will never allow to happen. So, what did her

critics make of that? The SDLP's response

to this financial fiasco would be exactly the same

regardless of whether it was a woman It is about getting

to the truth, establishing the facts, establishing

who is responsible and holding them Gender or Unionist persuasion

comes nowhere near into it. There is misogyny in politics,

there is sexism in politics. They are very serious

issues that many of us face, but when you actually use

that card to try to escape and evade your responsibilities, I think that

you demeaned the struggle that other women have in nontraditional

sectors who are facing these It is because she has

nowhere to hide that she is now trying to throw up

the stuff about gender and nonsense. forward with a bit of

humility and contrition. Both myself and Martin McGuinness

met with Arlene Foster We restated the Sinn Fein

position in relation We made very clear that

Arlene Foster needs to step aside to allow for that

school, independent investigation to Anything could still happen, but

a day which began with the parties shouting across the airwaves

and ended with them meeting across a No signs to note of any

breakthrough, but if the sun is sitting on Stormont,

it may yet do so slowly. The public are being urged only

to attend their hospital Emergency There have been exceptionally long

waits and people are being asked to use out of hours GPs

where possible instead. Here's our Health Correspondent,

Marie-Louise Connolly. Understaffed and overstretched,

it has been a tough time for many of those working on the front line

of the health service. This Christmas saw

a spike in the number of Norovirus cases right

across Northern Ireland. This placed additional

pressure on hospitals, with many wards having to close,

creating a shortage of hospital beds Whilst all emergency

departments are feeling the strain, some are feeling

it more than others. Too many patients and ward

closures caused a major incident to be declared

at one hospital on Monday. A member of staff told

the BBC that it was She told me that staff

are at breaking point, and that management do not care

about patient safety or staff A spokesperson for the Western

Health Trust said the emergency plan was enacted

following a particularly busy and challenging day,

but was quickly stood down. Those in charge of managing

the health service accept I am very mindful of

how distressing it is, It is not the service I want

for my family or the service I think But I would reassure

people that our Health and Social Care professionals right

across the system are working Their focus is on maintaining

safe care, providing The Health Minister intends

to visit a hospital in the next 24 hours

to I think that there has

been major improvement in terms of some of

initiatives they have been able to take

-- put in place, but is the current picture good enough?

Many people had to wait more than 12 hours over the Christmas period.

While health unions accept that winter pressures are unavoidable,

they say building up the local workforce

both in hospital and in

the community must become a priority.

Meanwhile, more than 5000 people could be left without a GP service

in Portadown. One medical practice is at risk of closure in just two

weeks because its last doctor has resigned. Other surgeries in the

town say they cannot take on any new patients.

Brace yourself for a very chilly night. Temperatures will fall to

freezing and blow across the board, especially in the countryside,

allowing widespread frost. Ice patches first thing tomorrow.

Otherwise, not a bad day. It will be cold but much like today, largely

dry and from the beginning, there will be spells of sunshine coming

and going. Those winds barely noticeable, quite liked around the

coast. If you are travelling first thing, a similar picture right

across Ireland. The frost should burn very quickly but a

chilly. Lots of blues on the map right through until mid-morning. It

will be very cold but not a bad afternoon to come. Plenty of

sunshine, feeling quite chilly. Across Ireland, with cloud rolling,

temperatures rising to about 8 degrees. Injured in middle of the

afternoon and evening, is of sunshine continued to come and go on

to winds will stay late. The cloud will begin to to thicken up later

tomorrow afternoon and into the evening. Eventually introducing rain

to parts of the West. That will make its way eastward through the course

of the night. Some will be everybody made a night in store, with eight or

9 degrees the lows. As for Friday, a cloudy day. The winds will be light

and through the weekend, very little changes.

Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25 in the morning,