LAST UPDATE | 20 Jun

GOOD MORNING. HERE are the the top stories as your day gets started.

1. Green Party

Nominations for the Green Party leadership contest are due to open this morning at 9am and will close on Monday.

Under Green Party rules, a candidate must receive 50 nominations before they can challenge for the leadership. The candidates will be announced Tuesday morning.

Children and Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman and Junior Minister and Senator Pippa Hackett both announced their bids to replace outgoing party leader Eamon Ryan yesterday.

2. Horse racing

One year on from a “bombshell” appearance, senior figures in the horseracing industry and its regulators will come under the microscope of the Dáil’s powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today.

Revelations about a Kildare abattoir and financial transactions involving an injured jockeys charity will come in for scrutiny later this morning at the PAC.

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) and senior Department of Agriculture officials will go before TDs as as the industry finds itself in the media spotlight.

3. Murder

A man has been charged with the murder of Michael McConville, who was found dead at a house in Co Armagh last week. 

Police discovered the 74-year-old’s body in the bathroom of a house in the Annaghmare Road area of Crossmaglen in south Armagh shortly after 7pm on Saturday, 15 June. 

A 67-year-old man was subsequently arrested by the PSNI. He has since been charged.

4. Property prices

House prices in Ireland rose by an average of 7.9% in the 12 months to April 2024, as the housing market is said to be “heating up” again.

Prices are now nearly 10% more expensive than they were during the boom in April 2007.

The Central Statistics Office’s Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) for April was up 0.4% on the month, with the annual inflation rate accelerating to 7.9%, the fastest pace since end-2022.

5. Military

A military groups has accused Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin of ignoring them and causing low morale in the Irish Defence Forces. 

Lt Col Conor King, General Secretary of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) has also accused the Department of a lack of engagement and consultation.

King also accused Martin of “lip-service” on a proposed legislative gagging order preventing them from commenting on Government policy.

6. Tristan Sherry

Six men and a teenager charged in connection with the murder of gunman Tristan Sherry have seen their cases transferred to the non-jury Special Criminal Court following a State application.

At the three-judge court this morning, State solicitor Ciara Vibien applied for an order pursuant to Section 49 (1) of the Offences Against the State Act that the seven accused be tried at the Special Criminal Court, which deals with terrorism and organised crime-related offences.

7. Fianna Fáil

Junior Minister Jack Chambers has been named the new deputy leader of Fianna Fáil.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin announced his appointment to the role outside Government Buildings this evening. 

The position of deputy leader has been vacant since August 2020, when Dara Calleary resigned as Minister for Agriculture following the fallout from the infamous Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in Galway.

8. Russia

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is seeking to strengthen ties with long-time partner Vietnam on a state visit today that comes as Moscow faces growing international isolation because of its military actions in Ukraine.

Upon his arrival, Putin was greeted by dignitaries, and soldiers in white dress uniforms stood at attention.

He arrived from North Korea, where he and leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement that pledges mutual aid in the event of war.

9. Finglas

An arrest has been made after a man in his 50s died in an overnight assault in Finglas.

At around 12.30am this morning, gardaí received reports of a man with serious injuries on Hampton Wood Way on the St. Margaret’s Road in Finglas.

The man was taken to the Mater Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.