LAST UPDATE | 25 Sep 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

House prices

1. House prices in Ireland have risen again in the last quarter, and the average price of a three-bed semi detached home has surpassed €300,000 for the first time since 2007. 

House prices in large towns have risen by 2% in the past three months, and are increasing at twice the rate of Dublin and major cities. 

Air Quality

2. Ireland’s air quality is below guidelines for health set by the World Health Organisation, a new Environmental Protection Agency report has found. 

The report calls for local authorities to allocate more resources to increasing air quality enforcement and implementing solid fuel regulations.

Free IVF

3. The Minister for Health has emphasised that the publicly funded IVF scheme, which opens today, will be expanded to include more people, including couples who use donor materials. 

“That’s a group who feel that they have been left out. They haven’t, this came because of very clear advice from the clinicians that we need to have the regulatory framework on the legislation in place,” Donnelly said.

Donegal hit and run

4. A man has been arrested over a crash in Co Donegal on Saturday in which a nine year old boy was killed. 

The man, in his 20s, is being held at a garda station for questioning. 

The boy has been named as Ronan Wilson from Kildress in Co Tyrone. 

Lucy Letby 

5. Prosecutors will decide today whether to seek a retrial for child serial killer nurse Lucy Letby on a number of outstanding allegations in the UK.

Letby (33) was sentenced to a whole life order after jurors convicted her of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016.

Man dies in cattle mart incident

6. A man has died following an incident at a cattle mart in Loughrea, Co Galway on Saturday. 

The man, aged in his 60s, was injured following an incident during the mart at around 4.25pm.

Writers Guild to end strike in Hollywood

7. Union leaders and Hollywood studios reached a tentative agreement on Sunday to end the screenwriters’ strike after nearly five months.

Announcing the deal in an email the members, the union said: “WGA has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP. This was made possible by the enduring solidarity of WGA members and extraordinary support of our union siblings who joined us on the picket lines for over 146 days.”

Niger coup

8. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that France will end its military presence in Niger and pull its ambassador out of the country after its democratically elected president was deposed in a coup.

Leona Maguire

9. Spanish star Carlota Ciganda was the home heroine on Sunday as she birdied the 16th and 17th holes to beat Nelly Korda of the United States and secure the point that ensured Europe retained the Solheim Cup.

American Lexi Thompson beat Europe’s Emily Pedersen in the final match to end a thrilling competition 14-14, while Ireland’s Leona Maguire starred earlier in the day.