GOOD MORNING.

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

RTÉ Payment Scandal

1. In our top story this morning, Jane Moore reports that at the same time Ryan Tubridy was told his pay would not drop during his new contract with RTÉ, 725,000 people were on pandemic supports.

The promise to Tubridy by RTÉ’s then-director general Dee Forbes that his pay would not be cut came at the same time, the country was four months into the Covid-19 pandemic.

Motorcycle accident

2. A man in his 50s has died after the motorcycle he was driving crashed in a single vehicle collision in Co Westmeath last night.

The incident happened at around 3.20pm yesterday on the N4 at Ballinalack, Mullingar. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else has been reported injured in the incident. 

Loyalist bonfire

3. An Irish tri-colour flag and a photograph of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar were placed at the top of a loyalist bonfire in Co Tyrone last night. 

The bonfire, titled “No Irish Sea Border Bonfire”, was lit around 11pm following a parade and an address by loyalist activist Jamie Bryson.

There has been controversy in previous years, with politicians’ election posters and Irish flags placed on the pyres.

Limerick council

4. Limerick City and County council is targeting houses linked to criminal gangs by adding them to the dereliction register.

The local authority has already marked as derelict a home with connections to a notorious long-standing organised crime group, as well as one which was used, as one local TD described it, as a “cocaine supermarket”.

By using the derelict sites register, any potential owners of the property would need to object and draw attention to any links with alleged criminality taking place inside the properties.

French Protests

5. Almost 6,000 French protesters defied bans on public gatherings to protest police violence and take part in a nationwide memorial rally seven years after the death of Adama Traore, yesterday. 

fearful of reigniting recent unrest sparked by the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. at a traffic stop near Paris, a court ruled the chance of public disturbance was too high to allow the march to proceed.

In a video posted on Twitter, Assa Traore, Adama’s older sister, denounced the decision and said the French government added “fuel to the fire”.

Trans march

6. An estimated 3,000 people took part in a Trans-rights march in Dublin City yesterday for the annual Trans and Intersex Pride event.

The gathering started at the Garden of Remembrance before proceeding across the city centre to the Dáil.

It was organised in opposition to the treatment of trans people by the current government, with calls for improved health care and recognition.

Agreement reached

7. An agreement was reached between trade unions and management yesterday at the Workplace Relations Commission over the Tara Mines shutdown, which saw 650 workers temporarily laid off.

Siptu, Connect and Unite trade unions have now recommended acceptance of proposals brokered at the WRC to provide enhanced support for workers laid off during the temporary closure.

Siptu’s TEAC division organiser Adrian Kane said union representatives engaged in intensive talks with management over more than 48 hours at the WRC.

School books scheme

8.  Random audits will be carried out by the Department of Education to determine the use of its new school books scheme, where 3,230 primary schools would receive €96 per pupil for free books.

The review, which has already begun, will look at how effectively the scheme operated and how funds were spent, as well as identify how the scheme could be improved.

Selected schools have been asked to submit a list of all books purchased using government funding for the upcoming school year.

Journalist Death

9. A regional correspondent for a Mexican Newspaper, Luis Martin Sanchez Iniguez, has been found slain, shortly after he went missing in the western state of Nayarit, prosecutors have said.

Iniguez is one of three active or former journalists to have been abducted in the state in recent days, the prosecutors’ office said in a statement, adding to Mexico’s surging attacks on the press that are often linked to the country’s powerful drug cartels.

His body turned up in a village near the state capital Tepic “with signs of violence” and two cardboard messages pinned to his chest, the office added.