LAST UPDATE | 3 Oct 2023

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

Healthcare

1. Medical charity bosses have claimed that a sudden change to the way asylum seekers are assigned to GPs is cutting off vulnerable people’s access to primary care.

One medical charity boss has said that she has recently witnessed people who arrived in Ireland with a pre-existing cancer diagnosis having to go to emergency departments for check-ups. She said the problem is the latest barrier that asylum seekers have come up against in getting access to primary care in Ireland.

Previously, people receiving temporary protection in Ireland such as Ukrainians and international protection applicants (asylum seekers from other countries) were being assigned to a GP after being refused by three practices who were not in a position to take them on.

Pharmacies

2. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly will this morning present Cabinet with draft legislation that would see pharmacists allowed to prescribe some medications, in a move that will help alleviate pressure on GPs.

Donnelly will today seek Cabinet approval to publish a general scheme and draft of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill.

The legislation comes as part of plans by the Minister to expand the role of pharmacists in Ireland and to make it easier for patients to access services.

RTÉ

3. RTÉ has tumbled to last place in an annual ranking of customer experience.

The broadcaster placed 150th out of 150 organisations in the CX Customer Experience Report 2023, with a score that decreased by 17.1% compared to last year after a summer of chaos.

The revelations about discrepancies between the stated and actual earnings of former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy and further questions around the management of finances that emerged in the fallout have eroded some of the public trust in RTÉ.

Cargo ship seizure

4. Four men arrested in connection with an investigation into €160 million euro of cocaine seized on a bulk cargo ship off the coast of Ireland are to appear in court this morning.

The men are expected to appear at Mallow District Court in Co Cork at 10am.

Three other men have already appeared at Wexford District Court this week in relation to the seizure. Another man remains in custody, gardaí confirmed today, while another man has been released without charge.

Garda dispute

5. Rank and file gardaí will withdraw from voluntary overtime today, in the first of five Tuesdays earmarked for industrial action.

They will enter a de facto work-to-rule by not agreeing to work overtime on Budget Day 10 October and Halloween night 31 October – as well as 17 and 24 October.

The gardaí have colloquially begun to call the action the “Drew Flu” – which is a reference to their 1998 withdrawal of labour known as the “Blue Flu, when gardaí called in sick in a dispute over pay and conditions.

Birth information

6. The Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) has received over 3,800 applications for records in the year since the implementation of the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022.

The Act, which came into force on this day last year, grants right of access to birth certificates, birth and early life information, where available, for all persons who were adopted, boarded out, the subject of an illegal birth registration, or who otherwise have questions in relation to their origins.

In the day after the system opened on 3 October 2022, the Adoption Authority of Ireland received 817 applications for information, according to the Department of Children and Equality.

Ukraine

7. Tánaiste Micheál Martin has warned that Russia will seek to “freeze the people” of Ukraine by “bombing energy installations and infrastructure” this winter.

Martin is in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv for the meeting of the EU’s foreign affairs ministers and earlier reaffirmed Ireland’s support for Ukraine.

During his visit to Kyiv, Martin again voiced his support for Ukraine’s bid to gain accession to the EU.

Hunter Biden

8. US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter is to appear in federal court in Delaware today and is expected to plead not guilty to charges of illegally possessing a handgun.

Biden is charged with two counts of making false statements for claiming on forms required for the gun purchase that he was not using drugs illegally at the time.

He faces a third charge, based on the same statements, that he illegally possessed the gun – which he had for only 11 days in October 2018 – before it was gotten rid of.

Phil Lynott

9. The statue of Phil Lynott in Dublin city centre has survived being knocked over by vandals and accidentally bashed by a motorist – but now it is being damaged by enthusiastic fans leaving tributes.

Dublin City Council told The Journal it has had to arrange repairs on the statue of the Thin Lizzy frontman because visitors wedging plectrums underneath the strings of its bass guitar were causing “unintentional” damage.

It’s not clear how the practice started at the statue, which was unveiled on Harry Street, off Grafton Street, in 2005.