LAST UPDATE | 4 Aug 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Injuries at Donegal festival

1. Four people are recovering in hospital after a van ploughed into a crowd at a festival in Co Donegal last night.

Gardaí have confirmed that the driver of the vehicle suffered a ‘health incident’ just moments before the incident. Hundreds of people were on Clonmany’s Main Street when the incident occurred.

Voices of Syrians report

2. Language barriers and mental health issues among Syrian refugees who have settled in Ireland are key areas of concern, a report has found.

The Voices of Syrians report, published today, describes the experiences of 153 Syrian refugees who arrived in Ireland between 2015 and 2019 through the Irish Refugee Resettlement Programme.

The report found that “healthcare quality is, on the whole, affected primarily by one concern, and that is language”.

The report states that access to interpreters is inconsistent and frequently falls below standards established in the Irish health system.

Airport chaos subsides

3. In our lead story this morning Emer Moreau reports that the Defence Forces will come off standby at Dublin Airport on 15 August when the current arrangement to have them help with security, if needed, lapses.

The DAA, which manages Dublin Airport, has not requested an extension to the six-week arrangement, a spokesperson confirmed. 

Protections for victims of domestic abuse

4. Stalkers will face ten years in prison under tough new laws aimed at cracking down on domestic abuse. 

The new laws, which have been signed off by government, will see stalking as well as non-fatal strangulation becoming standalone offences.

The new measures will also mean courts will be able to issue civil restraining orders against stalkers. These orders do not require a criminal prosecution and are easier for victims to obtain.

Public finances

5. The latest exchequer returns show that the Covid-era deficit has been wiped out as the public finances recorded a surplus of €5 billion at the end of July.

The dramatic turnaround has occurred thanks to strong growth in tax revenues and the unwinding of costly Covid-19 support measures.

Corporation tax receipts for the first seven months of the year now stand at €9 billion. This is over €3 billion ahead of the same period last year, driven by significant increases in profitability in the multinational sector.

Taiwan tensions

6. China has said military exercises by its navy, air force and other departments are underway in six zones surrounding Taiwan.

The drills were prompted by a visit to the island by Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi this week and are intended to advertise China’s threat to attack the self-governing island republic in response to moves to solidify its de facto independence from Chinese rule with support from key ally the US.

Ukraine war

7. The United States has claimed Russia is working to fabricate evidence concerning last week’s deadly strike on a prison housing prisoners of war in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine.

US intelligence officials have determined Russia is looking to plant false evidence to make it appear that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the 29 July attack on Olenivka Prison that left 53 dead and wounded dozens more, a US official familiar with the intelligence finding told The Associated Press.

Late-night transport

8. The provision of late-night Luas services past 1am has been ruled out by the National Transport Authority. The NTA told The Journal that it concluded that extending services significantly “is not something that should be progressed at this point”. 

It said essential maintenance on the likes of overhead cable systems, rail works and cleaning “can only be carried out when all trams are out of service”. 

“Even with the current schedule in place, the nightly window for that preventative maintenance work to take place is only is only somewhere between two and three hours,” the NTA said.

Energy crisis

9. A temporary power plant  in North Dublin is set to take 15 months to build and will be in operation for up to five years, according to a report published by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

A major report was compiled by EirGrid, which showed that Ireland could potentially face electricity shortages over the next several winters due to the shutdowns of older plants.

Meanwhile, UN secretary general António Guterres has hit out at oil and gas firms, accusing them of “grotesque greed”. He said these companies are “punishing the poorest and most vulnerable people, while destroying our only home”.