LAST UPDATE | 27 Dec 2018

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #REFUSED: Over 3,500 people were refused entry to Ireland at passport control in the last year, TheJournal.ie has learned.

2. #COMMISSION: A public consultation has been launched today on the structure of an Electoral Commission to oversee what future elections and referendums we will have. 

3. #SMOKERS: Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe considered giving a reprieve to smokers in October’s Budget after seven consecutive years of excise duty increase, but then changed his mind. 

4. #RELOCATED: 47 adults and 58 children have today officially moved to Ireland from Syria, via a refugee camp in Lebanon.       

5. #ELECTION: An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has refused to rule out an election next year, according to reports in the Irish Times.  

6. #TRUMP: US president Donald Trump paid a visit to American troops stationed in Iraq.

7. #ALPS: A 12-year-old boy was rescued 40 minutes after being swept away and buried by an avalanche while skiing with his parents in the French Alps, rescuers said.

8. #PENALTY POINTS: More than half a million people had penalty points on their driving licences by 30 September this year. 

9. #INDONESIA: The country has raised the danger alert level for an erupting volcano that sparked a killer tsunami at the weekend.