LAST UPDATE | 2 Jan 2020

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

1. #HOSPITALS: 2019 was the worst year on record for hospital overcrowding as 118,000 people went without a bed, according to an analysis by the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation.

2. #STORMONT: Talks to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland will resume this morning. Tániste Simon Coveney has said it’s “end game” but a deal can still be reached before the 13 January deadline.

3. #AUSTRALIA: Thousands of tourists have been ordered to leave New South Wales in Australia as rescue and evacuation efforts continue after deadly bushfires ripped through many areas. 

4. #HOUSE PRICES: The annual rate of inflation of house prices in Ireland has fallen to less than 1% with the cost of buying a house in the capital did not increase at all in 2019, according to a new report.

5. #TRAINS: Irish Rail was lambasted by commuters over a new service that suggested they take the Dart outside of rush-hour services because of overcrowding on peak time trains, records obtained under Freedom of Information reveal.

6. #MENTAL HEALTH: The sister of a mentally ill man who has been kept on a prison sick ward for more than three years due to a lack of available beds has said that the health service is failing the most vulnerable.

7. #EXCLUSION ZONES: Health Minister Simon Harris has said he is committed to implementing exclusion zones outside facilities where abortions take place after a protest outside the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin yesterday.

8. #ENDOMETRIOSIS: Women who suffer endometriosis feel like “second-class citizens” and some have attempted suicide, according to documents seen by TheJournal.ie.

9. #AIRBNB: Landlords are ignoring regulations aimed at clamping down on Airbnb and other short-term lettings in areas worst hit by the housing crisis, the Irish Independent reports.

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