Shortly before midnight First Minister Peter Robinson spoke to waiting journalists at Stormont to confirm that his party was agreeing to the deal brokered with Sinn Féin at Hillsborough Castle over ten days of intense negotiation. He claimed to have the unanimous support of his parliamentary party colleagues.

Early today Taoiseach Brian Cowen and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived at Hillsborough Castle and after further discussions with the party leaders held a press conference which also involved the First and Deputy First Ministers.

It has now been agreed that responsibility for policing and justice will be devolved from Westminster to Stormont in early April. While the Parades Commission will remain in place it will in future act as a final arbiter with more localised forums attempting to agree on parade routes.

Read the complete agreement here .

Lillis sentenced to six years 11 months

Éamonn Lillis was today sentenced to six years 11 months in prison following his conviction last week of the manslaughter of his wife Celine Cawley.

Finance Bill published

Yesterday the Government published the Finance Bill, which gives legal effect to measures announced in December's Budget. It is normal to use this Bill to tidy up some anomalies thrown up in the post-Budget debate and to add a few extras not mentioned in the Budget.

On this occasion the Bill is being used to introduce VAT on local authority service charges (waste, water, car parking) giving effect to a European Court of Justice ruling. In addition service charge costs will no longer be tax deductable after 2011.

The Bill will also legislate on the rules to be applied to transfer pricing used by multinationals as they trade goods and services between subsidiaries. The aim is to ensure that profits are accounted for in the appropriate country.

Central Bank travel costs curtailed

Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan yesterday announced an end to the practice of the Bank covering the expenses of staff who bring their wives on overseas trips. Professor Honohan , who moved into the role some four months ago, confirmed that from 2007 to 2009 the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland paid for the travel of accompanying spouses to business meetings on 71 occasions. The total cost of this was €67,450. Of these trips 62 were within Europe with an average cost of €435 while the other nine involved long haul, and business class was used at an average cost of €4,515.

Prof Honohan said that he was not aware that the organisation had been covering the cost of so many spouse trips, adding, "While some of this expenditure could perhaps have been justifiable in the past, the practice does not seem appropriate in present circumstances".

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Carlow-born pimp jailed for seven years

A 48-year-old Carlow man who fled Ireland when gardaí closed in on his brothel operation was yesterday sentenced in Wales to seven years in prison for controlling an international prostitution racket which involved trafficking young women und underage girls into Ireland. He had also pleaded guilty to money laundering.

Thomas Joseph Carroll, originally from Bagenalstown, moved to south Wales some years ago but continued to control a series of brothels on both sides of the Irish border. When gardaí raided these premises they freed a number of young women from Africa and eastern Europe.

Carroll's South African partner Shamiela Clark (32), who was also involved in the operation, was jailed for three and a half years, while his daughter Toma (26), was given a two-year sentence for money laundering; she collected the cash from the brothels (€1.75m between 2005 and 2008) and lodged it her father's account.

Death of Tomás MacGiolla

Former TD and left-wing politician Tomás MacGiolla died in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital yesterday morning at the age of 86. Mr MacGiolla was President of Sinn Féin from 1962 until the party split in 1969. He remained leader of what then became known as Official Sinn Féin, which later adopted the name the Workers' Party. That too split and many of Mr MacGiolla's erstwhile colleagues formed Democratic Left.

Mr MacGiolla served as a TD for Dublin West for ten years from 1982 and as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1993 to 1994.

Friday's Papers

The Irish Times is alone this morning in going with yesterday's big financial story, with "Consumers face range of new charges as part of Finance Bill".

The other two Southern papers focus on the trial of Éamonn Lillis, who is to be sentenced today. The Irish Examiner runs with "Celine's sister: I'll never know the truth" and the Irish Independent also leads with a quotation from the victim impact statement; "‘A treacherous liar'".

The Irish News obviously held the front page for Peter Robinson's midnight pronouncement and led with the two words, "Deal Done".

The Weather in Galway

We have just travelled by train from Galway to Dublin and enjoyed bright sunshine in a cloudless sky for the entire journey. Temperature 9C.

---

Using the buttons below you can save this article to your favourite social bookmarking site