NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a roundup of today’s news.

IRELAND

• A man has died after being found with serious injuries following an assault in Co Kildare on Wednesday.
• A Garda Detective has been arrested and suspended from duty as part of an on-going criminal investigation into Gardaí suspected of working for organised crime groups.
• Temperatures are set to drop below -5 tonight as a Status Yellow ice warning has been extended for 11 counties. 
• A murder trial has heard that mother of three and occupational therapist Valerie French Kilroy died from strangulation, a severe head injury, and a stab wound to the neck. 
• Ukrainians living in a Dublin hotel for the last year were given four days notice that they are being moved across the city and their children will have to find new schools.
• Gardaí are no longer suspecting foul play in the death of a man who was found in a rental flat in Co Cavan.
• A former Offaly priest who sexually abused a young woman as he drove her to the Rape Crisis Centre for counselling has avoided a jail term as he is the sole carer for his elderly sister. 
• Nearly 5,000 eviction notices were served on tenants between July and September last summer. 

 INTERNATIONAL

#GARY LINEKER: Alan Shearer and Ian Wright have said they won’t appear on Match of the Day tomorrow after it was announced by Lineker and the BBC that he will be taking a “step back” from the programme following an impartiality row over his social media comments on the UK government’s asylum policy. 

#MEXICO has arrested five cartel members following the kidnapping of four US citizens, two of whom were killed. 

#OSCARS COUNTDOWN: As rain arrives in LA, the Irish Oscar hopefuls are on a two-day countdown, Aoife Barry reports from Hollywood. 

 PARTING SHOT

1,500 people become Irish citizens in Dublin

LEAH FARRELL / ROLLINGNEWS.IE New Irish citizen Ahammadul Kabir, with Fahmida Parvin at the RDS, Ballsbridge.

Around 1500 have become Irish citizens today, giving a declaration of loyalty to Ireland and standing for the national anthem.

Minister for Justice Simon Harris, who addressed the first group of new citizens, paid tribute to those “who are part of our national tapestry of communities right across the country”.

Speaking at the first such in-person event in Dublin in over four years, he said that Ireland had taken the decision to “make a day out of it” through the citizenship ceremonies.