NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a round-up of today’s news.

IRELAND

Jason Smyth Launches MayFest 2024. MayFest is Vision Sports Ireland’s muti-sport weekend, packed with sport events for people who are blind or vision impaired. MayFest will take place in Dublin from 25 - 26 May Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

• Cabinet approved a proposal brought by Justice Minister Helen McEntee to draft legislation to return asylum seekers who have crossed the border into the Republic from Northern Ireland.
• McEntee also announced plans to ‘release’ gardaí from ‘desk jobs’ to work on immigration enforcement, but her Department said they won’t ‘police the border’.
• Taoiseach Simon Harris said he intends to “clear” Mount Street in Dublin of tents and ensure that “makeshift shantytowns” are not allowed to develop again.
• The HSE announced a support team will get to work “immediately” to address pressures on health services in the Mid West region, particularly within University Hospital Limerick.
• One of the construction workers who was asked to leave the site of a disused hotel in Co Wicklow, because protesters incorrectly believed it was being renovated to house international protection (IP) applicants, said he and his colleagues are “in shock” today.
• People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy said he refuses to be intimidated after a death threat was graffitied near his home over the weekend. 
• Enoch Burke told the High Court that a news report published by the Sunday Independent in 2022 about his relations with other Mountjoy prisoners was “completely baseless”, and intended to show that he was “unfit to be a teacher”. 
• People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith said the removal of the triple lock for Irish military involvement in operations abroad will “inevitably lead to Ireland’s involvement in wars”.
• Meanwhile, the Green Party supported plans brought to Cabinet today to scrap the triple lock despite calls from within the party for caution.
• Green Party Minister of State Ossian Smyth said the deposit return scheme for recycling plastic bottles and cans has been embraced by the public. 

INTERNATIONAL

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Monday, April 29, 2024. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#LONDON: A 14-year-old boy died after being stabbed in an attack involving a sword in London, according to the Metropolitan Police.

#GAZA: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he intends to order a military assault on the southern Palestinian city of Rafah “with or without” a ceasefire deal as Hamas continue to study a truce proposal from Israel.

#TRUMP: A New York judge found former US president Donald Trump in contempt of court for violating gag order in hush money case and orders him to pay fine of $9,000.

#US: Four US police officers serving a warrant for a person wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and four others were wounded in a shootout yesterday at a home in North Carolina.

PARTING SHOT

The 'Use Your Vote' campaign to mobilise Irish voter turnout in the European elections on 7 June was officially launched today Marc O'Sullivan Marc O'Sullivan

Today was the deadline for candidates to register to run in the upcoming European elections on 7 June.

It also marked the launch of the ‘Use Your Vote’ campaign to encourage people to make their vote count.

“European Union democracy is more important today than ever,” said European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

“Your vote will decide the direction of Europe in the coming five years. It will decide what Europe we want to live in.

“Don’t let someone else choose for you”.

We should never take democracy for granted.

Use your vote. Or others will decide for you.
#UseYourVote #EUelections2024 pic.twitter.com/eH5ukiLzxI

— European Parliament (@Europarl_EN) April 29, 2024