LAST UPDATE | 26 Apr 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Dail turf wars

1. In our lead story this morning, Christina Finn and Rónán Duffy report that the Dáil will today debate contentious plans to restrict the sale of turf, with Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan seeking to keep coalition TDs on side.

Sinn Féin will table a motion which calls on the government to “scrap plans to ban the sale of turf from September”, and the party is calling on all TDs to support it.

The bill seeks to exploit differences of opinion on the government benches after high-profile interventions from coalition TDs who are opposed to the move.

Russia diplomat 

2. Russia’s top diplomat has warned against provoking World War III and said the threat of a nuclear conflict “should not be underestimated”.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said weapons supplied by Western countries “will be a legitimate target”, adding that Russian forces had already targeted weapons warehouses in western Ukraine.

“Everyone is reciting incantations that in no case can we allow World War Three,” Lavrov said.

Twitter sale

3. Social media giant Twitter has agreed to sell the company to billionaire Elon Musk for $44 billion.

The agreement was a dramatic shift for the board, which had originally maneuvered to block Musk from taking the social media network private.

The agreed sale is worth approximately €38 billion.

Hospital charges

4. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly will bring a memo to Cabinet today on scrapping some hospital charges for children under 16.

The Government plans to abolish charges for overnight stays as well as fees for day cases.

Charges for presentations to the Emergency Department will remain in place, it is understood.

Russian rocket strikes 

5. At least five people have been killed and 18 injured in Russian rocket strikes on railway stations in the central Ukraine region of Vinnytsia, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office says.

The head of Ukraine railways says five stations in the centre and west of the country came under fire in the space of an hour.

Cork resources

6. Senior politicians including at least one Government minister met with garda management in Cork to raise concerns about policing levels in southside suburbs.

The Journal has learned that Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath spoke to senior garda officers about the problems of policing resources in the area.

On Saturday we revealed significant problems in the wider Togher Garda District, which covers a massive swathe of communities including Douglas, Carrigaline and the broader Cork Harbour area.

Bird flu 

7. A legal requirement to keep poultry confined or indoors amid a bird flu outbreak is to be lifted from this Friday 29 April.

The legislation requiring the precautionary confinement of birds was introduced on 22 November to mitigate the risk of bird flu in poultry and other birds.

Three avian flu outbreaks were notified to the Department in November and December – two in Monaghan and one in Galway. 

Online video 

8. A Government TD has made a complaint to gardaí about a “threatening” online video which criticises a speech he made in the Dáil.

Cathal Crowe, a Fianna Fail TD, from Clare went to Ennis Garda Station where he reported the video.

The four minute video includes a warning regarding “woke” commentary. In the video the speaker, who is not identified said he would “defend with violence” property he has accumulated.

Turkey 

9. A Turkish court has sentenced leading activist Osman Kavala to life in prison on controversial charges of trying to topple the government that had already seen him jailed without a conviction for more than four years.

The panel of three judges also jailed seven other defendants for 18 years each on the charge of aiding the attempt to overthrow then-prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government during large-scale protests in 2013.

Yesterday’s ruling drew swift condemnation from some of Turkey’s main allies, as well rights campaigners.