key measures to party. we have key measures to ensure transparency and accountability, to prevent corruption and bad practice and to implement the we have strategies to tackle poverty and sectarianism and a plan to put objective need at the heart of a programme for government. finance has been committed to begin the job of repairing the damage done ofa the job of repairing the damage done of a decade of tory austerity and to help with the crisis in our health service, including a commitment to settle the health service strike, an action plan on waiting lists, the implementation on the bingo recommendations on health and social ca re recommendations on health and social care and the mental health action plan and the medical school at magee. the first action we believe of the incoming executive must be to

deliver pay parity to health workers. there are also a range of proposals to support our teachers and improved education provision, welfare and mitigation to be extended beyond march 2020, proposals on workers' rights and climate change, investment in steadier including casement park and ending regional imbalance. there is also progress on other issues including reproductive rights for women and marriage equality. as a result of mass mobilisation on our streets. it was a key demand that citizens living in this part of ireland enjoy the same rights as citizens elsewhere across this island and across these islands. i wa nt island and across these islands. i want to reject in the strongest possible terms the british

government commitment to the dup on flags and other issues. these are not part of this agreement. indeed, in our review they fly in the face of the good friday agreement and they represent bad faith and it is disappointing that the irish government acquiesced to these measures. but we now have a basis to restore power sharing and we are up for that. there is absolutely no doubt that there are serious challenges ahead. the impact of brexit, austerity and other pressing issues. but the biggest and most significant challenge will be ensuring that we have genuine power—sharing based on equality, respect and integrity. i believe that power—sharing can work. that requires everyone to step up. sinn fein's commitment is to do all in

our power to make this happen. we need to have an inclusive executive. at these historic times we will also continue to work for irish reunification and we want to ensure that the criteria for ensuring the triggering of an irish unity poll are set out and that planning for irish unity is stepped up. including the convening of a national forum to discuss and plan for the future. three years ago martin mcguinness set down a challenge to all of us. to get it right and to deliver for all, for every single citizen and now we need to go to work. i believe if there is the seriousness of

intent that certainly i have detected, if there is a real sense that lessons have been learned and if there is a real understanding of the very pressing needs right across our society, i don't believe that any responsible leader worth their salt would be contemplating anything crashing down. ourjob is to build stop ourjob is to be cooperative, to be collegiate and to base all of our actions on equality and fairness. that, after all, is at the heart of the whole idea of power—sharing. so relationships, of course, will have to be built and will have to solidify and we will have to carry a very considerable load because the challenges of this

type are absolutely immense. i'll be able for that? absolutely. sinn fein up able for that? absolutely. sinn fein up for that? absolutely. and i hope that every other political party and political leader similarly is in the space that we in today. we have simply stepped forward now to give you the decision of the sinn fein leadership. of course, it is a responsibility for every party to ensure that now the executive meat and that we get to work with the very pressing issues, not least, as i have said, the crisis within our health service. but as we speak we don't have a time or a day for the

executive to meet. we would be anxious that we get to work as soon as possible and so therefore we are giving notice that we are ready to do business, that we are ready to go back into the institutions to make our nominations to the executive and that we are doing that explicitly on the basis that now we build complete power—sharing, that all of us re—enteron the power—sharing, that all of us re—enter on the basis of equality and of respect and with a shared determination, not only to make this work but to make this deliver and make it deliver for every single citizen.

speaks irish. you are watching bbc news. we are staying with this news conference live from stormont. sinn fein and i would will agree, they have agreed to the deal put forward by the two governments essentially to restart the stormont assembly, to re—enter the stormont assembly, to re—enter the stormont assembly, to re—enter the stormont assembly. it has not been operating for three years. very nearly exactly three years that northern ireland has been without a working government. and sinn fein two president mary lou mcdonald telling a large crowd ofjournalists at stormont that this will work as long as service seriousness of intent on the part of all parties. let's hear her again. look, the comparison that has been cited is

