LAST UPDATE | 13 Oct 2021

GOOD MORNING.

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

Contact tracers

1. In our main story this morning, Niall O’Connor reports that a union representing some contact tracers has written to the HSE saying workers are ‘deeply annoyed and frustrated’ over pay and conditions.

Contact tracers say they are unhappy about workers being paid at a lower rate of pay after two grades were merged. Separately, a whistleblower told The Journal that contact tracers were not told about a recent cut to overtime rates – something that the HSE disputes. 

Budget measures

2. The government unveiled details of Budget 2022 yesterday and outlined its plan for how it will spend the €4.7 billion package.

Although the new measures primarily deal with what will happen next year, a number of changes have already kicked in. Here’s a breakdown of the measures that have kicked in today. 

Young people

3. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has denied that yesterday’s Budget is a bid to stem the tide of young voters heading over to Sinn Féin. 

A number of measures targeted young people in the Budget, including public transport price cuts and free contraception. 

When asked this evening if this Budget is a bid to woo young people to Fianna Fáil, and away from Sinn Féin, the Taoiseach said: “Are you joking … no is the answer.”

Electric cars

4. Sticking with Budget news, the government has acknowledged that purchasing an electric vehicle is currently “not affordable” for many people as it pushes for one million EVs on the road by 2030. 

During yesterday’s Budget speech, the government announced an extension of the €5,000 relief for electric vehicles to the end of 2023.

In total, €100 million is to be set aside for that scheme as well as others to encourage the provision of charging infrastructure.

Murder investigation

5. In Northern Ireland, a murder investigation has been launched following the death of a woman after a car fire in Derry. 

A 59-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Investigation PSNI officers are appealing for witnesses to make contact with them.

Northern Ireland Protocol

6. The EU will later today outline a range of proposals aimed at resolving the political standoff over Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol.

European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic has promised the measures will be “very far-reaching” and address issues over the movement of agri-food goods and medicines across the Irish Sea.

Weather

7. Motorists in Leinster and Munster are being warned to drive with caution as a Status Yellow fog warning is in place. 

The warning issued by Met Éireann is valid for 18 counties until 11am this morning.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has urged motorists to drive with extra care, using fog lights, but also reminded drivers to turn them off when they’re no longer necessary.

Gabby Petitio

8. Gabby Petito, the young woman who died on a road trip across the United States with her boyfriend, was strangled and her death was a homicide, the local coroner has said.

The body of the 22-year-old lay in the wilderness of Wyoming for up to a month before it was found in mid-September, Teton County coroner Brent Blue said.

US Congress

9. And finally, US lawmakers have rubber-stamped a short-term bill to lift the nation’s borrowing authority, averting the threat of a first-ever debt default – but only for a few weeks.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted along party lines to pass the stop-gap $480 billion hike, which advanced from the Senate last Thursday after weeks of heated debate.