LAST UPDATE | 17 Jun 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Dublin Airport

1. In our Morning Lead, Michelle Hennessy reports more than one in 10 passengers with a flight departing from Dublin Airport this summer either have already or intend to change their travel plans due to the chaotic scenes witnessed at Dublin Airport recently, according to a new poll. 

At the end of last month, more than 1,000 passengers in one day alone missed their flights due to long queues at airport security. Although measures have been put in place to avoid a repeat of this situation, for some prospective passengers the damage has already been done.

In a poll carried out by Red C for The Journal, 42% of people said they had or have flights booked to depart from Dublin Airport this summer. Of those, 12% have already or intend to change or cancel their flights as a result of the long queues at the airport.

Specialist care

2. Six percent of adults who were admitted to hospital with an eating disorder in the last five years received public specialist inpatient treatment in a dedicated eating disorder service, according to new HSE figures. 

Since 2018, 718 adults have been admitted to hospital with a primary admission diagnosis of eating disorders.

Amazon murder probe

3. Brazil’s Federal Police are continuing to search for the missing boat of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira as investigators prepare to begin testing human remains found buried in the Amazon.

It comes as DNA testing of blood found in the boat of the man charged with their murders has indicated it is not that of the British journalist.

Investigators added that tests to determine if it was Pereira’s had so far proved inconclusive.

Palestine

4. Three Palestinians were killed this morning and eight others wounded in an operation by Israeli forces in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The three men were killed when Israeli forces, who have increased their operations in the area in recent months, opened fire on the vehicle in which the men were travelling.

Brexit

5. Boris Johnson’s plans to unilaterally scrap parts of Northern Ireland’s Brexit deal are “politically driven” and “very damaging” to EU-UK relations, the European Commission vice-president has said.

Maros Sefcovic said the European Union was not “here for political point scoring” after the bloc launched fresh legal action against the UK in retaliation over the Prime Minister’s just laid Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which will effectively rip up key parts of the deal signed by Mr Johnson and the EU in 2019.

Human rights

6. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has intervened in the case of a Moroccan man sentenced to death alongside two Britons for allegedly fighting Russian forces.

The Strasbourg-based court will indicate to the Russian government that it should ensure the death penalty imposed on Brahim Saadoune is not carried out.

Saadoune was sentenced to death on the same day as Shaun Pinner, 48, from Bedfordshire, and Aiden Aslin, 28, originally from Newark in Nottinghamshire.

Fossil fuels

7. Leo Varadkar has said that a €55 million green fund to help businesses move away from fossil fuels will help combat climate change.

The business package is to encourage firms to move towards more sustainable alternatives.

Varadkar along with Minister of State for Biodiversity Pippa Hackett and Minister of State for Law Reform James Browne announced the details of the funding.

Pence

8. A retired federal judge has testified that Donald Trump’s demand for Mike Pence to reject the results of the 2020 US election would have triggered a “revolution” had the vice president obeyed.

J Michael Luttig had advised Pence that his role in overseeing Congress’s ratification of the 2020 election on 6 January last year was purely ceremonial – rejecting Trump lawyer John Eastman’s theory that Pence had the power to unilaterally overturn Joe Biden’s victory.

Pay Talks

9. The Government and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) have failed to strike a deal over pay for public sector workers, after negotiations which went on until 3am this morning.

ICTU represents unions such as the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), Fórsa and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

ICTU President Kevin Callinan said some progress was made and negotiations remained civil, but the gap between sides may not be bridged.