LAST UPDATE | 20 Oct 2021

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.

Another 48 hours 

1. It’s less than two days before nightclubs can re-open again – a handful of venues are even planning to open at midnight tomorrow night. Still, though, the guidelines that will apply in late night clubs are yet to be announced.

Government officials are due to discuss the issue today – here’s why promoters and other hospitality businesses aren’t happy. 

Another winter WFH

2. Workers in some sectors, of course, never left their workplace throughout the pandemic. 

For hundreds of thousands of office workers, however, the home has been their main place of work for most of the last year-and-a-half. 

Ronan Glynn’s public health message last Friday indicated that was likely to remain the case and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar confirmed as much yesterday – adding that it was still possible for employers to bring workers back to the office on a staggered basis.

Another jab? 

3.  There has not yet been any confirmed cases of flu transmitted this winter season, The Journal‘s Rónán Duffy reports this morning, but the HSE is advising people that getting a flu jab “early on” is the best way to protect themselves.

The HSE recently launched its winter flu vaccination programme with at-risk groups including pregnant women and those over 65 among those who are being urged to get a flu jab. 

Usually in Ireland, between 200 and 500 people die from flu each winter. Last winter there were no recorded cases of flu transmitted in Ireland but the return of international travel and a relaxing of restrictions means this is unlikely to be repeated this year. 

In contempt

4. Moving, briefly, away from news of respiratory diseases, politicians in the US investigating the deadly assault on the Capitol Building have voted unanimously to pursue criminal contempt charges for a key ally of former president Donald Trump for refusing to testify.

Former White House advisor Steve Bannon failed to comply with a subpoena to appear before the cross-party 6 January congressional select committee last week.

The committee has now voted unanimously to adopt a report setting out the case against him.

Murder 

5. Back at home, Gardaí have said that there are people out there with information about Paul Quinn’s death, on the 14th anniversary of his murder.

The 21-year-old, from Cullyhanna, was beaten to death by a gang of around a dozen men in a farm shed across the border near Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, on 20 October 2007.

His family blame members of the IRA, but Sinn Féin has long denied republican involvement.

Scooters

6. You may have missed this development yesterday – but it will be welcome news for any owners of e-scooters. 

Legislation to allow them on Irish roads has been approved by government.

Rally

7. In the courts yesterday, a man who used a wooden post to strike a woman on the head during an anti-lockdown rally last year was jailed for two years.

Landslides and floods

8. Back to international news briefly, more than 100 people have died in several days of massive flooding and devastating landslides that swept away roads and houses in India and Nepal.

The outlook 

9. We’re in for a wet morning across Munster and Leinster with widespread outbreaks of rain, set to be heavy and thundery at times, giving a risk of localised flooding.

Met Éireann says that will clear into the Irish Sea this afternoon but there’s likely to be more rain and showers around later today. 

Well, we can’t really complain can we? 

Sure what good would it do says you.