GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our main story this morning, Eoghan Dalton reports on the testimony given by convicted sex offender Bill Kenneally at an inquiry examining how State agencies handled child abuse complaints against him.
Kenneally was brought to Dublin city centre from the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise, where he has been jailed since 2016, to appear before the State inquiry. Upon entering the hearing in the Law Library on Tuesday, the 73-year-old scanned the back of the room.
When he began giving evidence, he was extraordinarily defiant when talking about his crimes against the men present. Despite his convictions, he claimed that grooming accusations against him were “exaggerated”, argued elsewhere that the abuse was “consensual” and later questioned “why it took 30 years” for some victims to come forward.
2. Reporting from Washington DC, Political Editor Christina Finn reports that all eyes were on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar this week to see if he would push for peace in Palestine during the traditional St Patrick’s Day meeting with US President Joe Biden.
As The Journal has been in the Rayburn Room on Capitol Hill for the last six years covering the St Patrick’s Day Washington DC visits, we know this day is usually filled with ‘craic agus ceol’ vibes.
But the Taoiseach knew he had a clear message to deliver on Gaza, despite the usual celebratory tone of the event.
3. A ship carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip via a new maritime corridor has begun unloading its cargo as Hamas proposed a new six-week truce in the conflict.
The Open Arms, which set sail from Cyprus on Tuesday, arrived towing a barge that the Spanish charity of the same name says is loaded with 200 tonnes of food for Gazans threatened with famine after more than five months of war.
It comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the Israeli military’s plan for an operation in Rafah, where most of the Gaza Strip’s population has sought refuge, without providing details or a timeline.
4. Gardaí have launched an investigation after a man was stabbed in Cobh, County Cork.
The incident happened at a service station and shop at Newtown Road in the town earlier yesterday evening.
5. Irish Rail is running additional services, including some late night trains, this weekend in preparation for the crowds gathering in Dublin for the Six Nations and St Patrick’s Day parade.
On Saturday, extra DART services will be running to cater for rugby fans attending the Ireland VS Scotland Six Nations finale game in the Aviva Stadium.
6. President Michael D Higgins has said that the suffering of people in Gaza will be foremost in the minds of Irish people this St Patrick’s Day, in his annual address.
After opening his remarks by extending his “warmest greetings” to everyone who is part of “our extended Irish family”, the President reflected that it would be “so much better” if we were able to celebrate St Patrick’s day in a world of “peace and shared concern for the sustainable future of our planet and all forms of life in it”.
7. A New York judge has delayed former US president Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial until at least mid-April after his lawyers said they needed more time to go through evidence they only recently obtained.
Judge Juan Manuel Merchan agreed to a 30-day postponement and scheduled a hearing for 25 March, the date the trial had been due to start, to address questions about the evidence dump.
8. Six out of the seven men who were discovered hidden in a trailer at Rosslare Europort in Co Wexford yesterday morning are to be deported after they were refused leave to land.
The group will be placed on a ferry to where they arrived from and are expected to leave the jurisdiction.
9. There was heartbreak last night as Ireland U20S missed out on winning a third consecutive U20s Six Nations championship after England produced a stunning turnaround to beat France with a bonus point and claim the title in Pau.
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