LAST UPDATE | 16 Mar 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

Under sea cables

1. In our main story this morning, Niall O’Connor reports that a new EU Commission report has recommended that support, including financial aid, be given to member States’ navies to better protect key infrastructure such as undersea cables and pipelines.

The report repeatedly mentions the threat to undersea infrastructure and energy facilities on the surface. It was prompted by the war in Ukraine and concerns in the wake of the Nord Stream 2 sabotage incident. 

Sources have said that the strategy could benefit Ireland in funding and other support.

Taoiseach in Washington

2. “The last time I was at this dinner – in March 2020 – you may recall, I was called away suddenly to receive the terrible news that an oncoming storm had hit Ireland, a pandemic that was about to engulf this country as well as the entire world.”

Those were the opening lines to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s speech yesterday evening at the Ireland Funds gala dinner in the National Monument Building in Washington DC.

Sinn Féin advert

3. Mary Lou McDonald has played down the significance of Sinn Féin backed newspaper adverts in the US calling for a date for an Irish unity referendum.

The Sinn Féin president’s comments came after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar branded the ads unhelpful.

Varadkar expressed concern at the publication of the adverts at what he described as a “sensitive moment” in efforts to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland.

Credit Suisse

4. In international news, Credit Suisse is planning to borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs (€50.7 billion) from Switzerland’s central bank in a bid to boost its liquidity and calm investors a day after the bank’s share price plummeted.

Credit Suisse plunged and dragged down other major European lenders in the wake of bank failures in the United States.

North Korea

5. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrived in Japan today looking to open a “new chapter” in relations, just hours after Pyongyang fired a long-range ballistic missile.

The launch, North Korea’s third this week, was a potent reminder of the regional security challenges that have pushed Seoul and Tokyo to patch up differences and try to form a united front.

Gary Lineker

6. Gary Lineker believed he had a “special agreement” with the BBC director-general to tweet about refugees and immigration, his agent has said.

Jon Holmes, who represents the Match Of The Day host, said the impartiality row resulting from Lineker’s recent online action had “collapsed into a shambles” despite his efforts to have everyone “calm down”.

St Patrick’s Day

7. Back to Irish news, President Michael D Higgins has said that the life of St Patrick is a reminder of the “resilience and courage of migrants” in his annual St Patrick’s Day message.

Higgins said that whether someone is “Irish by birth or Irish by choice”, they are bound together as part of a vibrant global community.

Cannabis seizure

8. A man has been charged following the seizure of an estimated €1.1 million worth of herbal cannabis during a raid in Co Kildare yesterday. 

Farmland prices

9. A new report has has revealed that farmland prices are at their highest level since the Celtic Tiger.

There’s also been a huge increase in the amount of farmland bought by business buyers, at over 43% last year compared to a figure of 18% in 2018.