GOOD MORNING.

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

BAFTAS

1. The Banshees of Inisherin won four BAFTAs tonight, including outstanding British film, best supporting actor and supporting actress for Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon respectively, and original screenplay.

Meanwhile, Elvis star Austin Butler beat favourite Colin Farrell to win the BAFTA for best leading actor.

Accepting the outstanding British film award from Patrick Stewart, director and writer Martin McDonagh said: “I know every Irish person in the cast and crew are going ‘best what?’” 

Pinergy

2. Pay as you go energy provider Pinergy has become the first energy supplier in Ireland to drop its prices since rates began to rise in 2020. 

The change, which kicks in on 31 March, will result in a 7.1% decrease to the typical household cost. This is equivalent to €183 annually in an estimated bill. 

The planned decrease comes after Pinergy last increased its prices by 14% on 9 January, adding an estimated €320 to bills annually. 

Tjhat was the the second price hike by Pinergy in recent months, after it increased the cost of electricity to its customers by 19.2% in September.

Daithí’s Law

3. The UK Government has announced it is to move to pass Daithí’s Law, a stalled organ donation law for Northern Ireland, at Westminster.

The political impasse at Stormont means local Assembly members have been unable to convene to pass the law named after six-year-old Belfast boy Daithí MacGabhann, who is waiting for a heart transplant.

The opt-out system would mean adults in Northern Ireland would be presumed to be donors, unless they take a decision to opt out and the system is intended to increase donation rates in the region. 

Data Protection

4. There have been more than 200 cyber attacks on Irish companies in which private data was accessed or stolen by hackers in the last 12 months, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) has confirmed. 

Graham Doyle, a Deputy Data Commissioner in the DPC said that the incidents were individual breaches and were reported to the organisation in keeping with GDPR reporting laws. 

The confirmation of the incidents comes just a week after it was determined that personal data of staff and some students was exposed in the Munster Technological University (MTU) hack. 

Nicola Bulley

5. The partner of mother-of-two Nicola Bulley has told of his “agony” after a body was found in the river near where she went missing in England.

The body, which has not yet been formally identified, was found yesterday morning around a mile from where the 45-year-old mortgage adviser was last seen.

She had been walking her dog in St Michael’s on Wyre after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school on 27 January.

In a message to Sky News, her partner Paul Ansell said: “No words right now, just agony”.

Bishop killed

6. Catholic leaders have paid their respects to Cork native Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell who was found dead at 1pm local time (9pm Irish time) yesterday in Los Angeles.

The LA Times has reported that the bishop, aged 69, was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound at the scene in eastern Los Angeles.

Bishop O’Connell was born in Cork and moved to Los Angeles County where he was ordained as a priest in 1979.

Childhood development

7. Poor housing conditions affect children’s health and social and emotional wellbeing, new research shows.

The long-term Government study ‘Growing up in Ireland‘ has published a new report on the housing conditions of children. 

Using data on children born in 2007-2008, the findings published by the ESRI show that given living in inadequate housing and in more disorderly neighbourhoods have worse health and developmental outcomes at the age of nine than their peers. 

Inadequate housing includes damp conditions, lack of heating and inadequate space.

Brazil flooding

8. Flooding and landslides triggered by torrential rain in Brazil claimed at least 36 lives this weekend in southeast Sao Paulo state, authorities have said.

TV and social media footage from the town of Sao Sebastiao showed entire neighborhoods under water, debris from hillside houses swept away by oozing earth, flooded highways and cars destroyed by fallen trees, among other damage.

At least 35 people died in Sao Sebastiao, the state government said. A girl was also killed in the town of Ubatuba, news reports said.

“Unfortunately, we are going to have many more deaths,” the state civil defense chief, Henguel Pereira, told the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

Earthquake rescue

9. Turkey has said that rescue efforts following last week’s devastating earthquake had ended in all but two provinces as visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $100 million in fresh humanitarian aid.

The 7.8-magnitude tremor that struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on 6 February has killed more than 44,000 people, with the likelihood of finding survivors two weeks on extremely remote.

No survivors have been found in at least 24 hours.