The North's Education Minister is under fire for taking her 12-year-old-child out of school for three days to go on an official trip to Cyprus.

Catholic schools which retain academic selection will inevitably discriminate against some children, the North's Education Minister claimed today.

The Catholic Church has accused the Government of trying to belittle its role in educating tens of thousands of schoolchildren over several decades.

The North's Education Minister is believed to be on the verge of announcing a compromise over abolishing academic selection for all children aged 11.

Martin McGuinness has said he will be not be naming any other IRA members to the Bloody Sunday inquiry, despite admitting that he was the organisation's second-in-command in Derry at the time of the shootings.