the language legislation in wales andi the language legislation in wales and i am advised that the welsh language act is now on its seventh iteration. it has evolved, deepened and developed and i believe that is what will happen here. i would say to irish language activists to take out that this is a historic moment because for the first time we have official recognition of... we have the establishment of commissioner and additional funding for irish language and i think everybody who loves gaelic and who embraces diversity and respect across society should regard that as a positive thing. and of course the converse is no one should see this as a threat. this isn't about one—upmanship. this isn't about winners or losers. it is about a society that makes room for

everyone. there is a lot more work to do and i fully expect that language activist will continue to press for progress. i encourage them to do that. but today is a very significant and historic day. it is a red letter day, notjust for... but for recognition of irish identity and taking a stand and marking a standard for inclusivity across irish society. pardon me. i absolutely do and we have taken that position from the get go. we are very clear that the best executive is an inclusive executive to deliver for everybody. we are also very clear that the catch cry of the election was "let's get back to

work. " let's election was "let's get back to work." let's do it and getting back to work for political parties mean sitting at the executive table, sharing the decisions, sharing the load and delivering with the rest of us load and delivering with the rest of us for our people. ican. i can. that is not the case. the commissioner... every commissioner has to be responsible to our report toa minister has to be responsible to our report to a minister in government. the commissioner will report, the first joint minister, but that bite no meat should be characterised as...

mary lou mcdonald, the president of sinn fein describing this moment as an historic day, significant, a red letter day. and you heard her use the word inclusivity and equality many times but adamant that the new executive can work, as long as everybody pulls together. effectively, i paraphrase, but that was her theme running throughout what she had to say. sinn fein back in the draft deal put forward by the two governments and mary lou mcdonald answering questions from a large number of journalists at stormont. stormont has not been functioning for three years. just to give you some key details of the deal, sinn fein are saying they will back those proposals concerning power—sharing. three years since

stormont was last functional. the point were published by the british and irish governments last night. the democratic unionists have already reacted favourably to the planned meaning that the assembly might sit within days. there were some questions about the exact timetable but perhaps that will come. let's remind you of the key points of the deal. the deal will see two commissioners, one to protect and promote the irish language, which is particularly important to nationalists. the other for the ulster scots language and culture more associated with british identity. the rules for the veto system would also change so it could be used only as a last resort. hugely significant, as mary lou mcdonald certainly described it. a

red letter day. three years of no government as the secretary of state for northern ireland has said, the time is up, we need to get back to work. that is what he said when that plan was tabled. we have gone for three years without government, with our politicians taking the right decision. three years. and that time is up. that just decision. three years. and that time is up. thatjust threw in the last few moments stormont. it looks as if power—sharing will return, northern ireland will have a functioning government again. there is much details still to come, we don't know the specific timetable. we will wait to hear more details from all sides and very striking to hear from mehdi lou mcdonald say time and again in her statement and answers to questions, she said it would work and she had confidence as long as,

effectively, all sides were pulling together and it could be genuine power—sharing as long as everybody pulls together. let's turn and hear a little on the ulster unionists. now we have the double government as an equal partner on strand one issues. the document produced was the document of the secretary of state and of the interloper, simon coveney. that is a shameful shredding of the sanctity of strand one and the fact that all of that happened without a whimper from unionist participants in these talks isa unionist participants in these talks is a commentary in itself as to how farsinn fein has is a commentary in itself as to how far sinn fein has succeeded in their political goals. to the very point where now the internal arrangements of this party in the united kingdom

are as much a say for the dublin government as they are for the southern government in london. that isa southern government in london. that is a shameful matter which all of those responsible need to reflect upon very seriously as to where it is leading us and will lead us. it is leading us and will lead us. it is quite clear that in all of this, not for the first time, it was the situation of unionism giving and sinn fein taking. what did sinn fein give in these negotiations? nothing! nothing that i can say. what did they dup gain? nothing. nothing on abortion, nothing on movement towards a voluntary coalition. nothing on attainment towards the goal of the people of northern ireland having their democratic right to vote a party of the government. instead, it was climb

