23/02/2017 BBC Newsline

Storm Doris caused disruption for many today as high winds brought

down hundreds of trees and led to flights and ferries

At one stage over 20,000 homes were without power.

Storm Doris arrived early sweeping in from the West leaving

It hit eastern counties around rush hour.

In Belfast, major roads were blocked by fallen trees.

High winds uprooted hundreds of trees across Northern Ireland.

Not even the dark hedges in County Antrim, made famous

Flights, trains, ferry services all faced disruption

A top speed of over 71 mph was recorded on the south coast.

The worst of the storm passed through by late morning,

but the clear-up operation has taken most of the day.

This team of tree surgeons has removed 30 trees in Belfast alone.

Most of the fallen trees were weakened by disease or fungus.

The tree is really quite spongy, falling apart.

Everything we've dealt with has been structurally defective or the tree

has been attacked by a pathogen, leading to decay and therefore

Disruption as well to electricity supplies.

The vast majority have now been restored with crews working

from first thing this morning in difficult conditions.

Access can be a problem where we have debris lying on roads.

It is getting the equipment onto the ground.

The ground is very damp with some flooding, so we have to be careful.

We have to be mindful of health and safety.

It does take time to get crews onto the ground

Storm Doris may have left, but there is another weather warning

We will have a full forecast later in the programme.

A 63-year-old man has died after an empty van rolled into him

as he withdrew money from a cash machine in Larne.

Our north-east reporter Sara Girvin has more.

The man was using this ATM just before 8:30am yesterday morning

The vehicle had been parked on Main Street,

but it rolled backwards and struck him.

He was taken to husband with a suspected fractured leg,

Robert Reid was working in the butchers next

A few other people from cars outside the shop had run to his help.

People are shocked that somebody could be knocked down

Police have asked anyone who saw a blue Vauxhall van parked

here on Main Street yesterday morning or who witnessed the

The DUP MP Jim Shannon has cried in the House

of Commons during a debate about the prosecution

Mr Shannon referred to the death of his cousin murdered by the IRA,

and members of the UDR he knew personally.

Here's our political correspondent Stephen Walker.

UDR man Kenneth Smith was murdered by the IRA back in 1971.

Today his cousin Jim Shannon recalled his death and the killing

And yet there is no multi-million pound investigation

There seems to be more in the present this idea that one

Ian Paisley MP said that Barra McGrory should not take part

in any investigation because of his past.

The Public Prosecution Service has pursued prosecutions for serious

terrorist crimes during the Troubles and continues to do so.

Sir Gerald Howarth also claimed that the DPP was trying to stop

The DPP has issued an effective fatwa to news organisations

across the United Kingdom that if they have the temerity to make

any criticism of Mr O'Gara, Mr McGrory, that they will be served

A public prosecution service statement said...

This debate was called by the DUP, who believe too much focus has been

given to the prosecution of ex-security force members

compared to former paramilitaries, but this month figures obtained

by the BBC has shown that investigations into killings

by the Army account for about 30% of its legacy workload.

We must ensure that there is fairness and balance in all of this.

Meanwhile - speaking in Belfast this evening the Irish Minister

for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, said prosecutions

must be "vigorously pursued" in all unlawful troubles related

deaths regardless of the perpetrator.

Mr Flanagan was giving the annual Pat Finucane Lecture organised

it is not for government to say whether their suffering is of

greater or less are worth than that of their neighbour, or even other

adversary. But the sacred clearly there can be no amnesty. If a

killing has taken place it must be properly investigated to ascertain

if it is unlawful and if the threshold of proof is meant

prosecution must actively and vigorously be pursued.

The DUP's Jim Wells has apologised for what he described

as a light-hearted comment he made on Facebook about the dead sister

Connaire McGreevy had changed his profile picture

to an image of his sister and Mr Wells commented favourably

He says he did not know about her death and had not intended

With just a week until polling day, The View is out on the road tonight

Here's Mark Carruthers with details on what's coming up straight

Tonight we are at the brand-new Belfast campus of the Ulster

University with an invited audience of young voters eager to question a

panel of politicians from the five main parties. In just a week the

polls will have closed and there will be little to do but wait for

the results that could shape politics here for the next

generation. Us here for the view on BBC One in just a few minutes.

It was a stormy, wet day thanks to Storm Doris -

what will the weather bring for the next few days?

Well, after being drenched by the rain last night and battered

by the winds through today, tonight is another weather hazard.

The Met Office has a warning in place.

The reason for that is the clearing skies through this evening

Temperatures dropping away quite sharply.

Couple that with all the moisture in the atmosphere and the lighter

winds, it is the perfect conditions for ice to form on untreated roads.

So, tomorrow a cold but mostly dry start to the day.

It isn't going to last for terribly long though,

because the skies will start to cloud over from the west as we go

And then it won't be long before the rain starts to push in,

eventually spreading into all parts as we get into Friday afternoon.

So, a wet and windy end to the working week

A very different story across other parts of the British Isles.

Much drier, brighter and an awful lot calmer

across the east coast of Scotland, England, south-west Wales too.

It's really only for Northern Ireland, as we see that

Behind it we are introducing some slightly more mild air

That will help the temperatures on the rise.

We will see double-figure temperatures through the weekend.

Not, I'm afraid, that you're going to notice it much

in the battering from that wind and rain.

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

You can also keep updated with News Online.

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