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EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know as you kick off your day.
1. #NICOLA FURLONG: The fourth day of the trial into the death of Irishwoman Nicola Furlong has heard from a defence witness. RTÉ News is reporting that Dr Marianne Hamill argued that the presence of both alcohol and the drug Xanax in Furlong’s bloodstream had, in fact, lessened her suffering and that a question mark remained over how she had been strangled. 19-year-old Richard Hinds is accused of her murder.
2. #EXAMINERSHIP: The Sunday Business Post is set to apply to the High Court today to have an interim examiner appointed to it. The move follows yesterday’s complex restructuring by the former parent company of the newspaper, Thomas Crosbie Holdings Ltd.
3. #ULSTER BANK: Services at Ulster Bank have returned to normal this morning after customers were unable to access cash through ATMs. Online services were also disrupted. Customers of NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland were also impacted.
4. #GOVERNMENT: Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has told TheJournal.ie that after two years in office, government still has a “huge amount of work to do”. He said that the main focus of government continued to be the creation of jobs and the helping of those with distressed mortgages. Gilmore also insisted that the X case would be legislated for this year.
5. #SHOOTING: Five men are still being held by Gardaí over yesterday’s fatal shooting of Peter Butterly, 35, outside The Huntsman Inn in Gormanston, Co Meath. It is understood that the victim had links to dissident Republican activity. A post-mortem is due to be carried out today.
6. #PEACEKEEPERS: The UN Security Council has called for the release of 21 Filipino peacekeepers that are currently being held by Syrian rebels. RTÉ News is reporting that the troops are being held in a “safe area”, and that the UN commander on the ground is hopeful that all 21 will be released.
7. #LION DEATH: A 24-year-old woman has been mauled to death by a lion at an exotic animal park in the Sierra Nevada foothills of remote Central California. The volunteer intern has been identified as Dianna Hanson of Brier, Washington. Investigations are continuing to see if safety protocols had been followed.
8. #OPERATION ‘LIGHT UP’: The two-day safety initiative by An Garda Síochána late last month to address the issue of defective, broken, missing or inappropriate use of headlights resulted in 1,089 motorists being advised and 317 offences being recorded, figures have revealed.
9. #MICROSOFT: The European Union has fined Microsoft €561 million for breaking a pledge to offer personal computer users a choice of Internet browsers when they install the company’s flagship Windows operating system. The company has now paid €2.2 billion in fines to the Commission since 1998.
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I’ll never go back to an office full time. What was I thinking spending 90 minutes stuck in city traffic one way in, working a full day, sometimes having to stay late, only to spend 90 minutes in traffic on the way back home.
It added unnecessary stress to my life that was deemed ‘normal’. I refuse to go back to that way of living.
@Madra: completely agree.. why sit in traffic when you can use that time to work at your desk at home and even go for a little run before work. Going for a run or sitting in your car for 1 hour 20 think I know what I’d chose.
@Madra: At least this pandemy at this merit, having time to think and reflect about things you put in the back in your mind otherwise.
Ideally I’d love 4 days from home and 1 in the office but i’d take 3 days at home and 2 in the office
As long as it doesn’t have leading questions to get the ‘people want to go back to the office’ view like some other reports and surveys ran around the place recently have gone with. It has to be remembered that this hasn’t been a ‘WFH Experiment’ experience it has been a ‘WFH during a Pandemic’ one. Previous surveys all seemed to focus on the social aspect of working in an office which people then latched onto as being ‘the thing they missed’ – without any survey factoring in that nobody can do anything social at the minute. It would be fantastic if the ‘experiment’ went on for six months once things opened up again and then the surveys were put out.
If I could maybe get blended where I’m doing WFH Friday’s and Monday’s and then in the office Tuesday to Thursday’s, like in my old job I’ll happily take that. I simply don’t have a permanent office or work area set up for WFH on a full-time basis, even now its a pain most days to get screens and connections for the laptop set up on the living room table every morning and then take it all away every evening to eat. Plus to be honest, I am sick to the back teeth of poxy zoom and video calls, the novelty was fine for a few months last year, but once we had to do any kind of team training etc, it’s not as effective as being able to ask questions in person…..but everyone will have a different story or opinion on WFH I guess
@Tarraing Mo Liathróidí: Why not set up a home office in your back garden?
@Locojoe: other than the garage, which is already full, there is nowhere practical without me spending a fair amount of money i don’t have to do it, and to be honest I miss seeing actual work mates in person and going to lunch with people instead of sitting on my own doing it via zoom
Cant wait to get back to the office! Big desk, multiple monitors, task chair, coffee, snacks on tap, free lunch, socializing.
@Z Exotic: Most of us have to pay for our lunches & snacks so it’s not that exciting to us.
Like a lot of things in life there are good bits and bad bits of WFH, for me, the good bits of WFH far outweigh the bad bits, by a considerable margin.
As a working mother with young kids I hope that I can wfh at least 60 percent of the time. Not having to pay for afterschool means I’m actually earning a wage, my kids are happier to be home after school, I can drop them and pick them up. When they are sick I’m not scrambling around trying to find someone to mind them or take off work using annual leave where my colleagues have to take on my work.
@Bleurgh: Not have a go at you personally, but isn’t this one of the issues with WFH from an employer perspective ? They are paying for time at the desk, not time spent babysitting, tending to sick kids, etc. I get that most people would be able to juggle the work and household stuff, but it’s bound to have an impact.
I did not have the option of working from home. But I’d welcome the opportunity to try a 4 day week.
have your say