down on the primary sinn fein comment. that is not a good premise with which to store these institutions and will but encourage sinn fein to demand more, as you have already heard today, to the very point that they take great objection to the union flag, daring to be flown three extra days a year in northern ireland. we will stay these pictures from stormont because continuing reaction following on from the statement from sinn fein at the moment. we are hearing from the traditional unionist party. we will stay there with this because there may be many more people arriving at that lectern over the course of the comic minutes. while we follow all this, let's talk to dennis marie who you may well know for many years was the bbc‘s ireland correspondent. along observer of northern ireland

politics. dennis, it is a real pleasure to speak to you again. your thoughts because they remove mcdonald said it was a red letter day, a significant day. the only missing piece of the jigsaw was what sinn fein was going to say because the thing at the moment stands or falls on whether the democratic unionist party and sinn fein as the largest two parties want the thing to work and they now want the thing to work and they now want the thing to work. i think it was very cleverly done by the two governments, the secretary of state and the irish foreign minister simon coveney. what they have done is made their parties and offer they couldn't refuse because the alternative was to have an election and there are imperatives to both the dup and sinn fein to get back into the assembly and neither of them want another election because they have had two or three elections

in april at which they have got a of and electoral kicking and they don't wa nt and electoral kicking and they don't want another one. it was the right time of the right place and i think for the first time in a considerable the british government had injulian smith someone who is experienced in this kind of thing as a former chief whip. he is used to both the steak thatis whip. he is used to both the steak that is required for this kind of negotiation. but he is also a serious player. he is a heavy hitter in the cabinet. one of the key things that has changed is that for two years since the 2017 election is the british government has not been neutral. the british government had to keep the dup on side because of them having the balance of power at westminster. now that is no longer the case of british comic has gone back to being the neutral broker in trying to get the assembly to work in northern ireland along with the

irish government and i think the restoration of that and julian smith have led to this. the assembly didn't sit by monday two if the assembly didn't sit by monday... you are talking about strategy but also pointing to the timing. when people say, why on earth had this been allowed to drag on for three years? it is just not acceptable. you are pointing to the timing, the result of the westminster election. it couldn't have happened before that, perhaps. no, it couldn't, not while they dup had the balance of power. no british government that was being keptin no british government that was being kept in power by the dup could afford to offend them. if anything was going to be acceptable to sinn fein was likely to be offensive to the dup. but what happened here is neither of the two main parties have

got everything they want and in fact they are having to settle for something they don't like and rather less then what they had hoped for on a whole lot of fronts. but they have decided that for a whole lot of reasons, the recent election results show that people want them to get back to the assembly. there is a strike by nurses and other health staff in the health service here at the moment. it is on the brink of collapse. that has made people very angry with the local parties that they are not in office doing something about this. it was getting to the point where people actually didn't want the assembly to come back because there had been such a tale of mismanagement up to the point of the collapse. the mismanagement of the renewable heating scheme. it is a saga of

incompetent and possible corruption. and a large part of current document that has been released is at a whole new code of practice. they are not going back to the old stormont, they are coming to a new stormont in which things will have to be done differently. i think another interesting question is one of the problems in the assembly bars that the other smaller parties, they were entitled to sit in the executive on a sliding scale and proportion to their support in the assembly election. they decided to go into opposition during the life of the last assembly which i think fatally weakened it because then you had two big beasts of the dup and sinn fein being able to run the place as a

kind of fiefdom. they could do they wanted. the question is, will they decide to go back into the executive as ministers. in other words, you have fewer dup and sinn fein ministers and have middle ground ministers and have middle ground ministers from both parties. instinct tells me they will do that because the other incentive is there is an absolute tonne of money being put on the table by central government. for infrastructure, poor health, schools and also to do with brexit, guaranteeing there will be u nfettered brexit, guaranteeing there will be unfettered trade between companies in northern ireland and the rest of the united kingdom. if people get into politics, take decisions and actually do things, this is a golden opportunity because so much money has been put on the table. fascinating. and good to hear your analysis again. thanks very much indeed. the bbc two former ireland correspondent. many thanks and good to hear from correspondent. many thanks and good

