LAST UPDATE | 29 Oct 2021

GOOD MORNING.

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

Antigen tests

1. In our main story today, Céimin Burke reports that the first batches of antigen test kits are arriving in post boxes around the country today as the Government ramps up use of the rapid testing method. 

The tests are less accurate than the gold standard PCR and their use has been the subject of intense debate throughout the coronavirus pandemic. 

At present they are only being posted out to vaccinated people who were close contacts of confirmed Covid cases and who do not have symptoms of the disease.

Nightclub rules

2. Sticking with Covid news, revised guidelines published yesterday evening outline that patrons of nightclubs and late-night events will have to adhere to a one-metre social distancing rule when queuing for the bar.

The government announced new proposals for the sector on Tuesday evening, which stated that ticketing for nightclubs and events will be electronic and will need to be booked by patrons at least an hour in advance. This rule comes into effect today.

Booster programme

3. Booster vaccines will be rolled out to more than 800,000 people aged over 60 starting from next week.

The plan is that those aged between 60-69 will get their booster shot at a mass vaccination centre, while GPs will administer the jabs to those aged between 70 to 79.

Some people in this age cohort will have to wait for the booster vaccine, as six months has to have elapsed since they received their second dose of the vaccine before they can get the booster.

999 calls

4. In other news, the chair of the Policing Authority has said he is “perplexed in the extreme” by explanations offered by An Garda Siochana over the cancellation of thousands of 999 calls.

An internal Garda review, focusing on 23,000 calls made between 1 January 2019 and 31 October 2020, found that 2,689 calls to the emergency helpline were invalid cancellations.

Golfgate

5. Former RTÉ presenter Sean O’Rourke is to interview Taoiseach Micheál Martin today in O’Rourke’s highest-profile outing since the Golfgate controversy.

As part of this year’s MacGill Summer School event, a three-day event that hosts discussions on the economy, society and public policy, O’Rourke will interview the Taoiseach at 5.30pm today in an event headlined as ‘Meeting the Challenges Ahead and Overcoming Them’.

O’Rourke was one of the high-profile attendees at the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner held at a hotel in Clifden, Co Galway in August 2020 amid strict Covid-19 restrictions.

Portadown murder

6. In Northern Ireland, a 53-year-old man has been charged with the murder of a another man in Co Armagh earlier this week. 

Just after 12.07pm on Wednesday, PSNI officers responding to a report of an incident located the body of a man identified as 63-year-old Stephen Barriskill at a residential property in the Whitesides Hill area of Portadown.  

Weather

7. Outbreaks of showery rain will dominate this weekend’s weather as we approach Halloween. 

Today will see rain along eastern coasts gradually clear while showers will turn heavy and prolonged in the afternoon in the west and southwest, slowly tracking northeastwards during the evening.

Biden and Pope

8. Over to international news, US President Biden will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican today, where the world’s two most notable Roman Catholics plan to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and poverty.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki, in previewing the visit, said she expects a “warm and constructive dialogue” between the two leaders.

Cuomo

9. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been charged with a misdemeanour sex crime for forcible touching, a court spokesperson said.

The charge is the first to be filed since the once-powerful politician was forced to resign in the summer following a slew of sexual harassment allegations.