LAST UPDATE | 20 Mar

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

Redress scheme

1. Survivors of mother and baby institutions will be unable to apply for redress if they don’t have photographic identification.

The Government’s long-awaited redress scheme finally opens for applications today. However, survivors can’t apply unless they provide photographic ID. 

Gaza

2. Canada is halting future arms shipments to Israel as international pressure continues to mount over its conduct in Gaza, where more than 31,000 people have died and half the population facing famine. 

Canada’s foreign minister Melanie Joly told the Toronto Star newspaper yesterday that her government would stop future arms exports to Israel, a decision that has angered the Israeli government. 

Assisted Dying

3. The Oireachtas Assisted Dying Committee is set to publish its recommendations following months of work examining whether to introduce voluntary assisted dying laws in Ireland. 

Speaking to The Journal, Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson, David Cullinane, who sits on the Committee, said the report will advise “caution and carefulness in how we approach this”.  

US election

4. US President Joe Biden has accused Donald Trump of “despising” Latinos as the rivals tried to win delegates for the presidential nomination in battleground states like Nevada and Arizona.

Democrats and Republicans in five more states – Nevada, Arizona, Kansas, Ohio and Florida – have backed the two frontrunners, neither of whom face any real threat from opponents.

The primaries are now a stage for Biden and Trump to try to sway voters ahead of the far more important November election. 

Stardust inquest

5. The jury at the Stardust inquest has been brought through the testimony of those who survived the fire at the club, with Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane telling the panel that patrons were all in agreement that the fire spread rapidly and took over the building suddenly.

The inquest into the deaths of the 48 young people who lost their lives in a blaze at the Artane nightclub in the early hours of 14 February 1981 is now in its final stages and the coroner is expected to complete her summary and directions to the jury in the coming days. 

Fatal assault

6. Ian Baitson, who was the victim of what gardaí have described as a serious assault in Cobh, Co Cork, died in hospital yesterday afternoon.

At approximately 8.55pm on Friday, Ian was allegedly stabbed at a service station and shop at Newtown Road in the town. 

Garda rosters

7. The leaders of a group representing rank and file gardaí have voted overwhelmingly to accept a new roster proposal which will end a dispute that saw gardaí threaten industrial action.

The Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has been in a dispute between the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) over new proposed working hours. 

Tullamore hospital

8. Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore has been unable to carry out elective surgeries such as hip or knee replacements as it has been “inundated” with trauma patients from its emergency department for over 1o weeks.

The facility’s elective ward is currently being used to accommodate an influx emergency incidents coming from the hospital’s A&E.

The volume of patients being admitted through the emergency department has been increasing by 40% year-on-year.

Kate Middleton

9. The private hospital that treated Kate Middleton is under scrutiny after claims that staff tried to access her private medical records, according to British media.

The Mirror has reported that at least one member of staff tried to access her notes while she was a patient at the facility in central London in January.