LAST UPDATE | 31 Jul 2023

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s everything you need to know as you start your day.

Fire alarms

1. In our main story this morning, Muiris O’Cearbhaill reports that residents of an apartment building in Ballymun, Dublin where the second floor “filled with smoke” after a fire broke out in the underground car park said they never heard a smoke or fire alarm during the ordeal.

The fire in the underground car park of the complex on the Shangan Road in Ballymun, Dublin happened at approximately 1.15pm on 15 July, according to gardaí.

General election

2. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said there are no plans for an early election, stating that he plans to lead his party into the next general election and form a government. 

Some mutterings have been heard around Leinster House that a spring election could be in the offing next year, but Varadkar slapped down the suggestion when speaking to reporters this week after the final Cabinet meeting of the summer. 

Emerald Airlines strike

3. All current and planned industrial action by pilots at Emerald Airlines has been suspended ahead of a meeting between union officials and management today. 

Emerald Airlines operates regional flights, including the Dublin to Donegal service on behalf of Aer Lingus and UK regional routes trading as Aer Lingus Regional. 

Bank of Ireland

4. Bank of Ireland made a pre-tax profit of €1 billion in the first six months of the year. 

The bank said that the increase in profit reflects higher interest rates, strategic actions and positive business momentum.

According to the interim results, new lending of €5.2 billion was up 20% compared to the first six months of last year.

Cork library

5. Local representatives in Cork City have called for increased Garda protections for library workers and members of the public in the wake of far-right protests at the city’s library.

Cork City library was forced to shut yesterday as a result of a banner being hung across the entrance by anti-LGBTQ+ protestors. Demonstrators refused to remove the banner when requested to do so by library staff and gardaí.

Drones in Moscow

6. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that “war” is coming to Russia after drones targeting Moscow and the Crimea peninsula were downed in attacks that damaged two office towers in the capital and briefly shut an international airport.

“Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process,” Zelenskyy said on a visit to the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Trump indictment

7. Carlos De Oliveira, an employee of former US president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, is expected to make his first court appearance on charges of scheming to hide security footage from investigators.

The estate’s property manager was added to the federal indictment of Trump and his former valet Walt Nauta last week.

The case alleges a plot to illegally keep top-secret records at the Florida estate and thwart government efforts to retrieve them.

Ban on burning Korans 

8. Denmark’s foreign minister has said the government will seek to make it illegal to desecrate the Koran or other religious holy books in front of foreign embassies in the country.

A recent string of public Koran desecrations by a handful of anti-Islam activists in Denmark and neighbouring Sweden have sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim countries.

All-Ireland final

9. Dublin have been crowned All-Ireland champions after defeating Kerry 1-15 to 1-13 at Croke Park yesterday afternoon.