GOOD MORNING.

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

HSE recruitment

1. Nurses who were recruited to Ireland from overseas to work for the HSE and private nursing homes are calling for training to be introduced before they sit a costly aptitude test, as those who fail the exam are left feeling “abandoned” afterwards.

Calls for increased oversight of international recruitment come after the Government and top HSE officials gave mixed messages this week about whether the health service will be slowing down or increasing its overseas recruitment activities.

After international nurses get job offers and contracts from health providers in Ireland, they must travel here to complete an aptitude exam that costs €2,800 to sit, which they are not reimbursed for if they fail, in which case they also have their job offers revoked.

Christy Dignam

2. A public farewell for Christy Dignam will be held in Finglas, Co Dublin today, followed by a private funeral service.

Dignam died on Tuesday evening in his home, aged 63, after he was diagnosed a decade ago with the rare blood disease amyloidosis.

Thepublic farewell gathering is planned this morning on Farnham Drive in Finglas, opposite Erins Isle GAA club.

Climate crisis

3. Average global temperatures at the start of June were the warmest the EU’s climate monitoring unit has ever recorded for the period.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service said the figures trounced previous records by a “substantial margin”.

The news comes as the El Nino climate phenomenon has officially arrived, raising fears of extreme weather and more temperature records.

Nottingham attack

4. A man is set to appear in court to face murder and attempted murder charges following knife and van attacks in Nottingham.

Valdo Calocane is accused of killing University of Nottingham students Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber and school caretaker Ian Coates in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The 31-year-old is also alleged to have attempted to murder three pedestrians after Coates’ van was used to drive at people in Milton Street and South Sherwood Street. 

Ukraine

5. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyy has appealed to a group of African leaders to ask Vladimir Putin to free political prisoners from Crimea and beyond, saying it would be an “important step” during their trip to Russia tomorrow.

Seven African leaders — presidents of Comoros, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia, as well as Egypt’s prime minister and top envoys from the Republic of Congo and Uganda — visited Ukraine on today as part of a self-styled “peace mission” to try to help end the nearly 16-month-old war.

The African leaders were traveling to meet Putin tomorrow in the Russian city of St Petersburg.

Asylum seekers

6. Asylum seeker advocates have said Ireland has a discriminatory “two-tier” refugee system and blamed the rise in far-right aggression on failed government policies, particularly when it comes to housing.   

“I don’t think it’s a two-tier system, it is a two-tier system,” said Lucky Khambule, co-founder of the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI).

Khambule spoke to The Journal this week at an Ireland For All press conference promoting an event that will celebrate World Refugee Day in Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance next Tuesday.

Kilmainham Gaol

7. Kilmainham Gaol will highlight its “queer history” today, in a move welcomed as giving the public a more complete sense of Irish history.

The former prison, where the leaders of the 1916 Rising were imprisoned and executed, will host a sold out “queer history tour…focusing on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender prisoners”.

It has hosted similar tours since 2018 to coincide with the annual Pride celebration in June. This year, the tour’s announcement on Twitter was met with a homophobic backlash, though many social media users also expressed support for the tour and abhorrence of the negative reaction.

Firefighters

8. Retained firefighters will suspend their industrial action to allow for “exploratory discussions” at the Labour court on Monday.

The Retained Fire Service is a 2,000 strong part-time workforce which provides fire and first responder emergency services across the country.

Siptu members employed as Retained Fire Services firefighters had been engaged in industrial action this week due to what the trade union describes as a “staffing crisis which threatens this vital community resource”.

Ireland-Greece

9. Hundreds of Republic of Ireland fans were locked out of the OPAP Arena in the minutes before the crucial Euro 2024 qualifier with Greece.

Supporters described chaotic and dangerous scenes as turnstiles in the away section were not functioning before eventually being opened after the national anthems had been played, leading to fans “rushing towards it”.

“Chaos, dangerous,” fan Jamie Ralph told The 42, explaining how a section of the lower tier designated on his ticket had been left shut.