GOOD MORNING.

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

Count day 

1. The votes have been cast and today the results of the referendums on Family and Care will be revealed. 

At 9am, various count centres around the country will open the first ballot boxes to begin the count. Results for individual constituencies will then be fed into the central results centre at Dublin Castle.

Here’s everything you need to know about how today will place out. 

Gaza aid 

2. The head of the European Commission her suggested a maritime aid corridor could start operating this weekend. 

In the Cypriot port of Larnaca, Ursula von der Leyen expressed hope that a maritime corridor could open tomorrow, although details remained unclear.

She said a “pilot operation” was to be launched yesterday, aided by the United Arab Emirates which secured “the first of many shipments of goods to the people of Gaza”.

Stuck in Gaza

3. The wife of an Irish man stuck in Gaza has called on the government to help her husband escape.

Batoul Hania and her four sons, aged 11, 14, 17 and 19, managed to leave Gaza with the help of the Irish embassy in Cairo, safely arriving back in Dublin, where the family had lived between 2003 and 2012.

However, her husband Zak was denied exit. While Batoul and her children are now in a safe place, they worry constantly about where Zak is and whether he is still alive.

Imelda May

4. Singer-songwriter Imelda May wore a traditional Palestinian dress and said she wanted to show her solidarity with the Palestinian people during an appearance on last night’s Late Late Show. 

May began her interview with Patrick Kielty by speaking about her new Sky Original documentary Lily & Lolly: The Forgotten Yeats Sisters. 

She then moved on to say she would like to show her “solidarity with the Palestinian people”. 

Stakeknife report

5. Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said she is “sorry for every single loss of life” when asked if she would apologise to the families of alleged informers who were killed by the IRA. 

The Sinn Féin vice president was speaking following the release of an interim report of Operation Kenova, a major independent investigation into the British Army agent Stakeknife.

Stakeknife was the British Army’s top agent inside the IRA’s Internal Security Unit (ISU) and the report concluded he “cost more lives than he saved”.

CAO

6. There were almost 77,000 applications received by the Central Applications Office (CAO) for third-level courses by the 1 March closing date.

This is a decrease of 1,126 applicants compared to 2023. 

In total, there were 76,899 applications to the CAO this year, with 6,103 applications coming from prospective students over 23 years of age. This is up 199 (3.4%) from last year.

Minister car damaged

7. Gardaí are investigating after a car was damaged in Waterford yesterday afternoon.

The Journal understands that the car belongs to Minister Mary Butler. 

The incident occurred in the Barker Street area of Waterford city.

It’s understood that one of the tyres on the car was slashed and punctured. 

President Higgins

8. President Michael D Higgins has returned to in-person duties a day after being discharged from hospital. 

The President was among those to vote on proposed changes to the Constitution in the referendums yesterday morning. 

He then held a pre-scheduled meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at Áras an Uachtaráin in the afternoon. 

Sycamore Gap

9. New life has sprung the rescued seeds and twigs of the Sycamore Gap tree mysteriously cut down last year.

BBC News reported that it saw the new shoots on a rare visit to the secret National Trust centre protecting the seedlings.