LAST UPDATE | 30 Nov 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Accepting cash

1. In our main story this morning, political correspondent Christina Finn reports a new retail banking review has outlined the Government should preemptively legislate to ensure that cash continues to be accepted by certain sectors and businesses.

The review found that in Ireland, consumers are already being impacted by some businesses refusing to accept cash. These challenges range from minor issues such as the inability to purchase a coffee in a café, to being unable to seek insurance from some companies that do not accept cash.

Four day week

2. Ireland’s first coordinated reduced worktime trial showed that most companies involved in the trial opted to continue the four-day work week longterm, after high levels of satisfaction were reported by staff.

The project showed 100% of employees would like to continue a reduced work schedule and significant improvements were recorded across a wide range of well-being metrics, including positive affect, work-family balance and work-life balance.

East Wall protestors

3. An East Wall protest group say they plan to block the Dublin Port Tunnel three times a week until the asylum seeker accommodation centre is closed.

Traffic was disrupted on Monday night when protestors blocked Dublin Tunnel for a number of hours.

A group called The East Wall Committee releasted a statement apologising to commuters for blocking the Dublin Tunnel but claimed their “actions are regrettable but necessary”.

Special Educational Needs Act

4. The Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion Josepha Madigan has  announced the opening of the public consultation on the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004.

The consultation is part of a review of the Act, which provides for the education of children with special educational needs.

Irish navy

5. The Dutch Ambassador in Dublin has said that shipbuilders in Netherlands are likely to compete for the construction of the proposed Irish Navy multi-role vessel (MRV) when it goes to tender.

Ireland has engaged a shipyard in the UK to build ships in the past but, sources have said, in the wake of Brexit that contracts are likely to go to European partner countries.

Alzheimer’s drug

6. Experts have hailed the “beginning of the end” in the search for effective Alzheimer’s treatments after a new drug reduced memory decline among patients with early stages of the disease.

Lecanemab, which is designed to target and clear amyloid – one of the proteins that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s – was found to slow decline in patients’ memory and thinking.

China protests

7. Fresh clashes have broken out between police and protesters in a southern Chinese city, part of a wave of Covid lockdown-sparked demonstrations across the country that have morphed into demands for political freedoms.

China’s top security body warned last night that authorities would “crackdown” on the protests, which are the most widespread since pro-democracy rallies in 1989 that were crushed with deadly force.

Twitter misinformation

8. Twitter has said it has stopped enforcing a policy intended to prevent the spread of Covid misinformation, as new owner Elon Musk – who has clashed previously with US officials over pandemic safety rules – continues to remake its content moderation policies.

During the pandemic, Twitter took to labeling misleading tweets about Covid and booting users who persisted in spreading such misinformation.

US Capitol riot

9. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has been convicted of seditious conspiracy for a violent plot to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential win.

The decision handed the US Justice Department a major victory in its massive prosecution of the 6 January insurrection.