to hearfrom him again. that head back to stormont itself. i correspond it is fair and has been listening to that use conference, to that statement. a fairly lengthy statement from sinn fein. talk us through the key elements that have stood out for you there in the last hour or stood out for you there in the last hourorso, stood out for you there in the last hour or so, keith. absolutely crucial statement from mary lou mcdonald the president of sinn fein. she said a lot but the important message in there, the one important overriding message is that sinn fein has taken the decision to re—enter the executive and to nominate to the executive. they say they have got enough to make them accept that deal, the deal put forward by the secretary of state for northern ireland julian smith and the irish deputy prime minister simon coveney last night. that deal called for a new approach, a wide—ranging deal that covered a whole load of area. other parties excepting those areas?

mehdi lou mcdonald said —— may macdonald says they have the legal standing for the irish language which is something that they wanted. it is not ideal but the dup and the other parties haven't got exactly what they wanted as well and it is all about compromise. it seemed like the british and irish governments have played a blinder and have got this deal accepted by the two main parties that had completely opposing views on these key issues and now you're likely to see the assembly, possibly even starting up and running this evening. you take me to my next question. how much are what is being said about timescale? this is being said about timescale? this is somewhere that has not had government for three years. yes, exactly, yesterday was that three year marker. what that meant was that there were no decisions made on schools, hospitals, roads, infrastructure, all those day—to—day

normal politics and people in northern ireland were sick to the teeth of it. they wanted their government up and running and they wa nted government up and running and they wanted these key decisions made. so what the irish and british government put forward. they have been accepted. julian smith did ask the speaker robert newton to called the speaker robert newton to called the assembly, to assemble it this afternoon. he said he wouldn't do that unless there was agreement by all parties. now it is clear we do have that agreement. i think the feeling would be with the irish and british governments is that they bond that assembly up and running, evenif bond that assembly up and running, even if there is no one there, just actually up and running tonight. certainly tomorrow. because there is a danger, they are opposed to part of this and be some of the grassroots, if the members of the assembly go back to the grassroots and touted them, maybe they will get

and touted them, maybe they will get a lot of feedback, negative feedback about this and that might put pressure on them. but if the assembly is up and running ben it is harder to collapse again. they might have reservations about it but at least it is up and running. i would expect may be some progress on that tonight or even the word is possibly tomorrow. a quick thought about the impact on people's lives (whispers) peoples everyday life there? because we have been talking a lot about the health right. there was a strike today, nurses and other health workers on strike today. the waiting list are absolutely massive here for some treatments. by far the longest in the uk. there are strikes in school. industrial action in school. huge infrastructure projects. there isa huge infrastructure projects. there is a big problem with waste water. big investment needs to be made on that. on certain roads. this place

is being run by civil servants, they can only do so much. they couldn't make those key decisions. now i think people really want to see those key decisions made, particularly on the health service. we just particularly on the health service. wejust had mehdi lou mcdonald talking about what we have got the health crisis, waiting list. a health crisis, waiting list. a health and social care bill, all that to happen within two months. she talks about what they have got is going to be a pay parity for health workers and progress on reproductive rights. we do know that is something that had been a real cause of concern here. what they are saying is that sinn fein have got enough so really we are going to see a lot of these things, it is built into the agreement. there is a timescale on some of them. we have just heard talk about flags. there is one contentious issue. thanks in northern ireland are a very contentious issue. they are allowed

on official buildings for a set number of days a year. in this agreement they are now given an extra three days a year to be flown for the british union jack extra three days a year to be flown for the british unionjack to be flown on official buildings. sinn fein have said they rejecting the stronger stand that provision but they have said comprises needed and they have said comprises needed and they don't believe that is part of they don't believe that is part of the disagreement and i think it is against the good friday agreement but they have signed up to it. that is one thing we have just had jim alistair and sinn fein race. lots of challenges ahead. this is not going to be an easy ride. but this is what the majority of people in northern ireland wanted. they wanted the assembly up and running and that is what we are going to see possibly in the next few hours. kate, thank you very much. i would corresponding following all the events at stormont. more from keith if we get any more had details about the specifics precisely point stormont might resume setting. but we will

