:00:00. > :00:09.A man and a woman in their 50s have been shot in the Turf Lodge
:00:10. > :00:12.The couple who are believed to be married were both injured
:00:13. > :00:15.in the legs during the attack which happened this evening.
:00:16. > :00:23.Our reporter David Maxwell has been to the scene.
:00:24. > :00:30.It was just after 6:15pm this evening when shots were fired inside
:00:31. > :00:34.this house. It is understood to be the home of a married couple who
:00:35. > :00:38.were both injured in the legs. They were taken to hospital for
:00:39. > :00:41.treatment, but their injuries and thought to be life-threatening.
:00:42. > :00:44.There is still a very active police presence in this area this evening
:00:45. > :00:48.as people come to terms with this attack on a couple who are said to
:00:49. > :00:54.be well-known and in this community. The fact that they were unknown to
:00:55. > :00:58.me, there is no way this family is involved in commonality of any sort.
:00:59. > :01:02.Whatever the motivation was for the shooting, there is absolutely no
:01:03. > :01:04.justification for it whatsoever. The people in this street are now
:01:05. > :01:11.terrified as a result of this shooting. Kids are scared, women and
:01:12. > :01:13.other people in the street are terrified as a result of what has
:01:14. > :01:16.happened. Police have appealed for anyone with
:01:17. > :01:18.information about this attack to get in touch.
:01:19. > :01:21.A boy is in a critical condition in the Royal Victoria hospital
:01:22. > :01:24.after being knocked down in Magheralin in County Down.
:01:25. > :01:30.It happened at Malcolmson Park just before five o'clock this evening.
:01:31. > :01:32.Funding to an Irish Language scheme has been reinstated,
:01:33. > :01:37.The ?50,000 cut to the Liofa scheme caused anger,
:01:38. > :01:41.and supporters protested at the office of the Communities
:01:42. > :02:00.Our Education Correspondent Robbie Meredith reports.
:02:01. > :02:08.A protest which tended to bit of a party, due to an unexpected U-turn.
:02:09. > :02:11.The minister said he had found money for the Liofa scheme, which had been
:02:12. > :02:14.stopped on the last day before Christmas. The crowd behind me are
:02:15. > :02:18.salivating the return of the ton-macro funding. This is the
:02:19. > :02:22.latest occasion of rows over the Irish language and the prominence it
:02:23. > :02:30.has in our society, having made the headlines. Two years ago, the DUP's
:02:31. > :02:36.Gregory Campbell appeared to mark Irish to thank the speaker in the
:02:37. > :02:38.assembly. Last year, the DUP agriculture minister ordered that
:02:39. > :02:42.the Irish nameplate on a fisheries inspection boat be removed and
:02:43. > :02:45.replaced with a name in English. Although the boat's power supply
:02:46. > :02:50.today was still defying her decision. Irish language activists
:02:51. > :02:53.want much more than the Liofa scheme. They want laws which put
:02:54. > :02:57.Irish on a par with English as an official language.
:02:58. > :03:02.We have asked all the parties who have stood with us thus far to
:03:03. > :03:05.continue to stand with us, and not to agree to any agreement or
:03:06. > :03:08.executive, or any political agreements coming out of the current
:03:09. > :03:09.crisis, without an Irish language act for Irish speakers being a real
:03:10. > :03:15.issue. So what in practice with an Irish
:03:16. > :03:18.language act mean? Would guarantee a number of things, including the
:03:19. > :03:23.option for Irish to be used in court, in debates in the assembly,
:03:24. > :03:26.and its use by all state bodies, including the police. There would
:03:27. > :03:30.also be an Irish language commissioner to ensure that the
:03:31. > :03:34.language was being facilitated. So, was today's U-turn itself part of a
:03:35. > :03:40.deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein? The answer was unambiguous.
