27/03/2017 BBC Newsline

The Secretary of State is to make a statement to the House of Commons

tomorrow setting out what the Government's going to do

in the wake of the collapse of the Stormont talks.

He said today that there's no appetite for another election,

but warned there's only a short window of opportunity

This report from our political correspondent, Enda McClafferty.

Outside, they came looking for an act, while inside, politicians

played out the last act in a three-week drama.

A drama which ended with a predictable outcome.

We had plenty of time to sort this out

and we're just disappointed that Sinn Fein did not come to the talks

with the same spirit that we came with.

We respect everybody's mandates, let me make that very

clear but if we wanted to form an executive,

there had to be a spirit of compromise and unfortunately that

We came to negotiations with the right attitude, wanting to

make the institutions work and to deliver for all citizens,

unfortunately, the DUP maintained their position in relation to

blocking equality and delivering quality for citizens.

But they did agree to bin today's running order.

As the deadline passed, the focus fell on

this man who wheeled out another snap

election and played down the

But he had this one for our politicians.

I think there are a short few weeks, in order to resolve matters.

The reason I say that is because of this

issue, this stark issue in relation to public services here in Northern

Ireland and the lack of a budget having been set.

But there are some who feel he is not the man to lead

The times that things get done here is when somebody outside

That needs fixed as a matter of urgency.

Other party leaders are making plans to deal with those now in charge.

I would like our spokespeople to be connected with the various permanent

secretaries, so we can understand the scale of the problems and issues

As an unelected civil servant is about to become arguably

the most important man in Northern Ireland.

The Government for Northern Ireland is running on autopilot with

Civil servants are in charge of the department and controlling the

No one here it seems to know what will happen next.

The failure to reach political agreement means that no budget

will be passed at Stormont for the new financial year,

As a result, the most senior official at the Department

of Finance, David Sterling, will have to use emergency

powers to keep money flowing to public services.

A letter explaining how this will work was sent out to civil

servants this afternoon, as I heard from our political

The head of the Northern Ireland civil service has sent out a memo to

all staff, saying he and his civil servants will do their best to

attend business as usual and this time of uncertainty but that the

emergency powers they have over the budget are limited measure and not

substitute for a full budget passed by the Executive. In terms of the

timescale, the Secretary of State resisted setting a deadline but most

of the politicians you talk to talk about sometime after Westminster

comes back in late April as potentially being a crunch period

when the Government will have to think about what to do about his

period of uncertainty. Some voluntary and community groups

have already been hit with cuts They fear that with a reduction

in the overall budget This community Association has

developed community relations This club is one of many

using the building, Its members have learning

difficulties and have responsibility for running the club

with some mainstream support. Joanna McGuffin says she would sit

in the house if it did not exist. The association is already

making one member of staff Everyone is worried

about the future. We don't know what kind of cuts

will come from above. You know, this is just

too much uncertainty. It's a sentiment

shared in Dungannon. English-language classes

and a creche are just two of the services they offer here,

services now under threat. Women cannot come along and learn

English, mathematics, IT, I mean, at this stage,

we are looking at Regular users had a message

for Stormont politicians. It is an absolute disgrace

that they cannot agree and unfortunately, the reality

is that everybody suffers. The things they're disagreeing

about, I think there should be good side and look at the important thing

is that we all need to worry about, like education, health

and all these other things. Uncertainty, cuts to services

and possible redundancies, A teenager who caused the death

of a mother of three hit by a scrambler motorbike has been

jailed for 18 months. Gary Lewis lost control of the bike

at Colin Glen Forest Valerie Armstrong, 35,

was walking her dog along this public pathway on the 19th

of July, 2016. She was struck by a scrambler bike,

The driver of which the court Mrs Armstrong died from a brain

injury the following day. The youth court was told

that Gary Lewis, now 18 and from Colinvale in Dunmurry,

asked for a loan of his friend's bike but lost control when,

according to an eyewitness, One eyewitness said he could have

been going 40mph but this was disputed by the defence

which showed tests showed he wasn't The prosecutor told the court that

when the victim was struck, Gary was heard to shout,

she is dead, that's me away. And that he stood there

with his head in his hands and sobbing and asking,

what have I done? Gary Lewis was seen by another

witness holding the victim's hand It was said he should be jailed

because community service would be He was sentenced to 18 months

imprisonment and disqualified Sentencing Gary Lewis, the district

judge said that human life, the life of Valerie Armstrong,

cannot be restored, nor can its loss be measured

by a custodial sentence. The court was told this was a tragic

case in which there are no winners. An inquest into the death of a west

Belfast man has been told that a prescription painkiller is causing

more deaths in Northern Ireland Eighteen-year-old Aaron Strong died

in April last year after taking a number of prescription

drugs, including Tramadol. Today, the coroner called

for the painkiller to be made a Class A drug,

rather than a Class C one. Every time somebody dies,

somebody dies with them. And I hope and pray no

other family has to go through what we went

through this year. It's been another glorious day,

not quite as warm as the weekend The clear skies continue tonight

and it is already cooling down. One or two spots of frost

are possible particularly across parts of the west

and a little mist in places. A dry start to Tuesday,

probably some early brightness It's sitting over the Republic

of Ireland, moving north, affecting parts of Wales

and south-west England,. If you are travelling,

still warm sunshine to come over the Midlands and south-east England

but it is quite chilly and misty Tomorrow afternoon it will certainly

not be raining all the time but it is looking pretty

soggy around lunchtime. Some heavy showers in the afternoon

but also drier and brighter spells, possibly one or two thunderstorms

and in the sunshine we could see temperatures

still close to the mid teens. Looking more unsettled tomorrow

onwards and for the rest of the week but it will stay mild,

noticeably milder at night time but there will be

some rain at times. Wednesday looks like starting wet,

drying up for a while but with some more rain likely later in the day

so you will need Our next BBC Newsline

is at 6.25 in the morning