state very much with this story. very good evening if you're just joining us. use within the last half an hour that power—sharing is to be restored at stormont but stormont will have a functioning government again after all sides reached agreement, agreed to what was put on the table yesterday by the british and irish governments. we have been hearing at length from sinn fein. we have been getting the action and will continue to do so here tonight on bbc news. marylou macdonald calling it a significant and red letter day. we talked a little bit about the strategy, how this has happened, how we finally reach this point where there seems to be some agreement and let's talk to one man who may well be familiar with this. someone who has been influential, considered influential in this regard. father martin magilljoins me. he is a parish priest at st john's parish in belfast. you might remember his sermon at the funeral last year of the journalist who was murdered. a very —— very powerful

words at the funeral send me, credited with galvanising politicians. thanks for joining credited with galvanising politicians. thanks forjoining us so politicians. thanks forjoining us so quickly. your thoughts tonight. what does it mean to you?|j so quickly. your thoughts tonight. what does it mean to you? i came out from a meeting this afternoon. i was ata from a meeting this afternoon. i was at a meeting organising a cross community festival after belfast at night which on the radio and core pa rt night which on the radio and core part of that sinn she was pretty much right from the start making it clear that they were going to go back into the assembly and nominate ministers and my initial feeling was to feel emotional. it was one of them are significant days we have had here, the likes of the sending of the good friday agreement and the referendum that ratified that agreement. it felt like one of those very significant days. not surprise me, i can hear the emotion in your voice

and it was interesting to hear mary lou mcdonald. she came back time and again in essence saying, yes, this will work, as long as everybody pulls together. is that the sentiment, a sentiment that you would echo? the need for everyone to be on the same page here? one of the things is that when i talk about the whole work of reconciliation, feeling the past, one of the things that i would certainly want to talk about is the building of relationships, the sustaining of relationships, the sustaining of relationships because it is when we actually do that, when we get to know people, we can then work through some of these very difficult moments and, obviously, today's significant, some are describing it asa significant, some are describing it as a red letter day. the reality is there will be challenges ahead, and thatis there will be challenges ahead, and that is why the likes of developing trust and building relationships is key to making this work. what has it meant to you, do your parishioners, to your friends and family to have

not had a functioning government for three years? what has been the human impact of that? a variety of different emotions. listening to the likes of people who are waiting in hospital waiting lists and your correspondent there was actually leading to those. we have enormous waiting list here. there are just so many different issues. more recently, in belfast, if i could give you an example of that, the issue of cell site. even from the start of the year, including a number of young people, this issue —— issue of suicide is plaguing us. ican —— issue of suicide is plaguing us. i can keep adding to the less, education and your correspondent but that it. infrastructure. i could go on and on. this was one of my concerns was that people would have reached the point with politicians and have an attitude of a plague on all your houses, so the sense that people still want to be engaged with

politicians, still care about this and, last night for example, i was very interested to see the number of people who were following developments, the press conference on social media and commenting on that. thankfully people have not become completely apathetic and switched off. i am very struck by the many areas you outlined there. i struck that you mentioned among them suicide. that may be an extraordinary thing for some people to hear that a lack of government, in your opinion, has resulted in that. what element of the lack of government has caused that? what are you saying in that regard? so the issue of suicide, and it is one that has been debated very recently and some of the programmes here, some of your other bbc programmes were debating it recently, the whole question of why are numbers of people had ta ken question of why are numbers of people had taken their own lives here increasing. it is a very complex issue and i would not for

