:00:00. > :00:00.Good evening and welcome to BBC Newsline.
:00:00. > :00:09.advisor is stepping aside from any future involvement in the flawed
:00:10. > :00:11.renewable heating scheme after failing to declare
:00:12. > :00:15.John Robinson's father in law receives payment from the RHI
:00:16. > :00:39.Our Political Correspondent Enda McClafferty has the latest.
:00:40. > :01:03.Charles Robinson is a key member of the DUP backroom team. First as
:01:04. > :01:14.director of communications, and the advisers of the economy minister.
:01:15. > :01:20.The former minister Jonathan Bale accused him of interfering in the
:01:21. > :01:23.RNA scheme. He said he had no link whatsoever to the scheme. He was
:01:24. > :01:28.questioned by the press Association, that his father is nor as a
:01:29. > :01:32.recipient of the scheme. The DUP declared that John Robertson failed
:01:33. > :01:33.to declare that. He said he regretted this situation has
:01:34. > :01:40.developed, whereby there is a perception of conflict. It is
:01:41. > :01:48.because of that that he's stand by. The
:01:49. > :01:56.A senior civil servant says he believes a former special adviser
:01:57. > :01:59.to Arlene Foster exerted influence in relation to the RHI scheme.
:02:00. > :02:01.Dr Andrew McCormick told Stormont's public accounts committee
:02:02. > :02:03.that he understood the adviser had influenced a decision
:02:04. > :02:07.Naming the advisor as Andrew Crawford, he also told the committee
:02:08. > :02:09.that he had no direct evidence of this.
:02:10. > :02:10.Dr McCormick, a departmental Permanent Secretary,
:02:11. > :02:13.also said that leaked insider information may have had
:02:14. > :02:14.a significant impact on the ?490m overspend.
:02:15. > :02:16.Our Agriculture Correspondent, Conor Macauley, watched
:02:17. > :02:30.he acknowledged it himself. There was
:02:31. > :02:38.huge interest. There is more interest in this session than
:02:39. > :02:42.September. He is the senior civil servant in the Department of economy
:02:43. > :02:50.charged with clearing up the R.N. I mess. He said one of the special
:02:51. > :02:54.advisers were putting pressure on the scheme to remain open, even as
:02:55. > :03:03.accusations are flooding in, and there was pressure to shouted down.
:03:04. > :03:09.There was suggestions that the date originally suggested should be
:03:10. > :03:14.extended. We were going through the discussions in the summer of 2015. I
:03:15. > :03:18.was never clear exactly who was involved, the person we were dealing
:03:19. > :03:30.with was in the DTI, Timothy Cairns. He was making it
:03:31. > :03:33.clear it was not his idea. That led to an obvious question from the
:03:34. > :03:38.public accounts committee. Whose idea was it? The understanding I
:03:39. > :03:46.expressed to minister Hamilton, and his adviser in recent times, Mike
:03:47. > :03:50.understanding was that Andrew Crawford had been exerting that
:03:51. > :03:56.influence. He was at pains to say he had no direct evidence of that
:03:57. > :04:03.pressure. In the summer 2015, Andrew Foster was Arlene Foster's man
:04:04. > :04:08.injured apartment. At one point in the proceedings Arlene Foster's name
:04:09. > :04:12.came up. Having considered the material, have you seen any evidence
:04:13. > :04:25.of wrongdoing by the First Minister, the former First Minister? No.
:04:26. > :04:30.Absolutely none. Mr MacCormack was only getting started in a session
:04:31. > :04:35.where he was confirming he was permitted to speak freely. He said
:04:36. > :04:38.there was a perfect storm of circumstances leading to the
:04:39. > :04:41.overspend. The failure of understanding of the lucrative
:04:42. > :04:47.subsidy. The industry did understand. 50, two 100 installers
:04:48. > :04:54.or individuals were spreading the word. Then this bombshell. Around
:04:55. > :05:03.the period July, there is evidence of some premature information being
:05:04. > :05:12.made available to the industry. Some documents appeared with me after
:05:13. > :05:15.Christmas, this needs further investigation, I would prefer to say
:05:16. > :05:24.not too much about this, not to prejudice the investigation. It is
:05:25. > :05:28.quite serious. There was potential for the tariff to be reduced. The
:05:29. > :05:38.message went within the sector, get in quick. Suggestions it has come
:05:39. > :05:44.from within your department? Yes. It suggests there was some information
:05:45. > :05:47.being shared prematurely with the industry from departmental
:05:48. > :05:58.officials. Further revelations about the contact with police on
:05:59. > :06:01.allegations of abuse. And Jonathan Bale may have been recorded without
:06:02. > :06:06.his knowledge or consent. It seems the drip feed of revelations about
:06:07. > :06:08.the scheme has finally turned into a torrent.
