GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. There is one show in town this morning in the Irish news world and that is the news of the reopening.
We give you a step-by-step guide to what you need to know and break down the possibilities for a good summer.
The plans cover everything from pilot outdoor live events with hundreds of attendees in June, to the return of international travel and indoor dining in July.
The Taoiseach said Ireland is taking “definite steps towards normal times” and the challenge now is “to keep moving forward safely”.
China
2. Our team over on The Good Information Project have been examining Ireland’s relationship with China in recent weeks.
This morning they take a look at the dangers anti-Asian hate which has spread across the globe and into Ireland.
They chat to suffer racist taunts and discuss what Ireland can do to sustain our tradition of the Cead Mile Fáilte and pass it onto people from Asia living in the country.
Drugs
3. Two men have been arrested as anti-organised crime detectives seized €1.35m of cannabis in an operation in County Meath.
The men were detained during an operation by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB).
A spokesperson said the gardaí searched a car and a house and found more than 67kg of the drug.
4. Over in the US President Joe Biden is proposing a six trillion dollar (£4.23 trillion) budget for next year piled high with new safety net programmes for the poor and middle class.
But his generosity depends on taxing corporations and the wealthy to keep the nation’s spiking debt from spiralling totally out of control.
Mr Biden inherited record pandemic-stoked spending and won a major victory on Covid-19 relief earlier this year. Friday’s rollout adds his recently announced infrastructure and social spending initiatives and fleshes out his earlier plans to sharply increase spending for annual Cabinet budgets.
5. In a lot of Irish restaurants it goes with everything from a sandwich to a roast, it’s the mighty coleslaw and today we take a look at it’s place in the Irish grub landscape.
Darach Ó Séaghdha looks back at the introduction of coleslaw to Ireland and wonders why exactly we embraced this strange mix of veg and mayo.
Darach raises the spectre of lasagne with coleslaw but argues for its place in the Irish culinary hall of fame.
Mother and Baby Homes
6. The tragedy of the Mother and Babies Homes and those who went through the system is one of the great original sins of Ireland.
The brave survivors, adoptees will be among the performers at an event at the National Concert Hall tonight.
Singer Christy Moore will be among those taking to the stage tonight. He famously wrote a song about Ann Lovett – the 15-year-old girl from Granard, County Longford, who died giving birth beside a grotto on 31 January 1984. It includes the refrain: “Everybody knew, nobody said.”
Adam
7. US President Joe Biden has sent a letter to six-year-old Adam King from Cork who warmed hearts when he appeared on the Late Late Toy Show last year.
Adam received the message from the US president along with an American and Irish flag that were on board missions to space.
In the letter, Biden told Adam that people around the world are working to beat Covid-19 and that “your message helps give them strength, and it gives me strength”.
Supreme Court
8. The Government has agreed to nominate Justice Donal O’Donnell as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
O’Donnell has been nominated for appointment to the role by President Michael D. Higgins later this year.
The role is being vacated on 10 October after the retirement of current Chief Justice Frank Clarke.
Lions
9. In sport Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw are set to line out together in the Lions squad.
They have previously played together with Connacht and Ireland, the pair are heading on tour to South Africa this summer.
This morning we take a look at their success and chat to the two players ahead of the test series.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say