one moment want to go in and pinpoint a single cause, but it is very clear that we need to have some strategy and how people really focusing in on this and i heard if you do is ago one of our politicians saying that the issue are sufficiently serious that we should have the likes of a junior minister with a particular responsibility for dealing with this issue. further, we really appreciate your time tonight. thank you very much for being so honest with us —— father martin magill. we will stay with reaction. we will turn to political reaction. i'm joined by lord we will turn to political reaction. i'mjoined by lord hain, peter hain. who was northern ireland's secretary. your thoughts? i'm very pleased. this is really excellent news. it has been three years of com plete news. it has been three years of complete gridlock in northern ireland and i have been critical of

the government in the past for not really running it sleeves up, but i have to hand it to gillian smith, the secretary of state. he has only been imposed a few months as long —— as well as the irish foreign minister. they deserve a lot of plays because everything was stuck in the mud, frankly —— praise. they have been very astute in linking it to this terrible situation in the health service and, of course the nurses going on strike for the first time never happened in the history of northern ireland. that is clearly a crisis there and they have said, if you come back into government, we will immediately nurses a pay claim, sweat a bit of leverage on the politicians there. they were feeling the heat from the public. congratulations on the government forgetting that across the line. we had ina forgetting that across the line. we had in a programme that is typically

from mary lou mcdonald. there have been others of course. lots of politicians making the point, in essence, this can work if everybody pulls together. that sound like an obvious point, but presumably, going forward , obvious point, but presumably, going forward, that is absolutely what the people of northern ireland are going to be looking for because it is not going to work otherwise? exactly. it did work for ten years after i helped to negotiate under tony blair, the 2007 agreement that brought there was a bitter old enemies, ian paisley and at the former ira commander martin mcguinness to share power together. they became with a chuckle brothers, if you recall. it worked for ten yea rs. if you recall. it worked for ten years. there were hiccups and arguments and the usual things you get in politics, but basically it was more or less stable government. and they have got to get back to that, except make it better because there are big, big problems in northern ireland. the worst health service in the united kingdoms, schools and funding issues and the

universities have issues as well. there are lots of questions to be faced and the hold brexit situation and the fact that northern ireland has not had its own elected government like scotland and wales made it has not been able to feed on its own crucial views on the brexit agenda, including on the irish border, which is literally a matter of life and death to keep that com pletely of life and death to keep that completely open. lord hain, good of you tojoin us completely open. lord hain, good of you to join us tonight. thank you. lord hain, former secretary of state for northern ireland. you're watching bbc news, we will keep an eye on any further developments their instrument. —— their instrument with a look at some other situations at the moment iran has denied that it shut down the passenger plane that was shut down

earlier this week. the us, british and canadian governments now believe that the jet was brought down by an anti—aircraft missile. shortly after taking off from tehran airport. there are suggestions it could have been a catastrophic mistake. the us has announced new sanctions on the country following iran's attack on us bases in iraq. that report can spread it that correspondent james robbins. —— de fanatic responded. iran says it has recovered these crucial flight recorders, which should provide vital evidence about events leading to the crash. iranian authorities say they may ask for assistance from other countries to analyse the data. they are warning it could take one or two years to complete a full investigation, but they continue to insist no missile strike was involved. translation: the thing that was clear to us and that we can

say with certainty is that the plane was not hit by a missile. as i said last night, this plane for more than one and a half minutes was on fire and was in the air and the location shows that the pilot was attempting to return. but many governments dispute that. even if the pilot was trying to land after catastrophe struck, the canadians, who suffered the greatest loss of life after iran itself, are convinced from detailed satellite intelligence reports it was struck by surface to air missile, probably unintentionally. the result of a terrible iranian mistake. britain agrees. the iranian regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth as quickly as possible, to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones. but iran has already brought heavy earth—moving equipment onto the crash site. not the normal procedure if you are trying to search for and protect every fragment of debris.

all the evidence which normally helps investigators build a complete picture of happened. —— of what happened. we know that this site of the crash has been compromised, there was heavy machinery operating throughout the crash site and so now we are very distressed, because we can't be guaranteed that the crash site has maintained its integrity. it is now a week since iranian general qasem soleimani was killed by the american drone strike. it's been a shocking week for hundreds of families around the world. still, there are hopes that, because foreign governments are willing to see any iranian missile strike on the airliner as a terrible error, international tensions could be eased, not intensified. if this was the case, as it looks increasingly likely, that that was not something that they would then use against iran, they would not use this to escalate tensions and to create further problems, in a scenario which is already looking pretty unstable.

