LAST UPDATE | 25 May 2021
GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. Irish banks and vulture funds are understood to have hundreds of properties on their books lying vacant, Christina Finn writes in today’s morning lead.
According to the figures supplied to The Journal, three of the country’s main banks have around 600 vacant properties on their books, though some are sale agreed.
Last week, the government scrambled to roll out measures to clip the wings of the investment funds buying up hundreds of properties and locking regular buyers out, we also heard that a vacant property tax could be on the cards – years after campaigners called for it.
2. US President Joe Biden has slammed Belarus for the “outrageous” act of forcing a flight from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk where a dissident journalist onboard was arrested.
Biden said that a video of Roman Protasevich “confessing” on Belarusian TV “appears to have made under duress”.
He added: “I welcome the news that the European Union has called for targeted economic sanctions and other measures, and have asked my team to develop appropriate options to hold accountable those responsible.”
3. Staying with Belarus: The EU Council has proposed an air traffic ban on Belarus amid the growing outrage.
The ban will prevent Belarusian airlines from flying in the airspace of the 27 EU member states and prevent them from landing at airports in the EU. The union is also calling on all EU-based carriers to avoid flying over the eastern European country.
It was among a range of sanctions, including economic penalties, that were agreed at a European Council meeting in Brussels yesterday evening, which was planned prior to Sunday’s incident.
4. Cyber security experts will today appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Communications to discuss discuss the recent cyber attack on the HSE and Department of Health, and the skills needed to ensure such breaches do not happen again.
Committee Cathaoirleach Deputy Kieran O’Donnell said the recent cyber attacks were an unprecedented assault on our public services and a threat to Ireland’s national security.
“It is critical that we understand how these attackers gained access to the HSE systems so that our national cyber security experts can develop the skills and tools needed to ensure such breaches cannot occur again,” he said.
5. In other health news, a consultant oncologist has warned that delays in identifying and treating cancers due to the disruption caused by Covid-19 might increase the mortality rate from the disease over the next decade.
Consultant medical oncologist Professor Seamus O’Reilly said the pandemic has “enormous implications” for “time-dependent” cancer care. He explained that the health service will struggle to cope with the backlog of patients without hiring additional oncologists and other medical specialists and that 20% of hospital consultant posts are not filled as needed.
6. The trade problems in Northern Ireland are not a result of the Protocol introduced after the UK left the EU but rather Brexit itself, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said.
She was speaking following the first day of the EU Council – the first such meeting since the introduction of the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement at the beginning of May.
A new raft of post-Brexit checks on GB-to-NI goods at the ports of Belfast and Larne, which are contained in the Protocol, have sparked anger among unionists and loyalists who feel Northern Ireland is being separated from the rest of the UK.
7. Complaints made by members of the public to the Press Ombudsman about news publications increased by almost 40% last year compared to 2019.
The Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Ombudsman has released its 2020 report today.
The report outlined that just over 15% of last year’s complaints related to one article published in a number of media outlets – a court report of a case involving a 15-year-old girl. The complaints were resolved through an advisory notice issued on the terminology used when reporting matters related to the prosecution of sexual offences against children.
8. It’s an important week for Irish businesses with a number of key decisions to be made about the next phase of reopening the economy after months of Covid restrictions, Ian Curran writes in the latest Morning Memo.
Sometime today, Fáilte Ireland is due to publish new guidelines for hospitality businesses ahead of Friday’s all-important Cabinet meeting. Also, EU leaders are expected to sign off on plans for a “digital green pass” to restart travel across the bloc in the summer.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s fingerprints are all over the ructions observed in cryptocurrency markets in recent weeks. But what’s behind the Tesla billionaire’s tweets?
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9. And finally, the weather. There will be rain and drizzle this morning in the west and across Munster. The rain will become lighter and confined to southwest during in the afternoon.
Elsewhere today it will be dry in many areas with well scattered showers and good spells of sunshine. Highest temperatures will range from 13 to 16 degrees, but it will be a little cooler in Munster.
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