LAST UPDATE | 23 Nov 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Budget

1. The government struck an “appropriate balance” with Budget 23 but needs to start planning ahead for “sizeable budgetary challenges”, Diarmuid Pepper reports in our top story this morning. 

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council’s latest report which analyses the recent budget was published today. 

The IFAC is an independent statutory body that has a mandate to assess and endorse the Government’s official economic forecasts.

Walmart shooting

2. Over in the US, a gunman has shot and killed multiple people in a Walmart store in Virginia.

Officers responded to a report of a shooting at the Walmart on Sam’s Circle around 10.15pm local time and as soon as they arrived they found evidence of a shooting, Chesapeake Police spokesman Leo Kosinski said in a briefing.

Over 35 to 40 minutes, officers found multiple dead people and injured people in the store and put rescue and tactical teams together to go inside and provide life-saving measures.

Police believe there was one gunman, who is dead, Kosinski said. 

Weather warnings

3. Back in Ireland, it’s set to be a wet and windy day in some counties, with weather warnings to be in place later today. 

A Status Yellow wind warning will be in place for Clare, Cork, Kerry and Galway this afternoon. This warning kicks in at 1pm and will remain in place until 7pm. 

Met Éireann warns there will be very strong and gusty west to southwest winds during this afternoon and evening, with gusts of up to 90 to 110km/h expected. 

Neutral state

4. Political correspondent Christina Finn reports that the Government will not oppose a Seanad motion which calls for a guarantee of Ireland’s status as a militarily neutral state. 

The motion states that Ireland’s neutral status should be guaranteed by way of a constitutional guarantee, calling for a recognition that Ireland’s membership of any military alliance “would immediately diminish and undermine our international reputation”. 

Junior Cert results

5. Later today, 67,130 Irish students will find out how they got on in their Junior Certificate exams.

Results have been posted to schools and will be available this morning. Students will also be able to access their results on the State Examinations Commission’s (SEC) website from 4pm this afternoon.

The results come six months after students sat the Junior Cert examinations. 

Dublin crash

6. A man has died after being struck by a jeep in south Dublin yesterday evening.

The incident occurred at around 7.10pm on Johnstown Road in Cabinteely, Dublin 18.

Scottish independence

7. The UK’s top court will today rule whether it is legal for Scotland to hold an independence referendum next year without the consent of London.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s devolved government in Edinburgh wants to hold a vote in October next year on the question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

The UK government, which oversees constitutional affairs for the whole country, has repeatedly refused to give Edinburgh the power to hold a referendum.

Trump trial

8. Donald Trump and his three eldest children will go on trial late next year in a civil lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general that accuses them of fraud, a judge ruled today.

Justice Arthur Engoron of the Manhattan Supreme Court set a trial date of 2 October 2023 in the case that alleges Trump and his family members misstated the value of properties to enrich themselves.

Jerusalem explosion

9. One man has been killed and at least 15 people have been wounded in two separate explosions targeting bus stations in Jerusalem today, with Israel’s public security minister calling them “attacks.”

An explosion at a bus station at the western exit from Jerusalem wounded 12 people, two of them critically.

A separate blast at another station a short distance away damaged a bus and wounded three people, the hospitals treating the casualties said.