gone for megxit. >> dougie beattie. thank you so much for joining >> dougie beattie.uch for joining us from. yeah. storm kathleen hitting ireland at the moment and coming our way. lucky i say right, i'm dawn neesom. this is gb news saturday and there's loads more coming up on today's show today. i can't believe feel old. today believe this. i feel old. today marks the 50th anniversary of when abbott won the eurovision song contest for sweden and launched one of the most iconic careers in music in the world. but how are the groups celebrating all of that? and much more to come. this is gb news, britain's news channel welcome back to gb news saturday with me . dawn neesom on your tv, with me. dawn neesom on your tv, onune with me. dawn neesom on your tv, online and on that digital radio. now, my favourite bit of the show with a wonderful person . mamma mia! waterloo and dancing queen are just some of the mega hits released by abba today marks. oh my god, i can't believe. prepare to feel old people. today marks the 50th anniversary of when the super troopers the eurovisi

well, joining me now is gb news northern ireland reporter dougie beattie . there. i'm delighted to see. but you know this the forms ain't going to stop raining for importers are they. >> no. definitely not. in fact , >> no. definitely not. in fact, it is. it is quite strange that we now see this coming forward, because this has been in the pipeline for the last few years . pipeline for the last few years. and of course, during those brexit negotiations, things that were put on british goods coming into northern ireland because we are still held inside eu markets , because of our land border with the republic of ireland , with the republic of ireland, those, customs declarations that were put on british goods coming into this part of the uk will now be reversed ever so slightly on european goods travelling back into the uk . and that's not back into the uk. and that's not just from ireland, but from all over europe and indeed the world. now during the those protocol talks, you'll remember that the government and everything collapsed in northern ireland. and it

now let's cross to our northern ireland reporter, dougie beattie, who joins us. come to the show. dougie. when i spoke to you earlier this morning , you pointed out in no morning, you pointed out in no uncertain terms this has been talked about for years and years and years. this is not a new thing. and now the politicians are trying in ireland are trying to blame the politicians in the uk . in actual fact, they should uk. in actual fact, they should take control of their own borders. it's their responsibility, is it not? >> correct. i mean, i'm standing nigh on the irish border. >> this is northern ireland, great britain that i'm standing in now. >> just in front of me there is the river fleury , that is the the river fleury, that is the repubuc the river fleury, that is the republic of ireland, not five feet away from me. and of course, there's not a border post to be seen now during the brexit negotiations , barnier and brexit negotiations, barnier and tusk played tough with britain and leo varadkar at that stage of the game was offered an electronic border, a

dougie beattie is there for us this morning. in ireland is building up momentum, isn't it? >> well, stephen, i'm actually in newtown, mon county, in the repubuc in newtown, mon county, in the republic of ireland in the beautiful wicklow mountains, in behind me and it was here, dunng behind me and it was here, during this week that, that relations have really broken down local people here really objecting. and you can see, i mean, this is a rural road. and if i just look at this , this is if i just look at this, this is modern day ireland. there is barriers across this road stopping people getting on, anything at all. don't access to this road . and if we look across this road. and if we look across this road. and if we look across this way here, we will see a gaa pitch. this is normally on a sunday. absolutely full of young people playing gaa . now there is people playing gaa. now there is an immigration centre due to open just down behind us here over the barrier. and for the last 6 or 7 weeks there have been protests here ever

here's dougie beattie i >> -- >> west. hello, tom. hello, emily. yeah.t news days i have seen in northern ireland for many, many years. and it shows you the political weight of sir jeffrey donaldson. he is the longest serving mp from northern ireland. he arrived here in the media scrum this morning. and then, of course, he and his co—accused , his wife lady co—accused, his wife lady eleanor donaldson , appeared in eleanor donaldson, appeared in the dock in the courthouse behind us. they faced 15 charges together. 11 of those were to sir jeffrey, one of rape, one of gross indecency and nine of sexual assault. his wife faces four charges of aiding and abetting the court will meet once again on the 22nd of may. >> zigi. thank you . what an >> zigi. thank you. what an extraordinary story it is. yes. >> we'll come back to you for more updates later in the show, i'm sure. but first, let's get you quickly to the weather. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar , the sponsors of weather solar, the sponsors of weather on gb news. >> hi there and welcome to the late

