LAST UPDATE | 21 Sep 2023
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. Thirteen people who were arrested in the streets around Leinster House yesterday have been charged, gardaí confirmed.
2. Poland has said it will no longer arm Ukraine and instead focus on its own defense, as the two allies clashed at a key moment in Kyiv’s fightback against invasion by Russia.
In a mounting row over grain exports from Ukraine, Poland summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to protest remarks at the UN by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian leader said some countries were only pretending to support his nation as it wages a counteroffensive to retake land taken by Russia. Warsaw took offense at this.
3. A government review into the security of Ireland’s energy supply that will guide the development of new infrastructure should be published in the coming weeks, The Journal has learned.
The review is expected to bring clarity to the government’s plans to safeguard Ireland’s energy supply against potential future shocks while balancing the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Such measures are likely to include a state-run gas storage facility and potentially infrastructure for importing liquefied natural gas
4. A Sinn Féin TD has accused Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil of being “out of touch” with ordinary people as the party called for the introduction of a mortgage interest relief.
The Sinn Féin motion calls for the government to provide mortgage interest relief for primary private residences that would be worth up to 30% of increased interest costs that mortgage holders are facing compared to June 2022, with a maximum benefit €1,500 per household per year.
It comes in the wake of 10 successive interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank that have caused significant increases in mortgage repayments for thousands of people.
5. The Chief Operations Officer of the National Car Testing Service told an Oireachtas committee today that the service will “revisit” its decision to go cashless if the government forces them to accept cash.
This came after The Irish Independent reported that the Minister for Finance Michael McGrath had written to all public bodies to ensure they continue to accept cash as legal tender.
Brendan Walsh said he had heard the news, read the article and gave certainty that the service would meet the obligations, if they are mandated to do so.
6. Data centres will remain a key component of Ireland’s infrastructure, the Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan told the Irish Times, even as concerns over the pressure they are putting on the State’s energy supply continue to grow.
Responding to a decision by Fingal County Council to approve planning permission for three new Amazon data centres that will use 73 megawatts of power, the Green Party leader said the Government was working with data centre companies and wanted them in Ireland, but said they would have to play a role in decarbonisation.
7. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pushback on green pledges will see him go “toe-to-toe” with Labour on net zero at the next election following a shift that drew criticism from his own party, the Associated Press reports.
The Conservative Party leader used a speech on Wednesday to weaken a host of pledges designed to help the UK achieve a net zero carbon emission economy by 2050.
The policy overhaul included pushing back the ban on new petrol and diesel cars back by five years to 2035.
8. Several Ukrainian cities were targeted by Russian attacks overnight, leaving two dead in Kherson today while falling debris from downed incoming missiles caused multiple injuries in the capital Kyiv.
Two men aged 29 and 41 were killed in a Russian shelling which hit a dormitory in the city.
Four people were taken to hospital, including a 61-year-old woman in a serious condition.
9. An investigation into a metal-bar training practice associated with Horse Sport Ireland’s eventing High Performance director Sally Corscadden found that the coach did not breach her terms of employment by permitting the practice in question.
However, Justice Frank Clarke recommended that Corscadden receive a “written final warning” for failing to disclose to Horse Sport Ireland that the metal-bar practice was in place during a previous investigation into related training methods.
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