LAST UPDATE | 22 Mar 2022
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. US President Joe Biden has said it is clear that Russia is considering the use of chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine. He warned that there would be a “severe” Western response if President Vladimir Putin took this course of action.
Meanwhile Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is prepared to discuss a commitment from Ukraine not to seek Nato membership in exchange for a cease-fire.
2. Cabinet will today discuss a package worth more than €12 million to support tillage farmers to increase the volume of crops grown in Ireland. Under the tillage incentive scheme a payment of €400 per hectare is proposed, though the rate may be higher for certain crops such as maize and fodder beet.
3. With Covid-19 case numbers in Ireland on the rise again, a new survey has revealed a sharp decline in the wearing of face masks, Independent.ie reports. The ESRI tracker survey showed a steep decline in the reported wearing of face coverings on public transport and in shops over the week after the government lifted the mask mandate.
4. A nationwide sweep of vacant properties is currently underway, the Irish Examiner reports, with estate agents being asked to identify units in which to house displaced Ukrainians arriving in Ireland. Cabinet will today hear that up to 200,000 people fleeing the besieged country could arrive in Ireland in the coming weeks.
5. Gardaí are continuing to question a man in his 20s who was arrested in relation to the death of 36-year-old Sandra Boyd, who was shot dead on Saturday evening. It is reported that the man was well-known to the victim and that the shooting may have been an accident.
6. Two women have died after an attack at a secondary school in the city of Malmö in Sweden. An 18-year-old male student has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
7. Families of those on board a plane that crashed in the Guangxi province of China are continuing to wait for news of survivors, but none of the passengers have so far been found alive. Rescuers have reportedly found parts of the wreckage but the search is taking place over mountainous, rugged terrain.
8. Sinn Féin, in a newsletter sent to EU diplomats, has said Europe must prepare for change now that Irish reunification has moved “centre stage”, The Irish Times reports. In the newsletter, party leader Mary Lou McDonald is quoted as saying Irish unity is being discussed across the country “not in aspirational tones but as a realistic, achievable and necessary future”.
9. It is widely reported this morning that the government is expected to back the Football Association of Ireland’s (FAI) bid to jointly host Euro 2028 with Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland. Tomorrow is the deadline for football associations to confirm their interest.
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