LAST UPDATE | 16 Dec 2019

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #NOTEWORTHY: The inside story of how the cost of a bridge almost doubled in Kilkenny – one of the most controversial road projects of the past decade. 

2. #TALKS: The DUP and Sinn Féin are due to resume talks today aimed at resuming a power-sharing executive at Stormont, days after the UK general election.

3. #CREDIT UNIONS: More credit unions are being urged sign up to offer a micro-loan scheme aimed at people who may have difficulty securing credit elsewhere and steering them away from high-cost moneylenders.

4. #RIP: Labour leader Brendan Howlin and President Michael D Higgins paid tribute to Cormac Ó Braonáin, a 19-year-old recently elected chairperson of the youth wing of the party, after he died in the early hours of Sunday morning.

5. #HONG KONG: Riot police have fired tear gas against demonstrators in Hong Kong, ending a short lull in protest-related violence.

6. #UK: Boris Johnson is set to address new Tory MPs as they prepare to vote on his Brexit deal, with a vote expected in the coming days following the UK prime minister’s election landslide.

7: #CHRISTMAS: The Hallmark Channel will reinstate the same-sex marriage ad that it had pulled from the TV network after conservative pressure. 

8. #ELECTION: Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has called on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to provide a “sensible” timeline for the next general election. 

9. #PAY: The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has hit out at the levels of pay that chief executives in 26 top companies in Ireland receive.