LAST UPDATE | 14 Mar 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

Biden to visit Ireland

1. US President Joe Biden confirmed that he plans to visit Northern Ireland and the Republic after being invited to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Biden was speaking after British prime minister Rishi Sunak formally invited him to make the trip to the North to mark the 25th anniversary in April as the pair held talks in San Diego.

No dates have been confirmed as yet, and it’s not known if Biden’s trip will coincide with the actual anniversary on 10 April – on which Easter Monday falls this year – or at some later stage. 

HSE apologies

2. The new chief executive of the HSE has been challenged to “change the culture” over how the organisation approaches legal cases taken by families.

Medical negligence solicitors alleged to The Journal that the HSE’s strategy on cases remains “deny and defend”, often until a “trial date is on the agenda”, leaving some vulnerable families waiting up to a decade or more for answers.

One, Diane Treanor from Dublin firm Coleman Legal, said despite the HSE apologising to 49 families affected by failures in children’s audiology services in 2018, she has found a number of legal cases stalled since. 

Eviction ban

3. Sinn Féin plans to table a Dáil motion today calling for the eviction ban to be extended until January 2024. 

The opposition motion will put renewed pressure on the Government and could spell trouble, with all eyes on Government Green Party TDs Neasa Hourigan and Patrick Costello, who have been critical of the decision. 

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has written to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar urging him to reverse his Government’s decision to lift the eviction ban. 

Northern Ireland

4. Hillary Clinton has said she hopes that the Windsor Framework will move forward to reestablish the Assembly in Northern Ireland.

Speaking at an event in New York yesterday evening, where she received the Hans J. Morgenthau Award for her contribution to American foreign policy, she said hopefully the deal will mean there can be a “move on the many issues that confront the people of Northern Ireland”.

Clinton said the Good Friday Agreement, as it approaches its 25th anniversary, “does remain a triumph of diplomacy” for both the UK and Ireland, as well as the United States. 

Gary Lineker

5. BBC chairman Richard Sharp is under growing pressure to resign after the controversy ignited by the Gary Lineker impartiality row placed fresh scrutiny on the corporation’s independence.

Lineker confirmed yesterday he will return to Match of Day, tweeting that he was “delighted” that he was able to navigate “a way through this” with the BBC. 

The BBC also announced that it will begin an independent review of its social media guidelines, which will focus on how they apply to freelancers who work with the broadcaster outside of its newsroom.  

Weather warning

6. A Status Yellow warning for snow and ice remains in place until midday for Ulster, Connacht, and north Leinster.

Cavan, Donegal, Longford, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Westmeath, and all of Connacht fall under the snow and ice alert until 12pm today.

Met Éireann advises that wintry showers overnight in these areas could lead to icy conditions this morning, with potential for hazardous road conditions and slippery paths. 

National Children’s Hospital

7. The private operator of the ‘pay’ car park to serve the €1.43 billion National Children’s Hospital is to be required to make “a premium up-front payment” of over €5 million to operate the car park.

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board has initiated the tender competition for a 30-year contract to operate the car-park with the issuing of a Suitability Assessment Questionnaire.

The car park is to comprise 994 spaces, of which 575 will be paying visitor spaces. The documentation states that the maximum charge for car-parking over a 24-hour period for visitors to the hospital is to be €10.

North Korea

8. North Korea has test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles a day after the United States and South Korea began military drills that Pyongyang views as an invasion rehearsal.

The missiles launched from the southwestern coastal town of Jangyon flew across North Korea before landing in the sea off that country’s east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

It said both missiles travelled about 620 kilometres. 

Canada

9. Two men have died after a pickup truck ploughed into pedestrians beside a road in the eastern Quebec town of Amqui.

A provincial police spokeswoman said nine other people were injured, including two whose injuries are considered serious.

The 38-year-old driver, a local resident, turned himself in to police and was arrested under suspicion of committing a fatal hit and run.