GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. Emily Hand, the 9-year-old Irish-Israeli girl who had been held hostage in Gaza since the 7 October attacks, was released by Hamas last night.
Confirming the news, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said “our country breathes a massive sigh of relief” and that “our prayers have been answered”.
Emily had been on a sleepover in the Kibbutz Be’eri where she lived, when it was raided by Hamas last month.
2. In this morning’s lead, Niall O’Connor reveals that Ukrainian military officers have been training in Cork this week as part of a NATO partner country initiative.
NATO assessors were in Kilworth this week for the Operational Capability Concept (OCC) which examines the ability of troops to work with other militaries. It also looks at the methods they use to get various military tasks completed.
This time the evaluation was of the Defence Forces Corps of Engineers. The Ukrainian personnel were part of the detachment of the OCC and were learning how to carry out their own assessments of their forces back home.
3. The father of Emily Hand, who was released last night after being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for almost 50 days, has been reunited with is daughter.
Thomas Hand, originally from Dun Laoghaire in Dublin, spoke to the Daily Mirror newspaper after the news of Irish-Israeli Emily’s release last night.
In a message he said: “We have been waiting for far too long for this moment. Every day has been a long and painful living nightmare.”
“My Emily is coming home at last, broken but in one piece,” he added.
4. Katie Taylor dipped into the reserves of her soul once more and she’s now a two-weight undisputed champion of the world.
In this latest extension to the Bray woman’s already extraordinary legacy, Taylor avenged her first and only professional defeat to Chantelle Cameron at the 3Arena, Dublin last night.
In another female fight for the ages, but it was the 37-year-old Taylor who turned back time to earn a majority decision and relieve Cameron of her rule of the light-welterweight (140lb) division, adding all of the Englishwoman’s titles to her completed set down at lightweight (135).
5. The government is to expand controversial legislation for facial recognition technology (FRT) in response to the Dublin riot, The Journal has learned.
A source has said that Helen McEntee, the Minister for Justice, has told legal officials in her department to include riot and violent disorder in the new legislation.
6. ECB interest rate hikes may be over for now – but Irish mortgage costs could still rise
A few more price increases remain a very real possibility for homeowners, writes Paul O’Donoghue.
7. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Justice Minister Helen McEntee are to appear before the Oireachtas Justice Committee to address the violence and disruption on Dublin’s streets in recent days.
Gardaí have arrested 48 people in the city since Thursday and more than 30 have been called before the courts on theft and public order related charges after rioting and looting caused chaos.
Fianna Fáil TD and committee chair James Lawless invited the pair to appear “at the earliest opportunity”, describing this week’s events as “a perfect storm of far-right hate groups organising online but also of rogue gangs of local youths”.
8. Cliff Nolan, is in his second year of business, was robbed of thousands of euros worth of stock during the riots on the streets of Dublin on Thursday.
Nolan, 38, got a call from a friend on Thursday night who let him know that his independent bike shop on Capel Street in Dublin city was being robbed.
He immediately got up his live surveillance of The Bike Stop Dublin, and saw masked rioters robbing the store in real time.
“The windows on the storefront were smashed, and I have a cage inside the shop, they managed to get that off the wall as the hinges gave in, it’s a very old wall, and then they started taking bikes out.”
9. A six-year-old girl who was stabbed on Parnell Square East, in Dublin City Centre on Thursday was released from hospital yesterday.
She is the second of the victims to be released, as a five-year-old boy with less serious injuries was discharged hours after the incident.
The third child victim, a five-year-old girl, is understood to be still in a critical condition as a result of her wounds.
The girl is currently in CHI Temple Street Hospital.
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