LAST UPDATE | 23 Dec 2022
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. A new survey shows a drastic drop in the amount of people who think it’s a good time to buy a house in Ireland, Aoife Barry writes in today’s lead story.
The survey, carried out by Amárach Research this month for The Journal, asked a representative sample of 1,000 people from across the country a range of questions about housing.
Back in 2009, 60% of Irish people agreed it was a good time to buy a house. However, that number has now dropped to just 14%.
2. Environment Minister Eamon Ryan has estimated that the price of electricity and gas will remain at a “historical high” for the next two years, due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The Green Party leader has said that due to the reduced supply of Russian gas entering Europe, the price of gas will remain expensive and will continue to have a knock-on effect on the price of electricity.
Speaking to reporters, Ryan said that it was currently difficult to predict the price of oil due to the number of variables, including sanctions against Russia as well as the dollar/euro exchange rate.
3. Mary Lou McDonald has expanded on some of her party’s aims if Sinn Féin gets into government in an interview with The Journal – including its plans for tax and housing.
While a poll at the end of last month showed Sinn Féin’s popular support had fallen to its lowest level in over a year at 31%, the party has remained the most popular political party in opinion polls over the past 18 months.
Much of SF’s appeal lies in its promises to do better than previous governments, particularly on issues like housing. However, the Sinn Féin president told The Journal she is not naive enough to think that change would come overnight should SF manage to form a government.
4. The HSE has said preparations are underway for the “highest pressure on the State’s health service that has ever been seen” due to the surge in winter virus infections.
It comes as the executive has expressed concern that it expects to see over 900 patients in hospital with flu in the first week in January, while a higher number of hospitalisations have occurred than had been anticipated in its “more pessimistic projections”.
With those numbers expected to continue to rise rapidly in the coming few weeks, it has established a National Crisis Management Team (NCMT) to oversee the health service for the surge.
5. The husband of murdered Urantsetseg Tserendorj has told the Central Criminal Court how hard it has been to carry on living after his wife was murdered by a teenager as she walked home from work.
The court also heard yesterday that the teenager, who was 14 when he carried out the murder of the Mongolian national, has 31 previous convictions including some related to robbery, violence and drugs.
“Humans lack humans, we lack each other’s love, what we share is happiness and sorrows, but now it is very hard to live,” Ulambayer Surenkhor said in a victim impact statement read out during the sentencing hearing of the 16-year-old boy convicted of his wife’s murder.
6. Two men in their 20s have been charged in relation to the assault and violent disorder on Main Street, Patrickswell, Co Limerick, on Wednesday night.
Both men are due to appear before Limerick District Court, Mulgrave Street, at 10.30am today.
The assault occurred after a large crowd gathered in Patrickswell at around 8.30pm on Wednesday.
7. The January 6 committee’s final report asserts that Donald Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 US presidential election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.
It concludes an 18-month investigation into the former president and the violent insurrection two years ago.
The 814-page report released on Thursday comes after the panel interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, held 10 hearings and obtained millions of pages of documents.
8. Thousands of flight were cancelled in the US and homeless shelters are overflowing amid one of the most treacherous holiday travel seasons the country has seen in decades.
Some places have experienced temperatures plummeting within a matter of hours as forecasters warn of an impending “bomb cyclone” that could make conditions even worse before Christmas.
The frigid air was moving through the central United States to the east, with windchill advisories affecting about 135 million people over the coming days, weather service meteorologist Ashton Robinson Cook said yesterday.
9. And finally, the weather back in Ireland.
Met Éireann says that heavy rain will extend countrywide from the southwest today reaching the north coast by early afternoon, with the potential for spot flooding and pools of surface water.
The rain will persist across Ulster well into the evening hours, while a clearance will gradually develop across the rest of the country bringing sunny spells and a few showers. Highest temperatures will range from five to 11 degrees Celsius.
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