EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know as you kick off your day.
1. #FIRE: Gardaí in Cork believe the death of a 36-year-old woman in a house fire on Sunday morning was not accidental. They have arrested a man in this 30s in connection with the blaze at Pembroke Crescent in Passage West.
2. #CROKE PARK: Talks on a successor to the Croke Park Agreement on public sector pay and reform continue today ahead of a rally by frontline emergency workers in Dublin this evening. Ministers and unions must agree on a deal before the end of February, when the government says it will legislate for pay cuts.
3. #AUSTRALIA: An Australian police force has started a recruitment drive in the hope of tempting trained Irish gardaí to emigrate and serve as officers in WA. The link to the application website has “gone viral” in recent days, one garda told TheJournal.ie.
4. #EARLY WARNING: According to Budget 2000 papers obtained by the Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, former Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy warned the Irish economy was “heading for trouble if the boom is let rip”.
5. #DEATH: It has emerged this morning that Vincent Martin Crowe, the 32-year-old man charged in connection with the stabbing and death of 21-year-old Wexford native Kenny Meyler in Australia, is also an Irish national. He is due to appear in court on 25 February.
6. #PROPERTY TAX: The Irish Independent has learned that Revenue will use GPS-style technology to work out the property tax owing on a home, reports Fiach Kelly. Aerial mapping will allow the taxman to figure out the property’s proximity to shops, transport, schools and other amenities which have a bearing on the value – and thus level of tax.
7. #REPORT CARD: The Government received an overall ‘C’ grade in its annual report card from the Children’s Rights Alliance – but it failed on the subject of child poverty, with the Social Protection Department getting an ‘F’. An underspend on Mental Health and delays in primary care facilities and the Children’s Hospital also saw the Department of Health earn only a ‘D’.
8. #BBC: A number of journalists at the BBC have started a 24-hour strike in protest at compulsory redundancies. The industrial action could disrupt television and radio broadcasts today.
9. #LOVE/HATE: After its season three finale was viewed by nearly one million people, Love/Hate started to garner more attention across the Atlantic. The Dublin-based crime drama could be remade for American audiences as a US sales agent has already optioned it, reports the Irish Daily Star.
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