we're going to go live to dublin now and join our reporter dougie beattie , who's got the dougie beattie the latest. dougie, thank you very much for your time as ever. how serious are these protests and how much pressure is the irish government now under to. >> well, the irish government has put itself under huge pressure by actually sending the riot squad in and the local from, newtown were sprayed with pepper spray. now that sounds well , it pepper spray. now that sounds well, it could have been pepper spray. now that sounds well , it could have been anybody well, it could have been anybody but newtown, eamonn kennedy is i mean, the average house price, there is about ,300,000. some of them are as much as ,5.2 million. so it is not, what you would say is your average right wingers, they are a very liberal community. it is a beautiful place to live. it's right in the wicklow mountains. and this morning i was i was blown away by the amount of people that stopped their cars and told us how welcome we were there. it was great that the truth was going to be told, because what has happened,

well, i'm joined now by gb news northern ireland reporter dougie beattie . beattie. dougie, welcome to the show. and what's the latest ? the latest? >> well good afternoon martin. welcome to newry courthouse. and i must say, i've been a member of the media in northern ireland for decades, and this was one of the biggest news days i have seen. and that's because the jeffrey donaldson was such a big political animal here. i mean, if you take a look at his cv, i mean, he he ran the campaigns for enoch powell back in the 80s. he was the longest serving mp in northern ireland. and he is also one of the co signatories of theresa may's government, the confidence and supply arrangements. so he's been right at the forefront of politics. so you can imagine at the end of march when he's arrested with these allegations, the media were here in their droves, as was the security presence . sirjeffrey had droves, as was the security presence . sir jeffrey had to droves, as was the security presence . sirjeffrey had to run presence. sirjeffrey had to run the gauntlet through

. >> well, let's talk to our northern ireland reporter, dougie beattie dougie. >> this is he's a huge jeffrey donaldson, the longest serving , and i think we longest serving, and i think we could credit him for getting the northern ireland assembly back in business. >> completely correct. i mean, he is quite the figure in northern ireland. his his policies have gone since 1983, when he helped , the ulster when he helped, the ulster unionist party and that of enoch powell regained his seat in south down. i mean, that's how far this goes back. and that's the sort of political, strategy that he had. and he has been very much at the forefront of the dup . those talks on the the dup. those talks on the protocol, the framework document andindeed protocol, the framework document and indeed restoring the stormont executive. so you can imagine this morning when he and his co—accused, they did arrive separately , that of his wife, separately, that of his wife, lady eleanor donaldson . they lady eleanor donaldson. they arrived here separately. sir jeffrey arrived with john mcburney, his solicito

. >> well, gb news northern ireland reporter dougie beattie joins us now. there's a huge irony here, isn't there, because the great fuss that was made by the south of ireland about not having a militarised border of any form between north and south after we left because of brexit, which is why now, of course, these migrants can simply cross from north to south and stay there. so they're almost hoist by their own petard in these southern ireland politicians . politicians. >> yeah it is. i thought you've hit it in the head. it's a total lack of political foresight here. i mean, i was in brussels in 2017 when those negotiations were going on, and leo varadkar quite clearly said not one camera on the border and he wasn't being offered a militarised border, he was being offered an electronic border, a smart border. he was, he told the waiting press, that this was unicorn thinking and it wouldn't happen. now, who would have thought all these years on that? of course, the rwanda bill would come in and immigrants that are awaiting to get a placement in the uk would

dougie beattie there this morning to explain this, what is happening there, dougie ? there, dougie?irport. i asked northern ireland's immigration problem is starting to cause problems here, mainly in the round social housing, because of course northern ireland, like every other part of the uk, like the repubuc other part of the uk, like the republic of ireland, has problem with housing. the housing, especially social housing. there's a big waiting list in this and many are seeing immigrants coming to northern ireland. they're being put on the list first. they're getting social housing, although not through the housing executive, through the housing executive, through a company called mears. and they supply and look after these immigrants when they come into northern ireland. so areas like south belfast are now seeing an extraordinary amount of immigrants coming to in that area. i mean, the likes of the lower ormeau road now has a huge romanian population in it. but since the rwanda bill has came through, many of those , it must through, many of those, it must be said, have decided,

