GOOD MORNING. 

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

Dublin Airport

1. It’s taking most passengers less than 30 minutes to pass through security at Dublin Airport today after a busy period early this morning.

Passengers reported wait times of approximately one hour earlier today as thousands of people file through the transport hub on the first day of the Bank Holiday weekend.

Airport operator DAA said the queue lengths dropped significantly after a “busy first wave”.

Cork death

2. A woman died and two children were rescued after a car entered the River Lee in Cork city yesterday evening. 

The incident happened at 8.45pm and saw a massive response from Cork City Fire Brigade, ambulance, gardaí and the Coast Guard.

Taxi shortages

3. Revellers in Dublin’s city centre over the bank holiday weekend can expect a long wait for transport home at the end of their nights out, as the taxi shortage in the capital continues.

There has been a drop-off in active taxi drivers since the pandemic and the industry has failed to recover following the lifting of restrictions. According to the National Transport Authority, currently there are 25,336 taxi driver licences, 18,849 of which are active.

Michaela McAreavey song

4. Two men have apologised after a video emerged on social media appearing to show a group of people singing a song that mocks the murder of Michaela McAreavey.

The video appears to have been taken in an Orange Hall in Northern Ireland.

The video has prompted widespread criticism across Ireland both north and south with Taoiseach Micheál Martin describing it as “beyond comprehension”.

Russia targets utilities

5. As the fighting in eastern Ukraine inches forward, Russian attacks are knocking out power, water and gas to entire towns and cities and the utility crews sent to repair the smashed transmission lines and pipes are finding themselves in the middle of the shelling.

Crews sometimes arrive at a location only to be forced to retreat because of the fighting, officials say.

Agriculture emissions

6. A report week said that emissions from Ireland’s agriculture sector will increase by 2030 unless all current planned policies are implemented.

The Environmental Protection Agency report urged the sector to more clearly set out how it will reduce its environmental impact in the years ahead. 

The sector must give greater detail about how it will reduce methane emissions in particular, according to the report on Ireland’s emissions from 2021 to 2040.

M50 crash

7. Two men were killed in a crash on the M50 yesterday that led to the northbound route of the motorway being closed for several hours. 

Their motorcycles collided with a truck just before 2pm. The driver of the truck was not injured. 

Monkeypox

8. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was aware of more than 700 global cases of monkeypox, including 21 in the United States, with investigations now suggesting it is spreading inside the country.

Bill Cosby

9. A woman gave evidence that she was 14 when Bill Cosby took her into a trailer on a movie set in 1975, grabbed her so she could not move her arms, and kissed her.

The woman, now 61, told her story in a public venue for the first time during a Los Angeles County civil trial over the lawsuit of Judy Huth, who alleges Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion when she was 16 at around the same time, in the spring of 1975.