GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our lead story this morning, Niall O’Connor reports that the Oireachtas Justice Committee has been asked to investigate the presence of a spyware company in Ireland which has been blacklisted by the US government.
Intellexa Limited has an office at a building on Foley Street in Dublin’s north inner city.
It is part of a wider Israeli group which sells controversial spyware technology called Predator, which can activate the microphone and camera of a targeted mobile phone and essentially act as a bug without the knowledge of a user.
2. More information has been published by the government about the rules that will govern the election of a directly elected mayor for Limerick.
Plans for a directly elected mayor in both Limerick and Dublin have been a long time in the pipeline but while Limerick voters will go to the polls to elect theirs next summer, it’s not yet clear whether Dublin residents will be getting one at all.
Jane Matthews looks at what the Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) Bill 2023 means for the capital.
3. A man in his 40s died after a road traffic collision in Ballybeg, Co Wicklow.
A car and a motorcyclist collided on the R752 shortly after 4pm yesterday.
The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.
4. Sinn Féin has further increased its support, according to a new opinion poll.
The survey, carried out by Ireland Thinks for the Sunday Independent, indicates that support for Sinn Féin is at 34%, up three percentage points on the July poll.
It indicates the party has made some gains since June when it was on 32%, and March when it had gained support of 29%.
5. Pressure on Niger’s coup leaders is mounting, with the approach of the deadline set by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS for the military to relinquish control or face possible armed intervention.
Former colonial power France, with which the junta broke military ties after taking power on July 26, said it would “firmly” back whatever course of action ECOWAS took after the Sunday deadline expired.
6. US prosecutors have asked a judge to limit information Donald Trump can publicly discuss regarding the latest indictments against him, citing a threatening post by the ex-president that his campaign defended as “political speech.”
Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the charges against Trump for seeking to overturn the 2020 election, filed a motion on Friday urging a federal judge to impose a protective order to prevent the former president from revealing evidentiary details about the case.
7. Moscow has promised retaliation after Ukrainian drones hit a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea late on Friday, the second sea attack involving drones in one day.
Ukraine struck a major Russian port earlier on Friday.
Moscow strongly condemned what it sees as a Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on a civilian vessel in the Kerch Strait, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
8. Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has told an audience at the Edinburgh Fringe he will “have a think about” standing for election as an independent mayor of London.
Corbyn appeared alongside former Unite general secretary Len McCluskey as part of the All Talk event by broadcaster Iain Dale at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
Asked if he was considering a run for the mayoralty as an independent, Corbyn told audience members: “Well let’s have a think about it, shall we?”
9. Writing in a column today, Damien McCarthy writes that current parental leave rights in Ireland are outdated and do as much to damage the rights of women in the workplace.
McCarthy, the founder and CEO of HR consultancy & HR recruitment firm HR Buddy, argues that shared maternity leave would also allow new parents to make sounder financial decisions with regard to their family household income, especially in cases whereby the female in the relationship may earn more than their male partner.
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