:06:09. > :06:12.In a statement issued earlier, Andrew Crawford confirmed that
:06:13. > :06:17.during the summer of 2015 he had spoken to his fellow special
:06:18. > :06:19.adviser in the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment
:06:20. > :06:22.He said he would have been offering informal advice
:06:23. > :06:25.and assistance to a colleague - and was not speaking
:06:26. > :06:27.on behalf of the then Finance Minister Arlene Foster.
:06:28. > :06:30.He repeated that he had not sought to keep the scheme open
:06:31. > :06:32.against the wishes of the DETI minister Jonathan Bell -
:06:33. > :06:37.and had advised that changes to the tariff take effect
:06:38. > :06:42.The police say a viable device has been found during a security
:06:43. > :06:47.in the Fairmount Park area were evacuated during the incident
:06:48. > :06:49.but residents have since been allowed to return home.
:06:50. > :06:56.The device has been taken away for further examination.
:06:57. > :06:58.The Unite trade union says about half of the workers have been
:06:59. > :07:01.made redundant at the troubled Shivo factory in Londonderry.
:07:02. > :07:03.The aerospace engineering firm went into administration a fortnight ago.
:07:04. > :07:21.staff are employed at the engineering plant. They arrive to be
:07:22. > :07:24.told the news they feared. Around 30 people were made redundant
:07:25. > :07:31.yesterday, more bad news followed today for other employees. Happy I
:07:32. > :07:35.got this far. I got my life at this place. Finished now, not too
:07:36. > :07:41.bothered. Disheartened for the younger workers. Yes, my son was
:07:42. > :07:48.working here, made redundant yesterday. Two people in one house.
:07:49. > :07:51.They make parts for the aircraft industry, the plant was bought about
:07:52. > :07:58.18 months ago, they had initial plans for expansion. The
:07:59. > :08:02.administrator was called in two weeks ago after the companies said
:08:03. > :08:06.they could not turn the business around. Business leaders have called
:08:07. > :08:08.the news is devastating, another massive blow to manufacturing in the
:08:09. > :08:17.Northwest. Armagh beat county down by two
:08:18. > :08:21.points. Now here's Angie Philips
:08:22. > :08:29.with the weather forecast. Fairly quite unsettled at the
:08:30. > :08:34.moment. Going to stay that way into the region. High-pressure giving us
:08:35. > :08:41.a lot of dry weather. Road spells, generally a lot of cloud, it will
:08:42. > :08:46.become a little cooler as well. Mild night to come, overcast skies. Some
:08:47. > :08:53.list and hill fog squeezing out the odd spot of drizzle. Dry, with lows
:08:54. > :08:58.of 6-7 . Tomorrow, quite a lot of cloud. A lot of dry weather as well.
:08:59. > :09:03.The odd spot of drizzle over the hills thirsting in the morning.
:09:04. > :09:07.Other than that, driving slowly. Elsewhere across the country, a fair
:09:08. > :09:12.amount of cloud, misty at murky conditions across central parts.
:09:13. > :09:16.Drizzly rain, a breeze across the northern Scotland. Their sunshine
:09:17. > :09:21.for the north-east of Scotland and the South of England. A chilly day
:09:22. > :09:26.after a frosty start again. Brightening up towards the west of
:09:27. > :09:29.Ireland as we head through the day. Later in the afternoon, the odd
:09:30. > :09:38.bright spell developing in parts of the West, parts of County Fermanagh.
:09:39. > :09:42.Certainly not guarantee. Average temperatures of 8-9 . High-pressure
:09:43. > :09:48.is in charge heading towards the weekend. Trading fair enough the
:09:49. > :09:52.continent, they're in mind, that is pretty cold. Looking at the really
:09:53. > :09:55.cold air, temperatures coming down. The odd bright spell, Friday the
:09:56. > :10:00.brightest day. Flaherty, mainly dry.