:03:41. > :03:44.It absolutely isn't, and it won't be either. The decision at round at
:03:45. > :03:48.removing Liofa was a disgraceful one. I am glad it is reversed. What
:03:49. > :03:53.we need coming out of an election, and that is the only way this will
:03:54. > :03:55.get sorted is an election, is an Irish language act and an Irish
:03:56. > :03:58.language strategy. And tonight, no soft words from Paul
:03:59. > :04:02.Givan. The Irish language has been doing
:04:03. > :04:05.very well through Stormont, and the Ulster Scots has been playing catch
:04:06. > :04:09.up for a long time in respect of that. But Sinn Fein wanted to use
:04:10. > :04:13.that decision in order to try and extract during the selection process
:04:14. > :04:16.damages, as they would see it, upon the DUP, and I was not prepared to
:04:17. > :04:19.allow them to do that. So even the dogs in the street don't
:04:20. > :04:20.know if today heralds any future agreement.
:04:21. > :04:23.So can the Liofa decision help prevent a political
:04:24. > :04:27.crisis at Stormont? It appears not.
:04:28. > :04:29.After a day of meetings, everyone is agreed an election
:04:30. > :04:37.Here's our political correspondent Gareth Gordon.
:04:38. > :04:45.Where the DUP seemingly in reverse, Sinn Fein signalled it was full team
:04:46. > :04:48.ahead. Destination: Election. Martin McGuinness laid out a
:04:49. > :04:53.delegation this morning, and we met with both the British and Irish
:04:54. > :04:55.Lions. We reminded them of their responsibilities as co-guarantors of
:04:56. > :04:59.the Good Friday Agreement in relation to the delivery of
:05:00. > :05:04.equality. We reminded them that the DUP cannot be allowed to continue to
:05:05. > :05:06.block equality and deliver for all of our citizens. Martin made his
:05:07. > :05:10.position very clear when he tendered his resignation in the assembly on
:05:11. > :05:14.Monday. We now need to move to an election.
:05:15. > :05:18.They only allowed two questions and they were off. Nothing else needed
:05:19. > :05:21.saying. The man whose job it is to try and save the day appeared
:05:22. > :05:26.resigned to failure. The reality remains, the
:05:27. > :05:31.hypermobility remains that we are heading towards an election.
:05:32. > :05:37.The Irish government met the parties, then set it to.
:05:38. > :05:42.I said on Monday in the aftermath of the publication of the letter of the
:05:43. > :05:47.then Deputy First Minister that I felt an election was likely. I say
:05:48. > :05:51.now as we move towards the end of the week that that scenario is even
:05:52. > :05:58.more likely. The DUP's critic in chief, Paul
:05:59. > :05:59.Givan's change of heart over Irish language bursaries, was a
:06:00. > :06:04.humiliation. They certainly acted at the demand
:06:05. > :06:06.of Sinn Fein, such as the desperation of the DUP to avoid an
:06:07. > :06:10.election. When it comes to politics here, you
:06:11. > :06:15.never quite rule anything in or out of right now, an election is as
:06:16. > :06:20.close to a certainty as you are going to get. Stormont's committees
:06:21. > :06:23.continue to meet, maybe for the final time.
:06:24. > :06:27.I will advise members that the next meeting of the committee is
:06:28. > :06:35.scheduled to take place on Thursday, January 19, 2025.
:06:36. > :06:36.The laughter, nervous, with good reason.
:06:37. > :06:39.The BBC understands that a radical plan to tackle hospital Waiting
:06:40. > :06:42.lists in Northern Ireland has had to be shelved due to the political
:06:43. > :06:47.Last November the Health Minister, Michelle O'Neill, said
:06:48. > :06:53.she would make a significant announcement in January
:06:54. > :06:55.about a detailed strategy to tackle the soaring lists
:06:56. > :07:01.The Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine,
:07:02. > :07:05.Sean McGovern has said he and his colleagues feel let down.
:07:06. > :07:07.Political wrangling over Stormont's plan to mitigate the impact
:07:08. > :07:13.of the so-called bedroom tax appears to be coming to an end.
