GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. A survivor of a mother and baby home has criticised the fact that the ‘box-ticking’ form filled in after she gave evidence to the Commission of Investigation into the institutions lists ‘rape’ and ‘incest’ as options for people’s ‘current relationship status’.
The woman, who was sent to Ard Mhuire mother and baby home in Dunboyne in the late 1970s when she became pregnant, received a copy of the form this week after previously submitting a Subject Access Request (SAR) to the Department of Children.
Under Article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), individuals have the right to request a copy of any personal data which which has been processed by an organisation.
The woman in question, now aged in her 60s, wanted to keep her child but felt compelled to give them up for adoption in the early 1980s despite repeated attempts to keep them.
The woman went on to have a number of other children and one of her daughters accompanied her while she gave evidence to the Commission’s Confidential Committee in 2015.
The woman’s daughter, Maura*, told The Journal’s Órla Ryan that the form was filled in months after her mother gave her testimony, is “littered with inaccuracies” and “in no way captures the actual events or my mother’s story or suffering”.
2. Some of the world’s most powerful leaders are to back new conservation and emission targets to curb climate change, and finalise collective action on several other fronts, as they wrap up a three-day summit aimed at showcasing revived Western unity.
The group of leading economies, holding their first in-person gathering in nearly two years due to the coronavirus pandemic, will agree to protect at least 30% of both land and ocean globally by the end of the decade.
The ‘Nature Compact’ struck to try to halt and reverse biodiversity loss is also set to see them commit to nearly halve their carbon emissions by 2030, relative to 2010.
It includes mandating the use of only so-called clean coal for power “as soon as possible”, ending most government support for the fossil fuel sector overseas and phasing out petrol and diesel cars.
3. The mercury looks set to hit 24 today as the country wakes up to a warm and sunny Sunday.
It will be dry in most areas for the day with sunny spells especially in the east and south, but a bit cloudier in Atlantic coastal areas.
There will be isolated mist or fog patches also along south coasts with more persistent rain and drizzle developing along west and northwest coasts later on.
Maximum temperatures will range between 19 and 24 degrees but it will be cooler in Atlantic coastal areas with temperatures ranging between 15 and 19 degrees.
4. Police in Texas are today searching for two people suspected of involvement in a mass shooting on a crowded Austin street in which 14 people were wounded.
Interim police chief Joseph Chacon said the shooting on a street packed with bars and barricaded off from vehicle traffic occurred at around 1.30am and that investigators believe it started as a dispute between two parties.
He said police are searching for two male suspects but he declined to disclose details such as whether both fired shots, saying the investigation was ongoing and the department was working to take them into custody.
5. One new country has been added to Ireland’s mandatory hotel quarantine list, while travellers from Britain have been urged to “strictly adhere” to home quarantine amid the spread of the Delta variant.
It comes after Afghanistan, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Trinidad and Tobago were added to the list last weekend.
6. Meanwhile, our reporter Michelle Hennessy has taken a look at what the EU covid Cert means for travel this summer.
From the middle of next month Ireland will operate the EU Digital Covid Certificate (DCC), allowing cert-holders to bypass pandemic entry restrictions.
This week the European Parliament voted to enshrine the document in law, just in time for the continent’s summer tourism season, which many countries depend on.
7. An auction for a ride into space next month alongside Jeff Bezos and his brother ended with a winning $28 million (€23 million) yesterday.
The Amazon founder’s rocket company, Blue Origin, did not disclose the winner’s name following the live online auction.
The identity will be revealed in a couple of weeks — closer to the brief up-and-down flight from West Texas on July 20, the 52nd anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing.
Money well spent no doubt…
8. Writing for The Journal this morning, actor and director Mark O’Halloran says Ireland’s political class has forgotten that housing is a right and not an opportunity to distribute wealth upwards.
Fundamentally I don’t want to commute over three hours into a city that I’ve called home my entire adult life. A city that has been central to my creative work.
And besides, I can’t get a mortgage for a property in Longford either so what the fuck are we talking about?
Stop expecting hand-outs – another person told me that. But I don’t expect hand-outs. I never have. Yes, I work in the arts and am very proud of that fact. But most of my contracts are in the private sector (some of these Twitter geniuses should try that for a change).
It can be a tough slog getting by in the TV and film world. Being a freelance writer you have to constantly produce to a high standard or you’re dropped. You move from contract to contract with no guarantees. And it can be quite savage. But I have survived and done well in this world and this makes me happy.
But who am I kidding – it is still a career in the arts. That’s all a mortgage broker sees before they close over my file and shake their heads.
9. Denmark’s midfielder is awake and in a stable position in hospital after he collapsed during their Euro 2020 opener with Finland on Saturday, the Danish Football Association has said.
The former Tottenham playmaker dropped to the ground at the Parken Stadium shortly before half-time of the Group B fixture, leaving players from both teams in clear distress.
English referee Anthony Taylor immediately called medics on to the pitch and Eriksen underwent prolonged treatment with compressions performed on the chest of the Inter Milan player before he was taken to hospital.
The game resumed at 7.30pm this evening ‘following a request made by both sets of players’. Finland won the match 1-0.
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