EACH DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you should know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #ABORTION BILL: It’s all up to President Michael D. Higgins now as the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill will be delivered to him today, after passing all stages in the Seanad yesterday evening. The President has between five and seven days to consider the legislation, and will either sign it into law or refer it to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality.
2. #PASSPORT FRAUD: Two Passport Office employees are being questioned by gardaí as part of a criminal investigation into passport fraud. The issue was brought to light in May when internal checks revealed irregularities in the way in which two passports were issued.
3. #MCGEEVER: A 68-year-old man will appear in court today into the alleged false imprisonment of 68-year-old Galway businessman Kevin McGeever. The man faces charges of wasting garda time.
4. #MENTAL HEALTH: In the final installment of a three-part series on mental health issues on TheJournal.ie, supported by the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund, our reporter Christina Finn has found that in the past six years, the number of ‘Authorised Officers’ (mental heath care professionals who can help families with admission of a loved one to an approved centre) has halved. There are now just 40.
5. #CRECHE: One of the creches featured on RTÉ’s Prime Time probe in May is at the centre of another controversy after two toddlers wandered out of its centre yesterday. The Giraffe Creche in Belarmaine, Co Dublin is now being investigated according to RTÉ News.
6. #EXPENDITURE: The Taoiseach’s office spent over €50,000 on third level courses and training programmes for staff in the last year. Figures show that 269 staff were sent for additional training, while four people attended post graduate courses at a cost of over €10,000.
7. #ORANGE ORDER: The Parades Commission has turned down two applications by the Orange Order to march past the Ardoyne shops on the Crumlin Road this weekend. The order has vowed to stage a protest there every week until it completes its original Twelfth parade.
8. #AUSTRALIA: Three people have died and dozens are missing after a refugee boat bound for Australia’s Christmas Island sank off Indonesia’s Java Island. It comes just a week after the Australian Prime Minister announced a new hardline plan to send all unauthorised arrivals to Papua New Guinea.
9. #TREASURE: Over €26 million worth of silver bullion has been recovered on the Irish seabed by treasure hunters. The find, the largest precious metal recovery from a shipwreck ever, was taken from a British cargo ship that Nazis sank in 1941.
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