:07:14. > :07:15.The Communities Minister Paul Givan said he will introduce legislation
:07:16. > :07:18.next week which will set up the mitigation scheme.
:07:19. > :07:20.The legislation should have been approved by the Executive
:07:21. > :07:24.but as it is no longer functioning Mr Givan said he will take
:07:25. > :07:27.the extraordinary step of bringing it direct to the Assembly.
:07:28. > :07:30.And The View will have the very latest on all those stories coming
:07:31. > :07:33.up in the next few minutes with Mark Carruthers.
:07:34. > :07:35.Yes, Tara - whether it's bedroom tax, Irish language funding
:07:36. > :07:38.or what looks like the inevitable election, we have the only guests
:07:39. > :07:41.you'd want on a day like this - the DUP's Paul Givan
:07:42. > :07:50.That's The View, here on BBC1 immediately after this bulletin.
:07:51. > :07:54.A Toomebridge man has been jailed for a year for selling fake fire
:07:55. > :07:56.safety glass to the construction industry which was installed
:07:57. > :07:59.at schools, shops and hospitals in Northern Ireland and England.
:08:00. > :08:04.58-year-old Seamus James Laverty, of Deer Park Road, pleaded guilty
:08:05. > :08:07.to 16 counts of fraud at Antrim Crown Court last month
:08:08. > :08:18.Police say that lives had been put in danger.
:08:19. > :08:29.get the forecast. Hello. We are all in very very chilly night
:08:30. > :08:34.as snow showers continued to come in. Warning is enforced through the
:08:35. > :08:36.day tomorrow. On top of that, as temperatures to nightfall to
:08:37. > :08:39.freezing and below, we have the added risk of ice. So through the
:08:40. > :08:44.night as snow showers continue to come and go, problems on the roads
:08:45. > :08:46.first thing. Showers will be hit and miss, not for everyone, so don't be
:08:47. > :08:51.disappointed if you wake up tomorrow morning to no snow, but some of us
:08:52. > :08:55.will, so you may need to clear the car windscreens of snow tomorrow,
:08:56. > :08:58.because it will be a frosty start. Through the day, we hold onto Arctic
:08:59. > :09:02.winds which continue to drive some scattered showers our way. Mainly
:09:03. > :09:06.for high ground areas, some lower-level areas will see a dusting
:09:07. > :09:09.of snow as well, so causing further problems on the roads.
:09:10. > :09:13.The snow showers will most likely be confined to northern areas of
:09:14. > :09:17.Ireland and parts of Scotland first thing. The much of Britain an island
:09:18. > :09:21.tomorrow, not a bad day in terms of dry weather. Plenty of sunshine too,
:09:22. > :09:24.but feeling bitterly cold when you factor in those winds. If you
:09:25. > :09:27.scattered showers will continue to the day across parts of Northern
:09:28. > :09:30.Ireland, here and there, but an awful lot of dry weather too and
:09:31. > :09:34.some crisp sunshine to go out and enjoy. Into tomorrow evening, we
:09:35. > :09:39.continue to see a flow of scattered showers. A bit of a mix of sleet and
:09:40. > :09:44.snow as temperatures rise a little bit, so tomorrow night, 2-3 degrees.
:09:45. > :09:49.For Saturday, temperatures continue to climb, so increasingly, showers
:09:50. > :09:51.fall as rain. We hold onto bitterly cold winds, however. Sunday,
:09:52. > :09:52.temperatures are back into double figures.
:09:53. > :09:56.Our next BBC Newsline is at six twenty five in the morning
:09:57. > :09:59.You can also keep updated with News Online.
:10:00. > :10:03.With visitors to Northern Ireland on the rise,
:10:04. > :10:14.The way the tours are run in Belfast at the moment, it's really a war.
:10:15. > :10:17.That's our eighth bus that went out now full. Bring it on.
:10:18. > :10:21.Because selling bums on seats is a serious business.