LAST UPDATE | 13 Dec 2021

GOOD MORNING.

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

Energy boost

1. In our lead story today, we look at the rollout of the booster vaccine and whether or not interest among the public has waned compared to the initial doses.

There were conflicting messages last week as Taoiseach Micheál Martin was among TDs and health officials who indicated that there may be less impetus among people to obtain a booster vaccine, but later changed their comments.

Long queues in Dublin reflected a wider enthusiasm among the public to get a booster, with official surveys supporting this.

An arrest 30 years later

2. Gardaí have arrested a man in connection to the murder of a Sinn Féin councillor in Co Donegal 30 years ago.

Eddie Fullerton was shot dead at his home in Buncrana in 1991 in an attack claimed by loyalist paramilitaries.

Donegal gardaí arrested the suspect yesterday morning and detained him at Letterkenny Garda Station.

Cost of fuel

3. From locations around the country, hauliers are driving to Dublin this morning to protest rising fuel prices.

The Irish Truckers and Haulage Association Against Fuel Prices has planned a day-long demonstration in Dublin similar to a protest in November that disrupted traffic in the city centre.

Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has said that it is “not the way do do business” for “ splinter groups to blockade effectively our capital city and cause other hard-pressed taxpayers very significant difficulty in going about their business”.

Discrimination

4. An organic farm discriminated against a volunteer trainee when he was told to leave the farm after management learned that he was HIV positive, the Workplace Relations Commission has ruled

The farm, which is in rural Ireland, has been ordered to pay the man €8,000 in compensation.

The man said that after he told he could no longer work at the farm, he was refused two requests to have a shower and was not allowed to use its WiFi to organise travel out of Ireland.

Omicron variant

5. The UK has brought forward its timeline for booster vaccines as the country eyes the risks posed by the Omicron variant.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday evening that all eligible adults in England will be offered a booster vaccine by the end of December instead of the previous goal of the end of January.

He said the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will also be looking to speed up the rollout of the vaccines.

Schools

6. Back in Ireland, schools are to be given €72 million to help with measures to reduce Covid-19 transmission, including HEPA filters.

€45 million has been allocated to primary schools, €17 million to secondary schools and €10 million to early learning and childcare providers.

Minister for Education Norma Foley said the funding “will enable them to address both their minor works requirements and also to address small-scale ventilation improvements at school level as a short-term mitigation measure, should they require to do so”. 

Bristol statue

7. Four people accused of criminal damage are set to go on trial over the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.

The defendants, aged between 21 and 36, deby the charges of criminal damage.

The bronze statue was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest last year and dumped in Bristol Harbour, thought it was later recovered by Bristol City Council.  

Extreme weather

8. Deadlier and more destructive storms are expected to be the “new normal” due to climate change, the US’ top emergency management official has warned the country.

Massive tornados hit six states over the weekend and at least 90 people have died.

“This is going to be our new normal,” Deanne Criswell, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told CNN. “The effects that we’re seeing from climate change are the crisis of our generation.” 

Avian flu

9. Northern Ireland is experiencing its “largest ever” outbreak of avian flu, which is also the largest ever seen anywhere in the UK.

Disease control measures have included the culling of affected birds, some 14,000 in Armagh and 22,000 in Tyrone.

Dr Robert Huey, the chief veterinary officer has called on flock keepers to “urgently review” their biosecurity practicies.