LAST UPDATE | 15 Jul 2021
GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our main story today, Garreth MacNamee reports that residents in Dublin have questioned why a religious order which uses public resources to maintain a park in Dublin city centre is refusing to open the grounds to the public.
The Four Masters Park in front of the Mater Hospital in Dublin 7 is owned by the Sisters of Mercy. However, Dublin City Council maintains and landscapes the green area.
Despite public monies being used for the upkeep of the grounds, the gates of the park are padlocked shut.
2. The government has won a crucial Dáil vote on legislation that would allow for indoor dining to resume for vaccinated or Covid-recovered persons.
There had been suggestions that the government may not have the numbers to pass the legislation if a number of TDs rebelled but the vote passed with a majority of six despite 12 government members not being present for the vote.
The government is hoping the legislation can complete its passage through the Dáil and Seanad by Friday and then come into force next week after it is signed by the President.
3. In other political news, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has agreed to an in-person think-in of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party to review all recent elections during the first two days of September.
The Taoiseach agreed to the in-person meeting after prominent backbench figures had raised concerns over about Fianna Fáil’s electoral performance and opinion poll numbers.
Last weekend, Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen wrote to fellow party members and called for a special in-person meeting to address the by-election and 2020 general election results.
4. Thousands of workers returning their jobs in hospitality and other sectors over the coming weeks could be overtaxed unless they cancel their Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).
Some 50,754 hospitality workers received the PUP at the start of this week, down from 54,518 last week, according to figures released by the Department of Social Protection yesterday.
That figure is expected to decline further with the return of indoor hospitality for the fully vaccinated later this month. The Government is currently aiming for a 23 July reopening date.
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is urging PUP recipients to contact the Department of Social Protection and cancel their payment before they return to the workplace.
5. A quarter of parents are getting into debt in order to cover the costs of sending their children back to school.
Over 1,000 parents took part in a survey by i-Reach Insights for the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU), which found that the overall spend on school items is up for both primary and secondary schools despite children being home-schooled for the early part of the year.
Parents are now spending €1,491 per secondary school child, up €24 on last year, while the cost of sending a primary school child to school is up €63 at €1,186.
6. Reporter Niall O’Connor writes that the seizure by gardaí of a shipment of cocaine in Rotterdam is the latest high-profile policing event in a global investigation into organised crime that has spanned more than five years.
7. In international news, Britney Spears has scored a victory in her bid to end her father’s control of her affairs, as a judge ruled she could appoint her own lawyer to help end her guardianship.
Spears phoned back into a Los Angeles court, three weeks after her first explosive testimony in which she pleaded with a judge to free her from the years-long conservatorship ramped up worldwide interest in the case.
During yesterday’s hearing, Judge Brenda Penny accepted the resignation of Spears’ previous attorney and signaled she would accept the 39-year-old’s new choice, Mathew Rosengart, to represent her.
8. Travellers arriving into Cuba can now bring in food, medicine and other essentials without paying customs, the government has said in a concession to angry and unprecedented street protests.
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said in a televised address there would be no limit placed on these goods coming in and the change will be in effect until the end of the year.
Cubans took to the streets in droves on Sunday in an explosion of anger over economic hardship marked by shortages of food, electricity and other essentials.
9. A US federal appeals court has ruled that “Tiger King” Joe Exotic should get a shorter prison sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire plot and violating federal wildlife laws.
Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was sentenced in January 2020 to 22 years in federal prison after being convicted of trying to hire two different men to kill animal rights activist Carole Baskin.
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