GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. Broken down ambulances, poor supply storage and outdated clinics are among the litany of healthcare provider concerns for Ireland’s offshore islands.
In our morning lead, Niall Sargent of Noteworthy looks at how poor health provision is “failing” island communities, which are already suffering from major depopulation and housing issues.
It sees one island’s clinic described as a “completely outdated and unfit for purpose”, while the HSE has also found island staff are doing their job with “inadequate resources”.
2. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due in Jerusalem later today to discuss steps for de-escalation in violence between Israel and Palestine.
Global alarm has been sparked by the rising tensions, with French president Emmanuel Macron urging all parties to avoid feeding a “spiral of violence”, while Pope Francis has deplored the “death spiral”.
Yesterday, Israel prepared to demolish the east Jerusalem family home of a Palestinian man who killed seven people near a synagogue, as part of measures to punish the relatives of attackers, while the last month has also seen dozens of Palestinians killed this month.
3. Opposition parties have called on the Government to release documents relating to an alleged failure to provide payouts to families of people who were illegally charged for nursing home stays from the 1970s until late 2000s.
It follows a report in the Irish Mail on Sunday that successive governments have allegedly pursued a secret strategy aimed at limiting refunds from the State to individuals who were incorrectly charged for public nursing home care.
The report, based on a protected disclosure by Department of Health whistleblower Shane Corr, alleged that multiple governments have since 2011 sought to hide the State’s liability for the charges to prevent a possible €12 billion in payouts to those affected.
4. Residents of the west Waterford town have demonstrated against a hotel in the centre of the town from being used as a direct provision centre.
The centre is to accommodate 117 asylum seekers beginning with 69 women and families in the coming days.
5. Families in the north are more reliant on friends and family for childcare than those in the Republic.
The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has published new research comparing early childhood education and care in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
In the Republic, 39% of children aged four and under are mainly cared for by their parents only, whereas this figure is 33% in the North.
However, care by family and friends is much more common in the North at 39%, while this figure is only at 6% in the Republic.
6. A 16-year-old boy is set to appear in court charged with the murder of a teenage girl who was stabbed to death in Northumberland, England.
Holly Newton, 15, was found injured in the Priestpopple area of Hexham shortly after 5.10pm on Friday and later died in hospital.
A 16-year-old boy, who was also taken to hospital, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with murder, attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon and will appear before Newcastle Upon Tyne Magistrates’ Court today.
7. Mining company Rio Tinto has apologised for losing a tiny but dangerous radioactive capsule that fell off a truck in Western Australia.
It disappeared this month from a truck that drove to the suburbs of Perth from a remote mine near the town of Newman, which lies 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) north of the state capital – further than the distance from Paris to Madrid.
“We recognise this is clearly very concerning and are sorry for the alarm it has caused in the Western Australian community,” said the company’s chief executive Simon Trott.
8. A dangerous amount of rain is forecast for New Zealand’s most populous city, four days after Auckland had its wettest day on record in a storm that claimed four lives.
A state of emergency was declared on Friday when a volume of rain that would typically fall over an entire Southern Hemisphere summer hit in a single day.
At least 5,000 homes and businesses were being assessed for flood and landslide damage and several roads remained closed after more than 15cm (6in) of rain fell in three hours.
9. Dutch company Philips has announced that it will slash 6,000 more jobs worldwide after fresh losses caused by a massive recall of faulty sleep respirators.
It comes just three months after it announced another 4,000 cuts, as the Dutch firm unveiled net losses of €105 million for the fourth quarter of 2022 and €1.605 billion for last year as a whole, largely due to the recall.
Philips announced a global recall in 2021 of its appliances to treat people suffering from sleep apnoea and now faces a number of lawsuits in the United States.
This followed concerns patients risked “possible toxic and carcinogenic effects” if they inhaled or swallowed pieces of degraded sound-dampening foam on the machines.
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