LAST UPDATE | 21 Feb 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

1. #LIMERICK In our Morning Lead we look at the situation around dereliction and dangerous buildings in Limerick city.

There were nine structures listed as ‘dangerous’ at the end of last year – while there were 58 derelict structures in the city centre, some in serious disrepair.

The Journal has looked at the problem of dangerous buildings in Limerick city and the issues associated with falling masonry and the risk of collapse. 

2. #FRANKLIN Nearly 30,000 and businesses across Ireland are without electricity this morning following Storm Franklin.

3. #UKRAINE Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden have agreed to a summit – to be held only if Moscow does not invade Ukraine, France announced today following a frantic new round of diplomacy to avert an all-out war.

4. #LONGFORD Gardaí in Longford have seized a large number of weapons and a quantity of illegal cigarettes in a search. 

5. #GREECE Rescuers searching a burning ferry off the Greek island of Corfu today recovered the body of a trucker, the first confirmed fatality, as a 21-year-old Belarussian man was found alive three days after the blaze began.

6. #AUSTRALIA Jubilant visitors returned to Australia today as the country reopened its borders to vaccinated tourists, nearly two years after the island nation imposed some of the world’s strictest Covid-19 travel restrictions.

7. #BRITAIN The British Queen is experiencing “mild cold like symptoms” after testing positive for Covid but expects to be at her desk carrying out “light duties”, Buckingham Palace has said.  

8. #PRISONS The new boss of the Irish Parole Board has said that victims will be her priority in the months to come. Chief executive Ciairín de Buis also told the PA news agency that within two years she hopes to end the lengthy prisoner backlogs that have for years plagued the Irish parole system.

9: #VOICES Broadcaster Mike Murphy lends his support to a group of NGOs seeking an end to EU trade with Israeli settlements in occupied territories.