GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our lead story this morning, Eoghan Dalton reports that the organisers of All Together Now will carry out a full review of accessibility at the festival, after attendees with disabilities were unable to access the main arena.
The festival is also facing questions about why it claimed on its website that it had partnered with the Irish Wheelchair Association for this year’s event.
According to a now-deleted section of the website, the festival said the IWA would be “managing our Access Campsite 24 hours a day” across the weekend.
2. Almost four years after public consultation first started, Ireland is yet to produce a national security strategy.
Security sources working in the sector said the document is a critical way to manage Ireland’s multiple agencies with responsibility for responding to threats.
3. Hawaii’s attorney general has said she is opening a probe into the handling of devastating wildfires that have killed at least 67 people in the state this week, as criticism grows of the official response.
The announcement came as residents of the town of Lahaina were allowed back into the town for the first time – with most finding their homes had been reduced to ashes, and even the lucky few angry at a sense of abandonment.
4. Asylum seekers have been removed from the Bibby Stockholm barge docked in Dorset and placed in alternative accommodation due to the discovery of Legionella bacteria in the water supply, the UK’s Home Office has said.
The British government is hoping that the use of the vessel will help reduce the £6 million a day it is spending on hotel bills for asylum seekers waiting for their claims to be processed.
5. Russia has said it has shot down 20 unmanned Ukrainian drones near the Crimean peninsula.
Fourteen drones were destroyed by air defence systems and six more were suppressed by electronic warfare, the defence ministry said on Telegram.
6. A forestry owner has won a €1.429 million Capital Gains Tax (CGT) dispute with Revenue relating to €10 million sales of mainly woodland.
This follows Tax Appeals Commissioner Claire Millrine reducing Revenue’s CGT demand of €1.429 million served on the businessman to nil.
7. The leadership of the PSNI has been urged to give a “full response” following a major data blunder.
PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne cut short a family holiday to return to Belfast to answer questions about the data breach, which saw some details of around 10,000 officers and staff published online for a number of hours on Tuesday.
Details of another breach following the theft of documents and a laptop from a car in Newtownabbey in July emerged on Wednesday.
8. The last two places in the Women’s World Cup semi finals are up for grabs today, following Spain and Sweden’s victories yesterday.
Hosts Australia will take on France at 8am Irish time in Brisbane, while England will face Colombia in Sydney with an 11:30am kickoff.
9. Barry Andrews writes today that the debate about migration and asylum is among the most toxic political issue in Europe.
The Dublin MEP says it is impossible to keep up with the disinformation and the false narratives, responding to seven common myths about the issue from his own perspective in Strasbourg.
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