LAST UPDATE | 29 Jun 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

RTÉ at Oireachtas Committee

1. Senior RTÉ executives came before the Oireachtas Media Committee yesterday where they faced a grilling about secret payments made to presenter Ryan Tubridy which totalled €345,000.

Since the revelations last Thursday, the broadcaster’s outgoing director general Dee Forbes was suspended, then resigned, and Tubridy was taken off the air.

Here’s what came to light during the four-hour meeting – and what’s still not clear.

RTÉ problems

2. Current and former senior RTÉ journalists have said they were denied new equipment and had to “travel the country” due to regional correspondent roles being left vacant, at the same time that secret payments were being made to Ryan Tubridy.

As the fallout continues following the revelation of secret payments totalling €345,000 to Tubridy between 2017 and March of this year, former senior correspondents also told The Journal that they believe the dual funding model, whereby RTÉ receives public and commercial monies, needs to be disentangled to restore trust in the news and current affairs output.

This, according to former RTÉ south-east correspondent and long-time trade union activist Damien Tiernan, could see the eventual separation of RTÉ’s News and Current Affairs division from other strands of the organisation.

Economic growth

3. Ireland is expected to experience continued economic growth for the rest of this year and into 2024, according to the ESRI, with domestic economic activity forecast to remain “strong” while multinational activity is predicted to slow down.

“Our forecast for Modified Domestic Demand (MDD), the more accurate measure of domestic economic activity, is for growth of 3.6% this year and 4% in 2024,” the ESRI said in a statement accompanying its quarterly report.

Inflation is expected to come down while tax revenue is due to rise, the ESRI said.

Nanterre

4. 150 people have been arrested in France in a second night of violence after the killing of a teenager by police.

Police clashed with protesters overnight just hours after French President Emmanuel Macron called the shooting death of a 17-year-old delivery driver by police “inexcusable” and pleaded for calm while justice takes its course.

It was the second night of violence in the Paris suburb of Nanterre even as the government heightened the police presence in the capital and other big cities after the killing triggered a night of scattered violence.

Titan

5. Presumed human remains have been recovered from what is left of the Titan sub that imploded during a dive to the Titanic wreck, with the death of five people, the US Coast Guard has said.

“United States medical professionals will conduct a formal analysis of presumed human remains that have been carefully recovered,” the agency said.

On board were British explorer Hamish Harding, French submarine expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani-British tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and Stockton Rush, CEO of the sub’s operator OceanGate Expeditions.

Russia

6. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “weakened” by the Wagner mercenary group’s mutiny, but that the ultimate consequences of the rebellion remained unclear.

The weekend uprising – which ended when Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin called off his troops’ advance on Moscow – has prompted questions about Putin’s grip on power as Moscow’s war in Ukraine grinds on.

In his first extensive comments about the aborted rebellion, Scholz said it would “surely have long-term consequences in Russia”.

Gardaí

7. Specialist armed gardaí are to be issued with new, more modern tasers following an assessment of the effectiveness of their current weapons.

It is understood an internal review of the Taser X26P was carried out and some operational issues were identified.

Sources have said that gardaí are now looking at purchasing newer versions of the devices – known as a Taser X2. 

The Academy

8. Oscar-nominated Irish actors Paul Mescal and Kerry Condon are among the hundreds of new people invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The organisation announced it has extended membership invitations to 398 individuals who had “distinguished themselves by their contributions to motion pictures”.

Tom Berkeley and Ross White, whose short film An Irish Goodbye won the Oscar for best live action short film, were invited in the Short Films and Feature Animation category.  

Train delays

9. Irish Rail has hit out at truck drivers, as it claimed that two incidents involving truckers hitting bridges and one hitting a level crossing has caused delays to train services.

The railway operator said that a truck driver hit a bridge on Pearse Street in Dublin shortly after 3pm yesterday, and that in a separate incident, a different trucker hit into a bridge in Portlaoise at the same time. Another trucker hit a level crossing on Serpentine Avenue, Dublin just after 4pm, it claimed.