LAST UPDATE | 4 Jan 2023
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our lead story this morning, Órla Ryan reports on how officials at the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) and Tusla were concerned that difficulties in recruiting social workers could lead to significant delays in granting people access to their records under the Birth Information and Tracing Act.
2. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said that the HSE believes the pressure on hospitals due to respiratory illnesses will likely get worse.
This comes as Covid-19 and influenza cases continue to increase rapidly, while notifications of RSV – which had been declining for several weeks – are also increasing.
3. A Bill is to be brought to Cabinet today that aims to strengthen the Government’s ability to manage stocks in the event of a curtailment of oil supplies.
Climate Minister Eamon Ryan will seek Cabinet approval later today to publish the Oil Emergency Contingency and Transfer of Renewable Transport Fuels Functions Bill 2022.
4. As the hospital overcrowding crisis worsens, read our explainer on what exactly is happening at UHL.
5. The new US Congress Congress was plunged into disarray as renegade right-wing Republicans blocked favorite Kevin McCarthy from becoming speaker of the House of Representatives in a series of humiliating votes seen as a rebuke to the party establishment.
6. Actor Jerremy Renner said he was “messed up” after being run over by his own snow plough as he tried to climb into the driver’s seat of the giant 14,000 pound (6,350 kgs) vehicle.
7. Pharmacies in the US will be permitted to sell abortion pills, a move that could significantly expand access to the procedure after last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling that overturned federal abortion rights.
8. Russia said that the use of mobile phones by soldiers on New Year’s Eve had led to the deadly strike on Makiivka in eastern Ukraine, where the military suffered heavy losses.
The defence ministry declared that the incident had taken place because Russian troops had used phones, giving away their location to Ukrainian forces.
9. It will be breezy today with bright spells and scattered showers, some heavy in the west and north. Maximum temperatures of 9 to 12 degrees in fresh and gusty west to southwest winds.
Full forecase here.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say