LAST UPDATE | 26 Apr

GOOD MORNING.

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

Newtownmountkennedy

1. Six people were arrested for public disorder offences yesterday evening at a site in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow, earmarked for asylum seekers.

Gardaí “came under attack” yesterday by people gathered at the site, where three garda patrol cars were damaged and a fire was was started at one point.

“This incident has developed as a result of workers, contracted to carry out lawful employment on the site, entering the site,” a spokesperson said in a statement at 11.45pm last night.

“A number of trespassers were also identified on and removed from the site.”

Russborough heist

2. On this day, 50 years ago, Rose Dugdale led a gang of armed thieves into Russborough House near Blessington in Co Wicklow, the stately home of Lord and Lady Beit. 

The Georgian mansion was home to one of the most notable art collections, including works by masters such as Jan Vermeer, Jacob van Rusidael, Adriaan van Ostade and Gabriel Metsu. Paintings by British painters such as Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough were also part of the collection. 

David MacRedmond and Laura Byrne take a look at the events here. 

Josip Štrok murder

3. Two men have been charged by gardaí investigating the murder of Josip Štrok and a serious assault on another man in Clondalkin, Dublin on 30 March.

Josip Štrok, who was 31, died in Tallaght Hospital on Wednesday, 3 April.

His friend David Družinec was also assaulted during the incident.

Gaza pier 

4. The US military has begun construction of a “temporary pier” off the besieged Gaza Strip’s coast to boost shipments of desperately needed aid, the Pentagon has said. 

Plans were first announced by US President Joe Biden in early March as Israel had been accused of holding up deliveries of assistance by ground.

UN and humanitarian officials have repeatedly stressed that sea or air deliveries are far less efficient than increasing the volume of aid allowed into Gaza on land routes from Israel and Egypt.

Aoife Johnston 

5. The parents of Johnston who died in a “death trap” emergency department, at University Hospital Limerick, following “systemic failures” in her care, said today their daughter died a “horrible death”.

Carol and James Johnston said they wanted their daughter not to be remembered “as the girl who died on a hospital trolley”, but as “a happy, easy-going, happy-go-lucky girl, who went to school and did summer jobs”.

Following four days of harrowing evidence at Aoife’s inquest, the Limerick Coroner, John McNamara returned a verdict of medical misadventure in her death from meningitis after she contracted sepsis.

Policing Authority

6. A Policing Authority meeting has heard that a domestic violence court order could not be served “for a period of several weeks” because the Garda that was due to serve it was on annual leave. 

The public meeting between the Authority and the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris was held in Limerick yesterday. 

Addressing the meeting, Paul Mageean, a member of the Authority, said he had previously spoken to Garda Commissioner about “a degree of inconsistency around domestic violence orders, the service of such orders” and the knowledge of individual gardaí around the orders.

Cyclist death

7. A woman who died after being struck by a truck while she was cycling in Dublin on Wednesday has been named as 22-year-old Greta Price-Martin.

Greta, who is originally from Templetown, Cooley, Co Louth, had finished her first year at IADT and just started her first job in film production before her life was cut short.

The fatal incident happened in Dún Laoghaire at the junction where Glenageary Road Upper, Mountown Road Lower and Kill Avenue meet.

Pesticides in water

8. RTÉ News has reported this morning that Uisce Éireann detected  52 cases of pesticides that exceeded allowable amounts in drinking water last year.

Trump Supreme Court 

9. The US Supreme Court has heard arguments on whether a former president is immune from criminal prosecution and appeared poised to issue a ruling that could further delay Donald Trump’s trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.

The historic case – the last in the court’s current term – has far-reaching implications for executive power and Trump’s multiple legal issues as he seeks the White House again.