LAST UPDATE | 21 Nov 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Fraud

1. In today’s lead story, Hayley Halpin reports that fraudsters stole nearly €45 million in the second half of 2021, an increase of 27% compared to 2020.

A new report published today by FraudSMART at the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland found that debit and credit card fraud hit €14.5 million, up 18.5%, the highest levels since the first half of 2017.

Most of the increase was driven by online card fraud or ‘card not present’ where a fraudster uses the victim’s compromised card information to make an online purchase.

Domestic violence

2. Tusla-funded services providing support to survivors of domestic violence are being invited to apply for additional funding from the government.

Budget 2023 allocated an additional €9 million to combatting domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, with €6.8 million of the total being made available through a “targeted call to established DSGBV service providers already funded through Tusla”.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee described the funding being provided to services as “unprecedented”.

Climate crisis

3. The COP27 climate summit came to an end last night as the talks ended with a “compromise” on loss and damage but little progress on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said the EU was “disappointed” and that more than 80 countries had backed a stronger commitment to emissions than the final language included, which reiterates previous calls to accelerate “efforts towards the phasedown of unabated coal power and phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”.

“What we have in front of us… doesn’t bring enough added efforts from major emitters to increase and accelerate their emission cuts,” Timmermans said.

Eurogroup

4. Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has pledged to strengthen coordination between eurozone countries on combatting inflation if elected for a second term as President of the Eurogroup.

The minister, who has held the top role on the committee since July 2020, is bidding for another term despite plans for the Cabinet reshuffle to take him out of the Finance portfolio.

Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath is due to swap roles with Donohoe on 17 December alongside the rotation of the Taoiseach.

Weather warning

5. Met Éireaan has issued a Status Orange rainfall warning for Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow and a Status Yellow warning for the rest of the country.

The warning for Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow is valid until noon today as “some very intense falls of rain are possible”, according to the forecaster.

Meanwhile the Status Yellow rainfall warning will remain in place until 8pm tonight.

Childhood

6. Slightly over half of nine-year-olds in Ireland own a phone, up 10% on 10 years ago, according to new research.

The ESRI and the Department of Children have published a new report drawing data from the long-term Government study ‘Growing up in Ireland‘.

The report has compared the lives of nine-year-olds in 2007/8 and nine-year-olds in 2017/18, drawing on surveys of the children and their parents and time-use diaries completed by the children.

Colorado

7. A shooter opened fire inside an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado yesterday, killing at least five people.

Eighteen people were injured, with some in critical condition, in what is the most recent of a long history of attacks on LGBTQ venues in the US.

US President Joe Biden released a statement condemning the attack and said: “We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQI+ people. We cannot and must not tolerate hate.”

Ukraine

8. UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has denounced the “targeted” strikes at Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, calling for a “stop to this madness”.

Around a dozen strikes had targeted the plant, he said, and the situation was “very serious”, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told French broadcaster BFMTV.

It was an outrage that some people “consider a nuclear power plant to be a legitimate military target”, he said.

Northern Ireland

9. The UK parliament is set to introduce legislation to push back the deadline by which a Northern Ireland Executive must be formed.

Additionally, the bill would slash MLA salaries by about a third while the Assembly is unable to conduct business and take “limited but necessary steps” to maintain public services.

It comes as the Stormont parties failed to establish a new Executive by 28 October after the last Assembly election in May.