we go to our correspondent from northern ireland, dougie beattie, on this one to explain more.about in relation to this case, so i'm not sure how tethered you are by what you can say or not. but over to you my friend. >> yes. well good morning eamonn. isabel and welcome to, newry, yes. this, this there has been a lot of speculation around this case in fact, social media is full of it and it could actually endanger the case itself. this is a political shockwave to northern ireland. sir jeffrey donaldson is the longest serving politician in northern ireland. he was, he was the leader of the democratic unionist party. he came from the ulster unionist party. and he really came under the political spotlight in 1983 when he ran, enoch powell's , campaign for enoch powell's, campaign for westminster, in which enoch took the seat for south down. so that's the type of pedigree we're talking about here. this man is a political giant in northern ireland, and for the last 3 to 4 weeks since his arrest at the end of march, speculation has been rife as to what exactly he was facing . what ex

announced, actually they're going the, what going to be pausing, the, what do you call it, the dougie beattie but what do you call it? what are the, prescribing? that's the word, when to prescribe when they're trying to prescribe these with puberty these children with puberty blockers they're blockers now. so they're going to pausing in scotland. to be pausing that in scotland. you've seen that. you've already seen that. they're pausing it in england. i celebrate this enormously because pumping because i think pumping a child's mind full of this notion that if you're unhappy , the kind that if you're unhappy, the kind of elixir to fixing all of your problems is to try and externally modify you to look like a boy or vice versa. i think it's such a delusion. i think it's such a delusion. i think it's such a delusion. i think it's dangerous, i think it's untrue, and i think it has lasting medical impacts on those children. i don't think it should ever have been a thing in the first place. so i celebrate the first place. so i celebrate the fact it's been paused to, you know, look, i, i do, of cou

. >> well joining us now is gb news northern ireland reporter dougie beattie. o tell us more. us more. >> us more. >> yes it is very complicated in fact we were reporting from northern ireland on it is because for the last three years we have put up with it exactly those sort of systems. now the british government has said these checks for european goods coming into the uk is for veterinary safety, food safety , veterinary safety, food safety, food standards, which is totally understandable . but we of course understandable. but we of course have border checks coming from britain into this part of the uk, because we are held inside european regulations now , i european regulations now, i can't tell you that we had northern ireland had asked for trusted trader status as the deal that would put that through, and we were told it would not work. technically it would not work. technically it would not work. and therefore europe went against it and we ended up with trader support services. now the problem really gets to when you decide . to gets to when you decide. to

. >> northern ireland >> gb news northern ireland reporter joins us reporter dougie beattie joins us er ? farmers is actually a goer? >> no, i don't believe that. that will be a goer. farmers really need security because we need the security of food production and back in 2021, there was basically four bands put into place of how much money you would get under these new schemes. and in those bands was a lot of stuff about, environmental issues, etc. and in the first year of 2021, the bafic in the first year of 2021, the basic income came down by 5. the bafic basic income came down by 5. the basic grant then it continued and continued. it's to end at the end of 20 for 2024 this yeah the end of 20 for 2024 this year. and it is already down 60% across that that basic payment. then you take into account that over the last 24 months, as i have been wittering on about in gb news, the input costs to farming have went up 35% for various reasons. farming have went up 35% for various reasons . first of all, various reasons. first of all, fertiliser, environmental issues and we haven't even starte

. >> well, gb news northern ireland reporter dougie beattie joins us now. a farm i'd say let's burn. you can just see the calves getting their breakfast there behind me. but yes, we're, this . behind me. but yes, we're, this. has been quite an issue for farming throughout the uk. of course, after brexit happened, the single farm payment, as it was then, was a subsidy was known then, was a subsidy for farmers in order to produce food. and that food, of course, came to us subsidies in came to us with subsidies in place it. now, northern place in it. now, northern ireland, because of the protocol, we managed to lessen that somewhat. but farming input costs have been up by about 35% over the last two years. i mean, we and gb news said about the price of milk going down. we said about the price of fertiliser up. we said fertiliser going up. we said about the potato failing about the potato crop failing all things. it's not all these things. it's not because have a magic ball, because we have a magic ball, it's because we look at farming as a business and decide,

