LAST UPDATE | 3 Feb 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

1. #CHILDCARE COSTS: In our lead story this morning, Peter McGuire of Noteworthy outlines how the State’s increased spending on childcare is insufficient to solve the crisis faced by parents and providers.

Parents in Ireland face some of the most expensive childcare costs in the European Union and parental leave entitlements are among the worst in the developed world.

Even parents who can afford childcare may not be able to find it, depending on where they live. 

2. #NORTHERN IRELAND PROTOCOL: The British Government’s Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, has said that his officials will not get involved in the dispute over the implementation of agri-food checks.

DUP minister Edwin Poots, whose officials are responsible for carrying out Northern Ireland Protocol checks, said he had ordered his permanent secretary to stop them at midnight last night.

It remains unclear whether the senior civil servant in his department, Anthony Harbinson, will comply with the order.

3. #COST OF LIVING: The leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have indicated that the government is examining measures to tackle the rising cost of living.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he is conscious of the impact of the cost of living and how much of it is energy related. Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said work is underway to look at potentially reducing some government fees and charges.

4. #DISAPPEARED: The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) has announced that it has taken on a new Disappeared case for the first time in 10 years.

Commissioners Rosalie Flanagan and Tim Dalton have concluded that the case of Seamus Maguire – who disappeared from the Lurgan area of Co Armagh in or around 1973/74 – met the criteria as a Commission ‘Disappeared’ case.

This means that the Commissioners are satisfied that there is enough evidence to say that he was “killed and secretly buried as a result of paramilitary activity” before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

5. #VICKY PHELAN: Campaigner Vicky Phelan will be awarded the Freedom of Limerick today for her work seeking justice for women affected by the Cervical Check scandal.

The honour is reserved for people who have made exceptional or unique contributions to the common good or to persons who have made outstanding contributions to the life of Limerick.

6. #COVID ACROSS EUROPE: More countries across Europe are beginning to reopen following the emergence of the Omicron variant late last year, after many reintroduced restrictions following concerns about the new variant. 

7. #AMAZON: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon set a new record for January just three weeks into the year, a worrying sign of the surging destruction of the world’s biggest rainforest.

Nearly 360 square kilometres of forest cover – an area more than six times the size of Manhattan – were destroyed in the Brazilian Amazon from 1 January to 21 January, said Brazil’s national space research institute, INPE.

With 10 days to go in the month, the figure was already the worst for January since the institute launched its DETER satellite monitoring program in 2015.

8. #NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand will not fully reopen its borders until October, as it cautiously dismantles some of the world’s toughest pandemic border restrictions, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said.

Ardern announced a five-step plan to reconnect New Zealand to the rest of the world, beginning with waiving hotel quarantine requirements for Kiwis stranded overseas by the pandemic.

9. #BEZOS: The Dutch city of Rotterdam has said it would temporarily dismantle an historic bridge to allow a superyacht built for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to pass.

Bezos’s gigantic, €430 million yacht is too big for the iconic Koningshaven Bridge, which dates from 1878 and was rebuilt after being bombed by the Nazis in 1940 during World War II.

The shipyard building the three-masted mammoth in Alblasserdam, near Rotterdam, has asked the local council to remove the bridge’s central section so it can pass through.