LAST UPDATE | 15 Jun 2023

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news you need to know this morning.

Sligo tragedy

1. Tributes have been paid following the death of a woman in her 40s after being hit by a train in Co Sligo yesterday. 

A second woman in her 20s was hospitalised with serious injuries. She was taken to Sligo University Hospital for treatment. 

It’s understood that the women attempted to jump clear of the train but that they were hit.

Europol

2. There has been a sharp rise in the numbers of dissident republicans arrested in Ireland last year while right-wing and jihadist terror suspects were also detained here, a new report has found. 

The figures are contained in Europol’s TE-SAT or the European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report which is compiled by the EU’s policing and security arm. 

There were 11 dissidents arrested, four right-wing extremists and four jihadists. 

Political abuse

3. A taskforce on Safe Participation in Political Life will convene for its first main meeting today.

The taskforce, established by  Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Séan Ó Fearghaíl, and the Cathaoirleach, Senator Jerry Buttimer, will examine the matter and make proposals on how to safeguard and support participation and promote civil discourse in political life.

A final report will be presented to the Ceann Comhairle and the Cathaoirleach no later than 31 December 2023.

Bill Cosby

4. Nine more women are accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault in a lawsuit that alleges he used his “enormous power, fame and prestige” to victimise them. 

A lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in Nevada alleges that the women were individually drugged and assaulted between approximately 1979 and 1992 in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe homes, dressing rooms and hotels.

The 85-year-old former Cosby Show star has now been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by more than 60 women.

Nottingham attack

5. The families the two students killed in the knife and van attack in Nottingham joined thousands of people for a moving vigil in their memories.

Relatives of medical student Grace O’Malley-Kumar and history student Barnaby Webber could be seen embracing as crowds joined them in their grief on the University of Nottingham’s main campus.

Barnaby’s father David told those gathered that “his heart will be with you guys forever” while Grace’s father Sanjoy told the students to look after each other.

Stardust inquiry

6. A witness who was working in the Stardust club on the night of the tragic fire in 1981 has told an inquest of how he saw the flames “creep out along the wall like a mushroom” and how he had to use his bike lamp to help an assistant manager find a set of keys to open a locked door in order to exit.

The jury at the Dublin District Coroner’s Court in the Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital today heard evidence from Edward McNamee, who was working as a washer-up in the Stardust on the night the fire that killed 48 people swept through the premises in the early hours of 14 February 1981.

The inquest has heard that the Stardust had been open for three years as a venue for various music concerts and dances before the St Valentine’s Day fire broke out. There were three venues on the site, including another function area known as the Lantern Rooms and a bar known as the Silver Swan.

Sunken ship

7. At least 79 migrants have died after their boat sank off the Peloponnese, Greece’s coastguard has said, as fears mounted that the death toll could rise much higher.

Some 100 people were rescued after the boat capsized in international waters in the Ionian Sea during an operation complicated by strong winds, the coastguard said.

The boat “capsized and sank” early yesterday in a location that is “among the deepest in the Mediterranean”. 

Charges

8. Six prisoners have been charged in the west of the country for offences including serious assault, criminal damage, and drug offences.

Gardaí from the Mayo/Roscommon/Longford Division and Galway Division carried out a joint operation earlier yesterday morning.

Five men, aged between late teens and mid 40s, were charged in relation to a number of separate offences that include serious assault, criminal damage, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. Another man, aged 26, appeared before Belmullet District Court yesterday afternoon charged with a number of drug offences.

Weather forecast

9. Met Éireann has forecast possible thunderstorms and spot flooding, most likely in the midlands and the northwest, as temperatures remain high. 

Scattered heavy showers are expected to develop this afternoon but otherwise the day is to remain dry and sunny. 

It’s set to be very warm with temperature highs of 22 to 26 degrees.