LAST UPDATE | 7 Sep 2021
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act returned to the spotlight last week amid the re-emergence of the controversy surrounding the since-abandoned appointment of Katherine Zappone to a part-time role at the UN.
The government was accused by the opposition of bringing the transparency legislation “into disrepute” after Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney admitted that he had deleted texts – which may have been subject to FOI – relating to the appointment.
There were further concerns when Tánaiste Leo Varadkar released text messages between the pair later in the week, prompting confusion among reporters and politicians who had previously sought the texts under FOI but were told they did not exist.
Journalists, transparency campaigners and opposition TDs have all decried the latest developments in the long-running controversy surrounding Zappone’s appointment, holding them up as further examples of Ireland’s broken FOI system, Stephen McDermott writes in today’s lead story.
2. Sticking with Merriongate, the Department of Foreign Affairs has published 111 documents pertaining to the planned appointment of Katherine Zappone as a special envoy to the UN.
They show that the former minister texted Simon Coveney to thank him for “this incredible opportunity” in early March, months before the Cabinet signed off on the part-time position in controversial circumstances in late July.
The files were published by the department this afternoon following a series of Freedom of Information requests relating to the appointment of Zappone as a UN Special Envoy in July.
Coveney, the Foreign Affairs Minister, is due before an Oireachtas committee today where he is set to be further grilled by politicians who say they were unhappy with answers provided at an initial hearing last Tuesday.
3. For the second year, Leaving Cert students were offered the option of calculated grades. This year, however, many also decided to take some written exams in June as per tradition.
Today, the class of 2021 will find out what third-level offers will come from the grades and subsequent ‘points’ they received on Friday.
The Round One offers will be released at 2pm, and you can check them all on The Journal here.
4. The first cuts to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) will take effect from today with students also receiving their final payments under the scheme.
The top two rates of the PUP will be cut by €50 from today after being closed to new entrants in July in line with the Government’s plan to phase out the scheme altogether from February 2022.
PUP recipients will notice the changes to their payments from 14 September. Today’s initial reductions mean anyone currently receiving the €350 per week payment will see their payment reduced to €300 next week.
Anyone receiving the payment at the €300 per week rate will now receive €250. Meanwhile, anyone receiving the payment at the €250 per week rate will now receive €203 per week, the standard jobseeker’s rate.
5. More than 6,000 people contacted the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s national 24-hour helpline for the first time in 2020.
People that the DRCC supported last year were “more anxious and felt more isolated” during the pandemic compared to previous years, according to the centre’s new annual report.
In total, its helpline received 13,438 emails, calls, texts, or online messages, with at least 6,451 coming from people contacting the service for the first time.
6. Spike Lee, Wendell Pierce and Aldis Hodge have led the tributes to The Wire actor Michael K Williams following his death aged 54.
Williams, who memorably played shotgun-wielding stick-up man Omar Little on HBO’s acclaimed crime drama, was found dead at his home in Brooklyn yesterday, police in New York said.
A representative confirmed the news, describing the death of Williams as an “insurmountable loss”.
7. New standard for domestic solid fuels will be increased in Ireland within a year.
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan TD has today announced the new standards for all domestic solid fuels which will be introduced over the next 12 months.
From that point on, the most polluting of fuels will no longer be available on the Irish market.
8. Ireland’s (and the world’s) supply chain difficulties are a bit of a chicken and egg problem, Ian Curran writes in today’s Morning Memo.
Certainly, Covid-19 lockdowns, freak weather events and a global shortage of containers have conspired to choke up international freight while many Irish businesses say Brexit has created its own set of delays.
But the other problem is that consumers, particularly in Europe and the United States, are buying a lot of stuff at the moment, which isn’t helping.
Sign up to receive our daily business and economics newsletter here.
9. And finally, the weather. Met Éireann says it will be misty or foggy early this morning in many areas with impaired visibility leading to dangerous driving conditions. Mist and fog will quickly burn by mid-morning, becoming widely sunny.
However, coastal fog will linger along parts of the east and south. Dry, humid and very warm today with top temperatures of 22 to 26 degrees Celsius.
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