LAST UPDATE | 21 Dec 2022
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. Trooper Shane Kearney, who was critically injured in an attack in Lebanon last week, will be medically evacuated to Ireland today.
Kearney (22), from Killeagh in Co Cork, suffered a head injury in the attack in the village of Al-Aqbiya on Wednesday night.
The incident happened when a convoy of two Armoured Utility Vehicles (AUVs) carrying eight personnel from the 121st Infantry Battalion was travelling to the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
Private Seán Rooney (23) was killed in the incident, while two other soldiers received minor injuries but were discharged from hospital on Saturday.
2. The tax treatment of small landlords has to be revisited, according to Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien, Christina Finn writes in today’s lead story.
Speaking to The Journal after being reappointed in his role, O’Brien said that while the Budget did make some changes for landlords in terms of expenses and energy retrofits, more needs to be done to keep them in the market.
Ahead of the Budget in September, it was flagged that if a rent credit was to be introduced for tenants, landlords would also in turn have to see a benefit. It was reported widely in the lead up to the 27 September Budget that tax breaks for landlords were under consideration.
3. Reduced parking and a minimum parking charge in all urban areas are some measures contained in the Government’s climate action targets.
The climate action plan, which is to go to Cabinet today, sets out how the legally binding carbon budgets and agreed sectoral emissions ceilings will be achieved.
The overall target is for a 51% reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050.
4. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet US leader Joe Biden and address Congress in Washington on Wednesday, a visit the White House said will send Russia a strong message of Western unity.
The secretly arranged trip comes on the same day Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to meet his top military officials to assess the dire results so far of the war on Ukraine and set goals for next year.
The visit will “underscore the United States’ steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes”, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
5. University lecturers and student representatives have expressed concern at a pledge by Higher Education Minister Simon Harris to prioritise his new, additional role as Minister for Justice in the coming months.
Harris was given the role of Justice Minister in the Cabinet reshuffle last week, which he will hold in addition to his Higher and Further Education brief until Helen McEntee returns from maternity leave in the summer.
Various third-level stakeholders have said they are worried about what this will mean for their sector.
6. Elon Musk has confirmed he will step down as chief executive of Twitter, as soon as he finds someone “foolish enough to take the job“.
More than 57% of users who voted in a Twitter poll Musk posted on Sunday night said he should step down – a result he said he would abide by.
He went on to question the result, but confirmed in a tweet early on Wednesday morning that he would relinquish his role as head of the social media platform once he finds a successor.
7. A Democratic-controlled committee voted on Tuesday to release tax filings of the former president who broke political norms by refusing to release the information on his own.
The committee also found that required IRS audits of Donald Trump were delayed.
The full level of detail that will be revealed is uncertain, but the politicians said they expect to release six years of tax returns for Trump and eight affiliated companies, PA reports.
8. ITV boss Kevin Lygo said Jeremy Clarkson’s comments about the Duchess of Sussex were “awful” but “at the moment” the broadcaster plans to keep him as host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
In a recent column for The Sun newspaper, Clarkson, 62, said he feels “hate” for Meghan and dreams of seeing her publicly humiliated.
Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London on Tuesday, Lygo, managing director of ITV Studios, said: “I would say what he writes in a newspaper column… We have no control over what he says.”
Asked if ITV will keep Clarkson as host of the quiz show, a position he inherited from Chris Tarrant in 2018, Lygo said: “Yes, at the moment we are.”
9. And finally, a treasure trove of megalithic art imagery from a recently uncovered passage tomb is being released to mark the winter solstice.
The Dowth Hall tomb is part of the Brú na Boinne complex, and is located a stone’s throw away from the more famous Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth tombs.
It was hidden underground until an excavation in 2017. What remains was damaged by the construction of a building above it in the 18th century. The find was described as “the most significant” of the past 50 years in Ireland.
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