LAST UPDATE | 3 Aug 2022

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.

Tension in Taiwan

1. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she and other members of Congress visiting Taiwan are showing they will not abandon their commitment to the self-governing island.

Her comments come after China announced multiple military exercises around the island and issued a series of harsh statements following the delegation touch-down in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, last night.

Missing records

2. In our lead story this morning Órla Ryan reports that the child and family agency Tusla has been unable to locate records about a baby girl who spent time in St Gerard’s institution in Dublin in 1936, despite an “extensive” search.

St Gerard’s housed unmarried mothers and their children in the 1920s and 1930s. Records related to the institution were given to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, in 2017.

Another attempt to restore power

3. MLAs will gather at Stormont today in the latest attempt to restore the devolved powersharing institutions in Northern Ireland.

Two previous attempts to elect a speaker, which would open the way for the nomination of First and deputy First Ministers, have failed. Jeffrey Donaldson’s Democratic Unionist Party has made it clear it will again block the election of an Assembly speaker today, meaning no further business can be done.

Power costs

4. A policy to install hundreds of thousands of electrically-powered heat pumps in homes across Ireland could increase power costs by up to 46%, a research paper from the ESRI has found.

As part of the Climate Action Plan 2021, the government plans to replace oil and solid-fuel boilers with heat pumps powered by renewable electricity, with the aim of installing 400,000 heat pumps in existing buildings by 2030.

Senior research officer and co-author of the ESRI paper Dr Muireann Lynch said that the high cost of retrofitting “highlights the challenges associated with decarbonising residential heating”.

Increase in assaults

5. Assaults have increased in many counties with large cities, according to an analysis of crime figures by the Irish Independent.

Although five out of the six Dublin garda divisions have seen a reduction in crime compared to the period before Covid restrictions were imposed, there has been an increase in reported assaults in 15 counties.

The Wagatha Christie trial fallout

6. Rebekah Vardy has said she believes she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after losing her legal battle against Coleen Rooney, adding she had been taken to hospital twice since the episode began.

Last week a High Court judge found a viral social media post by Rooney about Vardy was “substantially true”.

In an interview with The Sun, the  wife of Leicester striker Jamie Vardy said she felt as though her life was “falling apart” and she was exhausted “physically, emotionally and mentally”.

Successful grain delivery

7. The first grain ship to leave Ukraine since the Russian invasion has arrived in Turkish waters. 

Russia has been blockading Ukraine’s ports since the invasion in February, causing global food shortages. The ship, carrying 26,000 tonnes of corn, will be inspected this morning before continuing on to Lebanon.

Oscars buzz

8. Irish language film An Cailín Ciúin will be submitted as Ireland’s entry to the Oscars Best International Feature Film category.

The film, focused on the story of young girl Cáit and her transformative visit to foster parents, has been in Irish and British cinemas since its release in May.

An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) has been well received, won a number of awards and has been screened at a number of international film festivals. It won seven IFTA awards including Best Film.

Mountjoy Prison

9. A Mountjoy Prisoner who had been hospitalised with serious injuries last week has since died.

The man (30s) was seriously injured during an incident at Mountjoy last Friday evening.

The Irish Prison Service confirmed his death in a statement this morning.