nothing can soften the immediate pain for all of those mourning the dead on the flight from tehran, but there is no doubt they will expect the full truth of what caused their loss. james robbins, bbc news. the presenter and journalist samira ahmed has won her sexual discrimination equal pay claim against the bbc. an employment tribunal found she should have been paid the same for presenting newswatch on the bbc news channel, asjeremy vine was paid for fronting points of view on bbc one. the bbc says it's considering the ruling. david sillitojoins us from outside the bbc. this is a story of two programmes, one points of view, for a way to get was being paid more than samira ahmed. for her show. the bbc says

they are very different, one an entertainment programme, one the yea rs. entertainment programme, one the years. a6 differential, for what it said it was the same work. the nuj said it was the same work. the nuj said that this was a slam dunk and, standing here just an said that this was a slam dunk and, standing herejust an hour or so ago, samira ahmed. made her reaction. now women want to take the action against her employer. i love working the bbc. —— no woman wants to take action against her employer. i want to thank myler, barrister and all the women, all the men who have supported me on the issue of equal p5y~ supported me on the issue of equal pal " supported me on the issue of equal p5y~ ‘ ‘ my supported me on the issue of equal pay. — — my lawyer. supported me on the issue of equal pay. —— my lawyer. iwould like supported me on the issue of equal pay. —— my lawyer. i would like to thank the four tag women and the women of the factory strike fighting for equal pay going back to the

19605. i'm for equal pay going back to the 1960s. i'm looking forward to going back to doing myjob of reporting stories and not being one. response, the bbc admitted that parts of its pay structure in the past, it admitted, had been neither fair nor transparent. and has made changes, however, in this case the human resources director said that she feels that the bbc, this differential was not gender related. samira ahmed is an excellent genus and presenter. we regret that this case ever had to go to tribunal. —— excellent journalist. case ever had to go to tribunal. —— excellentjournalist. we are committed to equality and equal pay. in the past we have dealt with these. we have always believed that samira ahmed and jeremy vine's player was not based on their gender. presenters, female as well as male, had always been paid more on points of view a ban as much. ——

than on newswatch. previously our eye has not been transparent enough orfair enough. we eye has not been transparent enough or fair enough. we have eye has not been transparent enough orfair enough. we have made changes to address this and the tribunal recognise this. we will need to consider thisjudgment recognise this. we will need to consider this judgment carefully and we wa nt consider this judgment carefully and we want to work together with samira ahmed to move on any positive way. the nuj says this is a case that will have wider significance across the whole of the media and entertainment industry. but also for the bbc. dozens of women have still got outstanding claims against the bbc ever since those top pay differentials were first made public. and the nuj says there is around another 20 tribunal is currently in the pipeline. thank you very much. we have been reflecting all evening on the restoration of power sharing at stormont. we

have been hearing from sinn fein in the last few minutes. the dup leader arlene foster has been giving this reaction to sinn fein supporting the deal at stormont. let's hear a little of that. we said last night that we believe that this was a last night that we believe that this wasafairand last night that we believe that this was a fair and balanced deal. that was a fair and balanced deal. that was put forward by the government. we think that looks at those that wa nt to we think that looks at those that want to identify as irish, but importantly recognises that there was a buzz, the majority who live here and her british citizens have a right and need to be recognised as well. it is a fair and balanced deal, i know there will be challenges any deal, not least we need to make sure that we have the finances to be able to deal with all of the issues in northern ireland that are present at the moment, particularly in and around the sector. so, yes, we are going back into devout current. very pleased to be doing so because northern ireland needs government. arlene foster dup. continuing reaction to the events there at stormont over the course of there at stormont over the course of the evening here on the bbc news channel. let's have a look ahead to

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