EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day.
1. #JURY DUTY: There have been calls to reform Ireland’s jury duty system so that non-Irish citizens, and people from certain professions, are not barred from sitting on juries. The Law Reform Commission wants EU citizens and long-term residents to be eligible for duty, as well as public and civil servants – who are currently given a blanket excusal from duty.
2. #COURTS: A 22-year-old woman is due in court this morning over a stabbing in Ennis on Saturday evening. The 23-year-old victim was seriously injured in the attack, which took place on the grounds of a primary school.
3. #ABUSE: An organisation which provides therapy to the victims of sex abuse has criticised the HSE for a failure to protect children – after it emerged that child sex abuse victims can go months without being assigned a counsellor. TheJournal.ie has learned of one case where the HSE is still to assign a counsellor to a child assaulted six months ago, and who has since tried to end her own life.
4. #CLIMATE CHANGE: A major two-day conference on climate change and hunger is beginning in Dublin today. The conference, which is being joint-hosted by the Government and the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Change, is being addressed by figures including Al Gore.
5. #VENEZUELA: The former vice-president to Hugo Chavez has been declared the winner of a poll to replace him as President of Venezuela. A full recount has been called, however, after Nicolas Maduro was declared winner with 50.66 per cent of the vote, while challenger Henrique Capriles took 49.1 per cent.
6. #BLACK ECONOMY: Ireland’s ‘black economy’ is now worth up to €6 billion a year – prompting calls for new government action against unofficial retail sales. The Small Firms Association says the “leakage” to the Irish economy, as a result of illicit sales, is now up to 14 per cent of GDP – or €22.4 billion.
7. #SCIENCE: Never has news about urine been so good. Scientists have grown a kidney in a laboratory and successfully transplanted it into animal where it produced urine. The progress, reported in the Guardian, is a landmark step in the quest to tackle kidney failure – which cannot be cured and may only be delayed.
8. #VIDEO KILLED…: South Korean rapper Psy has set yet another YouTube record. After ‘Gangnam Style’ became the first video in the site’s history to rack up 1 billion views, the follow-up single ‘Gentleman’ has set a new record for the most watches in its first 24 hours, with about 20 million views – easily defeating Justin Bieber’s ‘Boyfriend’. Having gone live at noon on Saturday, this morning it had 53 million views.
9. #BOTTOM’S UP: Enda Kenny hasn’t been showered with luxury gifts from visiting foreign leaders – but we now know that he has a bottle of whiskey in his office presented by Queen Elizabeth. The bottle of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt sells for about €150, meaning it falls under the threshold after which it becomes official State property – but the bottle remains unopened and is expected to remain in the Department of the Taoiseach given its diplomatic significance.
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