LAST UPDATE | 5 Oct 2023

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

Budget

1. Coalition leaders have met with Finance Minister Michael McGrath and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe to get an update on budget negotiations.

Ahead of the meeting, McGrath told Fianna Fáil colleagues that he believes the “core Budget” and the one-off measures in it “will make a real difference”.

He added that it will be a “good” budget, “notwithstanding the volatility in the international markets”.

Pollution

2. South Dublin County Council is investigating pollution in the River Poddle after photographs were shared on social media which appeared to show the river coloured a milky white last Friday.

The river rises in Cookstown in Tallaght, forms a lake in Tymon Park and flows into the River Liffey.

Photographs were shared on Facebook by the Cairde Pháirc Thigh Motháin (Friends of Tymon Park) group, while another photograph was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the Save the Poddle Wildlife Sanctuary group.

People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy also raised the issue in the Dáil on Tuesday, saying: “The River Poddle was the main source of Dublin’s drinking water for more than 500 years, but if one was to drink it now, one would be in danger of going to hospital.”

Ukraine

3. The Journal News Correspondent Niall O’Connor visited Ukraine this week to hear from Ukrainians and Irish people living in Kyiv.

“Outside the main train station in Kyiv there was a jovial almost electrically charged vibrancy in the air. The wartime streets were thronged with people, friends embraced as they met, couples walking hand-in-hand, people laughing,”he writes.

“Not much is different to a night-time scene on a busy street of an Irish city – except that many of those normal interactions of life were being performed by people dressed in combat uniforms.”

Read his full report here. 

Collision

4. A pedestrian was hit by a car in Phisborough last night in a case that has been referred to the Garda Ombudsman.

A vehicle hit a female pedestrian in the Cross Guns Bridge area.

The road has been closed overnight between Whitworth Road and Connaught Street.

Cargo ship seizure

5. An eighth man has been charged by gardaí investigating the discovery of more than 2,000kg of cocaine on a bulk cargo ship off the south coast last week.

A total of seven men have so far appeared before several district courts charged in relation to what authorities have called Ireland’s largest ever drugs haul.

Cocaine with an estimated value of €160 million was found on the Panamanian registered vessel MV Matthew in a major operation involving the Irish army and Gardaí.

Just Stop Oil

6. Just Stop Oil protesters disrupted a performance of Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre in London’s West End last night night.

The protesters entered the stage during a performance of the show’s famous pre-interval song One Day More.

Just Stop Oil said that four protesters then locked themselves to the stage using flexible bicycle locks at around 8.50pm.

Offaly murder

7. A teenager accused of the murder of a woman in Offaly has been remanded in detention for another two weeks.

The teenage boy is accused of murdering Lorna Woodnutt at a location in the county on 29 September.

The accused appeared before Judge Andrew Cody at Tullamore District Court yesterday by videolink from Oberstown Detention Centre.

Gambling

8. 130,000 people have a gambling addiction in Ireland — 3.3% of the adult population.

That is according to new findings by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), ahead of a new bill that aims to further regulate the gambling industry.

An additional 7.1% of adults, or 279,000 people, show moderate evidence of problem gambling. 

Whale discovery

9. The remains of a rare bottle-nosed whale that is usually found deep in the sea have been preserved by a team of experts in Northern Ireland with the hope of eventually displaying it in public.

The body of a northern bottlenose whale had to be dissected by hand at the Co Down beach where it was found, before being treated and buried in order to preserve the skeleton.