LAST UPDATE | 29 Dec 2021
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day
1. Concerns for the health of the late John Hume were raised by numerous sources during the peace negotiations that preceded the Provisional IRA ceasefire in 1994, Rónán Duffy writes in today’s lead story.
The former SDLP leader and subsequent Nobel Peace Prize winner was under intense pressure inside and outside his party over an ongoing dialogue with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams.
The Hume-Adams initiative began in the late 1980s at a particularly violent period during The Troubles.
When the talks became public, Hume was castigated by elements within the Irish media for speaking to Adams amid continuing IRA violence, with members of his own party also questioning the strategy.
2. People aged 30-39 can receive their Covid-19 booster vaccine from today if they have already received their first two vaccinations.
The HSE said that those aged 16-29 who received a Janssen primary dose are also being invited for a booster jab.
“We encourage everyone to avail of your booster dose when offered as it gives you the best protection from serious illness caused by Covid-19,” the health service said.
Those who are due to receive a booster can attend a designated walk-in vaccination clinic for their age group, or they will get a text message from the HSE with a scheduled appointment.
3. Omicron still poses “very high” risk and could overwhelm healthcare systems, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned, as the highly transmissible coronavirus variant fuels record outbreaks in many countries.
Case numbers have shot up 11% globally in the last week, forcing governments from China to Germany and France to find a difficult balance between antivirus restrictions and the need to keep economies and societies open.
The Netherlands and Switzerland said Omicron had become the dominant strain in their countries, and while some studies suggested it causes milder Covid-19, the WHO urged caution.
4. House prices in Ireland have risen by almost 8% in the last 12 months, as significant regional price differences have begun to emerge.
The fourth-quarter report on house prices by Daft.ie shows that there has been a 7.7% year-on-year increase in house prices nationwide.
According to the report, the average nationwide price of a house in the fourth quarter was €290,998, up €21,446 on last year.
5. Prince Andrew’s lawyer has called for the civil sexual assault case against the royal in the US to be stopped because his accuser is “actually domiciled in Australia”.
Virginia Giuffre is suing the British Queen’s son for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.
Andrew B Brettler, in documents filed for the duke in the Southern District Court of New York on Tuesday, said the case should be halted until the “issue of subject matter jurisdiction is adjudicated”.
6. An idea in 1997 to hold a seminar for all of Northern Ireland’s political parties in a South African game reserve was labelled as “rubbish” by then Taoiseach John Bruton.
The proposal was made by Professor Padraig O’Malley of the University of Massachusetts in Boston and included a suggestion that politicians would go on a hunting expedition.
Details of the plans and the Irish government’s swift rejection are contained in State Papers newly released to the National Archives. Documents reveal that the plan was pitched to Bruton after O’Malley had been in Belfast and raised it with Irish officials.
7. Police in Hong Kong have raided the office of a local media outlet and arrested six current and former staff, deepening fears for press freedom in a territory where media rights have been massively curtailed in recent years.
Suppression of Hong Kong’s local press has increased in the wake of 2019′s huge and often violent democracy protests and Beijing’s subsequent imposition of a sweeping national security law.
More than 200 officers were deployed to search the Stand News newsroom with court authorisation to seize journalistic materials, police said, confirming six arrests.
8. Taoiseach Micheál Martin believes the mood inside Fianna Fáil has “settled down”, following months of unease among some backbenchers about his leadership.
Martin acknowledged there remains a difference of opinion within the party over some issues, but said he believes that “things have settled down considerably”.
It comes amid months of reported concern within Fianna Fáil about the direction of the party and occasional public clashes between the Government and some backbench TDs.
9. And finally, the weather.
According to Met Éireann, persistent rain will continue to move northeastwards this morning, mainly affecting Leinster and Ulster. It will become more patchy in Connacht and Munster.
The rain will clear northwards by noon and this afternoon will be drier and brighter with sunny spells. It will be mild but windy later and Mild and afternoon temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees Celsius.
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