LAST UPDATE | 4 Mar

GOOD MORNING.

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

Industrial school survivors

1. Survivors of industrial schools have expressed frustration at a range of support measures proposed by the Government, saying the plan doesn’t address many of their needs.

A number of survivors, including some who had travelled from England, met with Education Minister Norma Foley in Dublin recently to express their concerns.

Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse (SRIA) are calling for an annual pension of €15,000, access to the Health Amendment Act (HAA) medical card, and housing support.

Emergency accommodation

2. Arrangements to provide shelter to homeless men who had been sleeping in tents near to the International Protection Office in Dublin city centre during the snow last week have ended.

Over 100 men have been sleeping rough in tents near to the International Protection Office (IPO) on Mount Street in Dublin 2. They are some of the over 1,100 men who have come to Ireland seeking International Protection who have not been accommodated by Government.

Following advocacy, media reports and outcry on social media on Friday, the Department of Integration – which oversees accommodation for asylum seekers – said temporary emergency accommodation would be provided “due to the current extreme weather”.

Gaza

3. US Vice President Kamala Harris has urged an immediate six-week ceasefire in Gaza, upping the pressure on key ally Israel as heavy fighting rages in the Palestinian territory.

“Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table,” Harris said during a speech in Selma, Alabama, yesterday.

Harris’s comments, the most forceful to date by a US administration official, came as Washington led a push to lock in a truce before Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month that begins in around one week.

Funeral

4. Ten-year-old Shannon schoolboy Dylan Coady Coleman “has worked five or six miracles by giving new life and hope” to others with the donation of his organs.

That is according to Shannon co-parish priest, Fr Michael Geraghty who made his tribute to “loving child” Dylan at the end of the funeral mass at a packed Mary Immaculate Church in Shannon today to celebrate the life of the “precious member” of the local community.

Dylan died on Wednesday at the Children’s Health Ireland hospital at Temple Street in Dublin from injuries sustained in a tragic road accident in Shannon last Sunday – just one day after Dylan’s mother, Laura, gave birth to his new brother, Shane.

Local Link

5. There has been a significant increase in the number of passengers taking rural Local Link services across Ireland over the past four years, new figures show.

Figures from the Department of Transport show that the numbers taking Local Links – bus services in Ireland providing local public transport in rural areas – shot up by over 360% between 2020 and 2023.

In 2020, a total of 686,485 passengers used the service, rising to 3,200,263 in 2023.

Republican primary

6. Nikki Haley has won the Republican primary in the District of Columbia, marking her first victory of the 2024 campaign.

Her victory has interrupted Donald Trump’s sweep of the Republican voting contests, although the former president is expected to pick up several hundred more delegates in more primaries happening this week on ‘Super Tuesday’.

Despite her early losses, Haley has said she would remain in the race until at least Super Tuesday, although she has declined to name any primary she felt confident she would win.

Post-mortem

7. A judge has ordered that an independent post-mortem be conducted on a man who died a number of days after he was allegedly fatally assaulted at an accommodation centre in Co Tipperary.

Judge Carol Anne Coolican granted an application calling for the independent autopsy, during a special sitting of Newcastle West District Court in Co Limerick.

Ivan Volkov (65) with an address at House 2, Holm Oak Cottages, Dundrum House Hotel, Dundrum, Co Tipperary, appeared before the court, charged in connection with the fatal assault of Shamil Nabiev, a 69-year old native of Azerbaijan.

Jailbreak

8. Haiti’s government has declared a state of emergency, imposing a night-time curfew in a bid to regain control of the streets after an explosion of violence at the weekend.

During the weekend, armed gang members stormed the country’s two biggest prisons, resulting in a mass jailbreak.

The 72-hour state of emergency went into immediate effect as the government said it would set out to find the killers, kidnappers and other violent criminals that it reported escaped from the prison.

Weather warning

9. A Status Yellow alert for wind and rain has been issued in counties Cork and Kerry.

The alert will kick-in later this evening and remain in place overnight.

Met Éireann forecasts that very strong and gusty west to southwest winds and spells of heavy rain will bring the potential for falling branches, damage to temporary structures, localised flooding and difficult travelling conditions.