LAST UPDATE | 17 Feb 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

Northern Ireland Protocol

1. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to hold talks with Stormont leaders over the Northern Ireland Protocol amid growing speculation of a deal coming within days on the post-Brexit trading arrangement.

Sunak and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris will meet the politicians near Belfast as British newspaper reports suggest the Prime Minister could brief his Cabinet on the deal and announce it in the UK Parliament on Tuesday.

However, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he believes there is a “distance to go yet” before a deal between the UK and the EU is over the line. 

George Nkencho

2. Garda watchdog investigators have completed their report into the fatal shooting by a garda of George Nkencho and a review is now underway before a decision is taken on sending it to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

A Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) spokesperson has said that the draft report has been completed and “is currently under internal and external peer review, as well as legal review”. 

There has been strong criticism from the Nkencho family of the delay, which was raised yesterday in the Dáil.  

Covid-19 vaccines

3. All children aged six months to 4 years old will be eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine from next week.

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has recommended the vaccine for children in this age cohort who have underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk from the virus.

The advisory group has also recommended that the vaccine be offered to all children in this age group to protect them from severe disease, provide extra protection from the rare risks of serious illness from Covid, as well as reducing household transmission to those who are immunocompromised or too young for vaccination. 

Cost of living

4. The government is expected to sign off on the upcoming cost of living support package next week.

It comes after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste Micheál Martin, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan and senior ministers held a “good discussion” on the matter yesterday evening. 

None of the upcoming support measures have yet been confirmed, but it’s understood that Varadkar has said any decisions made must be both affordable and be sufficient to help people and businesses until the budget in the autumn. 

Cyclone Gabrielle

5. A New Zealand mother has recounted the heartbreak of watching her two-year-old daughter being swept away in floodwaters unleashed by Cyclone Gabrielle, which has killed at least eight people.

The storm has faded into the South Pacific but left a trail of destruction and human suffering across New Zealand’s North Island.

About 10,000 people are displaced, cities and towns are still without power and drinking water, and local government officials estimate tens or even hundreds of communities have yet to be contacted.

Enoch Burke

6. The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision in Enoch Burke’s application to set aside orders directing him to stay away from Wilson Hospital’s school following his paid suspension from his teaching post.

Burke claims that the orders, which underpin a finding that he was in contempt of court resulting in his incarceration for 108 days, are unconstitutional, invalids and should be set aside.

His failure to stay away from the school, currently on mid-term break, following his release resulted in the High Court imposing a daily €700 fine until he purges his ongoing contempt. 

TikTok

7. TikTok has announced plans to build a second data centre in Ireland as part of its plans to expand operations in Europe. 

The platform said its plans for a new data centre are in addition to a separate centre which it approved to build in Ireland late last year. 

In a statement published on its website, TikTok said it is at “an advanced stage” of finalising plans for its latest centre. 

US

8. US President Joe Biden said the country is developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects, following three weeks of drama sparked by the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon.

The president has directed national security adviser Jake Sullivan to lead an “inter-agency team” to review procedures after the US shot down the Chinese balloon, as well as three other objects that Biden said the US now believed were most likely “benign” objects launched by private companies or research institutions.

Biden said he hoped the new rules would help “distinguish between those that are likely to pose safety and security risks that necessitate action and those that do not”.

Hibernation

9. New research suggests that although humans don’t hibernate, we might need more sleep during the winter.

Analysis of people undergoing sleep studies found that people get more REM sleep in the winter.

According to the researchers, if the findings can be replicated in people with healthy sleep, this would provide first evidence for a need to adjust sleep habits to season – perhaps by going to sleep earlier in the darker and colder months.