LAST UPDATE | 16 Sep 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Coillte’s pesticide use

1. In our lead story this morning, the latest Noteworthy investigation reveals that around €1.5 million is spent on pesticides annually by State-owned forestry company Coillte.

Over 10,200 litres and 5,800 kg of pesticides were used across 2020 and 2021 by the public body, excluding any used in Coillte nurseries.

Most of the pesticides used – about 10,000 litres – were based on glyphosate, the controversial chemical found in popular weedkiller Roundup which the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined is “probably carcinogenic to humans”.

Flight cancellations

2. Ryanair has cancelled 420 flights across Europe today due to a strike by French air traffic controllers.

The airline said 80,000 passengers would be impacted by the cancellations and mainly flights that overfly France are impacted.

A number of flights from Dublin have been cancelled while Aer Lingus has also cancelled four flights on its Dublin to Paris route today due to the industrial action.

Ambulance’s ‘hangover’ callout

3. Paramedic crews were left angered after they were sent to a callout from someone suffering from a “bad hangover”, meaning the ambulance crew was out of action for nearly three hours. 

The callout was one of several made over a single weekend which left ambulance crews frustrated. Current rules mean that an ambulance crew had to attend the callout. 

Mass grave in Ukraine

4. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that a mass grave had been found in Izyum after the town was retaken from Russian forces.

“We want the world to know what the Russian occupation has caused,” he said, without giving details on the number of bodies found or their cause of death.

“We need to have more clear and verified information tomorrow.”

French embassy warns about Irish housing crisis

5. The French Embassy in Ireland is warning those relocating from France, that Ireland is currently experiencing “a severe housing crisis” and that new arrivals face significant difficulties in securing a place to live.

The embassy posted the advice on its website as part of guidance for French people looking to move to Ireland.

“The strong demand and the saturation of the rental market have led to a sharp increase in rents, which are currently much more expensive than in Paris, including shared accommodation,” it said.

Could phones trigger early puberty?

6. Blue light from phones and tablets may alter hormone levels and increase the risk of early puberty in children, early research suggests.

It is thought that blue light supresses the secretion of melatonin – a hormone that helps control the sleep cycle and is also associated with delaying the start of puberty in young children.

As children get older, their melatonin levels drop naturally to allow the onset of puberty.

Queen’s funeral

7. Hundreds of foreign royals and leaders are expected to attend the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London on Monday in one of the biggest diplomatic gatherings in decades.

Westminster Abbey has space for around 2,000 people, so only heads of state and one or two guests have reportedly been invited to Britain’s first state funeral for six decades.

But who is going? And who wasn’t invited?

Immigration stunt in US

8. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken credit for sending two planeloads of undocumented Venezuelans from Texas to wealthy Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, as Republicans play up immigration issues before November midterm elections.

Around 50 of the migrants, including children, landed Wednesday on the island, where Democratic presidents from John F Kennedy to Bill Clinton have summered, and former president Barack Obama owns an estate.

Garth Brooks’ politics

9. The Journal’s politial columnist Larry Donnelly examines Garth Brooks’ efforts to deploy his “soft power” to influence the opinions of a substantial constituency of Americans.

“On the date Joe Biden was inaugurated in 2021, in the wake of the profoundly unsettling events of January 6th, Garth Brooks was, in my estimation, the second most important person – next to the brand new President of the United States – on Capitol Hill,” Donnelly writes.