LAST UPDATE | 3 Jul 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

Irish students in Greece

1. A Dublin secondary school has said it is suffering a “double tragedy” following the deaths of two recent graduates.

Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall were recent graduates of St Michael’s College in Dublin.

In separate statements, the school paid tribute to the two past students and expressed condolences with their friends and families.

Climate crisis

2. UN statistics state that an estimated 12% of all new population displacements worldwide occurred in the East and Horn of Africa region.

These figures from 2021 show that more than 1.2 million new disaster-related displacements of people and almost 500,000 new conflict-related displacements. Floods and storms contributed the most to internal disaster-related displacement, followed by droughts.

Speak to any diplomat and military officer, regardless of their nationality, and they will talk about the challenges of protecting undersea critical infrastructure, air domain security and cyber defences, but there is another creeping threat that fills those discussions and one that is looming with ever increasing pace and that is the threat of conflict provoked by climate change.  

RTÉ

3. Media and Culture Minister Catherine Martin has said she has made no proposals to lay off staff at RTÉ or sell its assets.

The Irish Mail on Sunday reported yesterday that the government has plans to significantly overhaul RTÉ that would involve the loss of jobs.

However, a spokesperson for Martin said: “There are no proposals by the minister for staff redundancies or selling assets.

GAA

4. Dublin secured its place in the All-Ireland GAA semi-finals in the final quarter-finals of the weekend, beating Mayo 2-17 to 0-11.

The 12-point margin is the biggest defeat the Dubs have inflicted on Mayo since 2011.

EU membership

5. Support for Ireland remaining in the EU is at 88% in the Republic and 79% in Northern Ireland, according to an opinion poll.

When asked to choose who they feel closest to, 65% of people in Ireland said they feel closest to Europe, followed by none of the above at 18%, and Great Britain at 12%.

In Northern Ireland, 60% said they feel closest to Europe, 30% said Great Britain, and 9% said none of the above.

Ukraine

6. Russia has launched a drone attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, the first such attack in 12 days.

All of the Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones were detected and shot down, according to Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv city administration.

In addition to the city itself, the surrounding Kyiv region was targeted.

France protests

7. French President Emmanuel Macron has chaired a special security meeting on as protests continued for a sixth night in France after the killing of a teenager in Paris.

Macron delayed the start of the first state visit to Germany in 23 years as rioting and violence continued across the country.

An official present at the security meeting said Macron plans to meet with the leaders of both houses of parliament today, followed by discussions with mayors in the 220 towns and cities affected by the protests.

Cork

8. A man in his forties has died following an accident in Cape Clear island in West Cork.

It is understood the man was playing football with members of his family late yesterday afternoon when their ball went over the cliff. The man set off on a route to the foot of the cliffs to get the ball back. However, he failed to return. A family member raised the alarm.

A search and Rescue operation was carried out involving the Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 and Baltimore’s RNLI lifeboat.

Tara Mines

9. SIPTU representatives will hold talks with the Government today ahead of discussions at the Workplace Relations Commission tomorrow about the potential loss of 650 jobs at Tara Mines in Co Meath.