EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #REALLY? Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said his government will not “dismiss or pooh-pooh” the idea of a bridge being built linking Northern Ireland and Scotland and said it’s up to the British government to carry out an engineering assessment and cost it properly.

 2. #PHANFONE: A typhoon that swept across remote villages and popular tourist areas of the central Philippines on Christmas Day claimed at least 16 lives, authorities have said.

3. #WHAT A DEER: Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan attempted to save a number of deer in the Phoenix Park from being culled this year by asking the Office of Public Works if they could be moved to the Midlands instead.

4. #NAVAN: Gardaí investigating a house fire in Navan, Co Meath have arrested a man aged in his 30s.

5. #HAND-IN-GLOVE: A Republican Senator has said that she is “disturbed” with how her party is coordinating with the White House over the impeachment trial in the Senate.

6. #CO GALWAY: The Deputy Secretary General of the Justice Department said that “nothing special” was being asked of Oughterard in accommodating asylum seekers 

7. #HOUSING: The price of an average house has fallen nationally over a year for the first time since the economic recovery kicked in, the Q4 Irish Independent/REA Average House Price Index has found.

8. #GAZA STRIP: Israel carried out air strikes against the Gaza Strip overnight in response to a rocket fired from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave, the army said.

9. #WEATHER: Met Éireann will look at publishing monthly forecasts on its website in 2020, reports the Irish Independent.