GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. West Dublin’s most senior garda, Chief Superintendent Finbarr Murphy, has paid tribute to the bravery of gardaí who confronted an armed man after two of their colleagues were shot.
Speaking outside Blanchardstown garda station early this morning, Finbarr Murphy told the attending press that “tonight is a reminder of the danger gardaí put themselves at” to protect the communities they serve.
Two gardaí were shot by a man who barricaded himself inside his house in the Whitechapel area of Dublin 15 shortly after 7pm.
Gardaí said the officers were attending to reports of gunshots in the area when they themselves were fired upon.
2. There’s an interesting read from Retired Colonel Dorcha Lee about the potential role of International Peacekeeping Forces in Gaza.
The Former Defence Forces Officer, who is an expert in the subject, believes that UN forces, much like the Irish presence in South Lebanon, can play a part in helping to sooth tensions and act as independent observers.
He said that when incidents do occur, international military observers can act as impartial witnesses and can also negotiate localised ceasefires, when required.
3. The housing crisis makes the news again this morning after it emerged that the number of residential units put forward for planning in the first three months of this year dropped by 29% compared to the same period in 2020.
That’s according to a new report from Deloitte, a professional services company, on planning for residential units.
The type of planned residential units subject to commencement also took a “substantial shift” to housing over apartment development in the first quarter of this year compared to last year, the report said.
4. We’ve all received the dodgy scam emails, the text messages and even the fake calls from bogus businesses and fraudsters posing as Government departments.
The gardaí who work in the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) have been very busy since the pandemic started due to an increase in scamming and fraud-related offences in that period.
Opportunistic criminals were handed a big boost when the Covid crisis began. People were staying at home and many switched to shopping online. This created a chance for those who had the means and expertise to defraud members of the public to develop scams that could steal money from your pocket without you leaving the door.
5. In a ‘Debunk’ piece this morning we look at messages circulating on WhatsApp that claim that people are getting calls from scammers who purport to have personal data about them – including information about their medical appointments.
Different versions of the message have been forwarded to WhatsApp users and into groups over the past week or so, following a cyber attack on the HSE.
We get to the bottom of this and find out what the reality is behind these worrying text messages and if there is anything to worry about.
6. India’s difficulties look set to worsen as a giant cyclone makes landfall today.
Heavy rain and a high tide lashed parts of India’s eastern coast as a cyclone pushed ashore in an area where more than 1.1 million people have evacuated amid a devastating coronavirus surge.
Cyclone Yaas already had caused two deaths and damage to homes as severe weather and rains affected Odisha and West Bengal states before the storm began making landfall.
7. Next we go to an update on the defiant President Lukashenko who will address Belarus’ parliament today as international pressure over the country’s diversion of a plane in order to arrest an activist grows, with the UN Security Council set to meet behind closed doors later.
The speech to parliament will be the first time the Belarusian leader has spoken in public since Sunday’s rerouting of a Ryanair flight to Minsk and the subsequent arrest of opposition journalist Roman Protasevich.
After weathering a wave of protests and Western sanctions last year, Alexander Lukashenko is facing renewed pressure over the incident, with Western leaders demanding Protasevich’s release, and the European Union cutting air links with the increasingly isolated nation.
8. Once again the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) has called on the government to clarify its medium and longer-term spending plans.
The trouble isn’t necessarily that the plans for 2021 are pie-in-the-sky or that the economy is in particularly bad shape heading into the second half of the year.
Rather, IFAC says that while maintaining crisis-level spending on Covid supports was necessary in Budget 2021, “substantial and permanent increases in spending amounting to at least €5.4 billion” were “not prudent” without “long-term funding”.
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9. And finally The Journal finds there’s good news as the Tik Tok craze of snatching wild ducklings winds down.
Almost 100 ducklings have been rehomed by the DSPCA following a short-lived online trend which led to them being sold to people for as little as €5.
It was reported earlier this month that ducklings were being offered on the streets of Dublin for a low cost after videos started trending on social media platforms like TikTok.
The Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) has taken in nearly 100 ducklings since the trend emerged.
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