LAST UPDATE | 20 Dec 2021

GOOD MORNING.

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

Hedge cutting 

1. In our main story this morning, Noteworthy’s Niall Sargent reports that the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has brought almost 50 prosecutions for illegal hedge cutting during the bird nesting season this year alone

This represents a huge increase on the period from 2010 to the end of 2019, when only 70 cases in total were taken up by the NPWS across the whole decade.

Hedge cutting should not occur during the bird nesting season and it is an offence under the Wildlife Act to cut hedge vegetation between the start of March and the end of August each year, except in express circumstances for road and safety concerns.  

Omicron measures

2. New Covid-19 restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the Omicron variant have come into force.

All restaurants and bars, excluding takeaways and delivery services, must now close at 8pm, and there are limits on attendance at indoor and outdoor events scheduled for earlier in the day.

Restricted movement advice for all close contacts of Covid cases has also been enhanced. 

Kevin Lunney

3. Three men found guilty of the abduction and assault of Quinn Industrial Holdings boss Kevin Lunney are due to be sentenced today.

The first guilty man cannot be identified and is named only as YZ. The other two men are Alan O’Brien (40), of Shelmalier Road, East Wall, Dublin 3 and Darren Redmond (27), from Caledon Road, East Wall, Dublin.

The three men had denied the charges, but the three-judge, non-jury Special Criminal Court found that the prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt that they were among the group of men who abducted Lunney from near his home and assaulted him in a horse box at a yard in Drumbrade, Co Cavan. 

Drugs seized

4. Gardaí have seized drugs worth more than €286,000 as part of ongoing investigations into the sale and supply of drugs in north Dublin. 

As part of Operation Tara, Coolock gardaí searched a house in the Greenwood area of Dublin 13 yesterday.

A number of packages containing cannabis were found during the search. No arrests were made. 

Chile election 

5. In Chile, a left-win millennial who rose to prominence during anti-government protests was elected as the country’s next president.

With 56% of the votes, Gabriel Boric defeated opponent Jose Antonio Kast by more than 10 points.

Kast had tried unsuccessfully to scare voters that Boric would upend Chile’s vaunted record as Latin America’s most stable, advanced economy.

Philippines typhoon

6. The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year surpassed 200 today, as desperate survivors pleaded for urgent supplies of drinking water and food.

The Philippine Red Cross reported “complete carnage” in coastal areas after Typhoon Rai left homes, hospitals and schools “ripped to shreds”.

The storm tore off roofs, uprooted trees, toppled concrete power poles, smashed wooden houses to pieces, wiped out crops and flooded villages – sparking comparisons with Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

Brexit

7. The UK’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is to take over responsibility for the UK’s future relationship with the EU, Downing Street has said, following the resignation of Brexit minister David Frost.

Frost resigned with “immediate effect” on Saturday night, having previously agreed with the Prime Minister he would leave his job in January. 

World Sports Star of the Year 

8. Rachael Blackmore added another first to her groundbreaking year as she became the first Irish athlete to win the BBC’s prestigious World Sports Star of the Year award.

The Tipperary jockey (32) made history at the Cheltenham Festival in March when becoming the first woman to win the Champion Hurdle and also to lift the leading rider award. 

Weather 

9. A Status Yellow fog warning has been issued by Met Éireann for all counties this morning.

The warning came into place at 3.05am and will end at 11am.

According to the forecaster, fog patches “will be dense in parts” and lead to reduced visibility and poor driving conditions.