beattie . morning, dougie. dougie beattie. morning, dougie.consensus for the yes for the rest of the uk? yes >> well good morning to you all. yes. storm kathleen made land here about 20 minutes ago and it is getting steadily worse. i can assure you those gusts are already up there about 70 already up there about 60 or 70 miles high tide miles an hour. it is high tide in the irish sea, and we're only about 25 miles from the isle of man. so you can imagine if this winds, high winds make it further inland. we will definitely see structures damage and trees down. so if any advice today in around the coastal areas stay at home, do come out . areas stay at home, do come out. >> thanks to you. please stay safe. it looks like you're on the edge of perishing . dare the edge of perishing. dare i say no ? say no? >> on the edge of perishing. >> on the edge of perishing. >> literally. dougie. thanks so much for bringing us that. >> it does look extremely, extremely windy. but a beautiful daysunny, shining, complaining extremely windy. but a beautiful days

well, joining me now to discuss this is gb news northern ireland reporter dougie beattie. land is being spoilt as a consequence. and tell us about why that's such a huge impact on the farming community. >> well good afternoon martin. and really what has happened here is back in 2016, we had a brexit deal and the civil service at that time decided to look at what we couldn't do, rather than what we could do, what would give our farmers an advantage . and really, they advantage. and really, they copied and pasted european legislation . and a lot of that legislation. and a lot of that legislation. and a lot of that legislation is around the environment we have had, yes, a big year of rain, but we should have been able to cope with it. our drains are shucks as we call them here in northern ireland, should been cleaned out , should have been cleaned out, but of course they haven't, because if go to clean a because if you go to clean a shock cut that's shock or cut a tree that's thicker than arm, must thicker than your arm, you must go to the department of environment, because th

well, let's have a quick chat because joining me now is northern ireland reporter dougie beattie dougie is working. but it doesn't seem to be working for those in ireland . be working for those in ireland. >> no, definitely not. and we've covered this for the last couple of years. of course, that was going to happen. we're part of the common travel area. so you know, immigrants can either come into ireland, go through northern ireland and straight back into the uk or the other way round. and over the last couple of days, we've seen a beautiful village called newtown , mount kennedy in wicklow and middle class people. average price of houses. there are about £300,000 have been set upon by the garda siochana. the police force of the republic of ireland, with pepper spray and riot shields because they were protesting about an immigrant centre coming into their area. and those people are still protesting now, but it has , protesting now, but it has, inspired simon harris because that that was a very bad mistake. and simon harris, the taoiseach , has now said today taoiseach, has now said to

dougie beattie is there for us. what's it looking like at the minute, dougie? actually meant to get this up the middle of the irish sea before it starts moving across into the west coast of england , round about an hour's england, round about an hour's time now. there is a couple of trees down and so forth, in around the country at this moment in time. but that would be expected because the water table is so high at the moment. i mean, when you're driving down the roads and i'm it's the roads and i'm sure it's exactly the same across the uk, any rain at all, you can see the soil washing off fields, soil washing off the fields, running roads like running down the roads like a river and of course that washes and soaks around the roots of the trees now haven't had the trees. now we haven't had a cold, particularly cold march, which is beneficial to us because what happens at that point is that the water in around the root of the tree freezes, it expands. and then, of course, the high winds come, move those trees about and they come down. but at this moment in time

two hour wind swept northern ireland reporter dougie beattie is in county down. >> it hit cork , waterfordand >> it hit cork, waterford and kerry. there it has done substructure damage and power outages. the storm has now basically surrounded the coastal areas of the island of ireland. it is now making its way towards galway , mayo and donegal and it galway, mayo and donegal and it has come up the irish sea into the east coast here and i'm standing in northern ireland, about 25 miles away from the isle of man, and the winds are picking up. the gusts of the winds are the most damaging part here, and we will expect many more flights to be cancelled over the next few hours . over the next few hours. >> rail passengers are facing fresh travel chaos as train drivers continue striking in their long running pay dispute. members of aslef at six companies have walked out, leaving some areas with no services all day. tilton, transpennine express and northern will not run any trains, while there will be reduced services on great western, lner and heathrow express engineers . work means express engine