EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #DEBT: Marches organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) will take place in six counties across the country today. The demonstrations are in protest to the nationalisation of banking debts – particularly the promissory note arrangement. AA Roadwatch has warned of traffic disruptions today with the Six Nations also coming to Dublin this weekend.
2. #ADRIAN DONOHOE: Gardaí have said they are closing in on suspects in the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe. In a press conference yesterday, Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan said 360 statements have been taken and 1,125 lines of enquiry are being pursued, RTÉ reports. However the Irish Daily Mirror reports this morning that the prime suspect in the case has left the country and may now be in the UK.
3. #SEPTIC TANKS: Ireland is still paying €12,000 a day in fines for failure to comply with the EU rules on septic tanks. Though Environment Minister Phil Hogan has said Ireland is already in compliance with rules, the Environmental Protection Agency has not yet completed its inspection plans which must be approved before the fines will stop.
4. #DAFFODIL DAY: Incidents of invasive cancers are expected to more than double by 2030 according to figures from the National Cancer Registry of Ireland. The projected figures show that there will be 54,780 cases in 2030 compared to 26,283 in 2010 – an increase of 108 per cent.
5. #EU BUDGET: Yesterday Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that the EU budget, which was agreed on after a tough battle between leaders in Brussels, is a good deal for Ireland. However the Irish Examiner reports this morning that Kenny may have problems now securing a deal on the recapitalisation of its €32 billion back debt from the EU rescue fund, following this week’s agreement on the IBRC promissory note.
6. #HORSE MEAT: The French anti-fraud watchdog has said that horsemeat found in lasagne meals was falsely marked as beef and said it was trying to trace the origin of the fraud. The lasagne food scare, which started in Britain, has now spread to several other European countries with Swedish food giant Findus withdrawing various frozen meals, AFP reports.
7. #DEFIBRILLATORS: An enquiry has confirmed that the Government is forbidden under EU law to lift the VAT rate on defibrillators but the European Commission has said that Ireland is free to give a grant to community groups towards the cost of the life-saving equipment. The Irish Heart Foundation estimates that sudden cardiac death occurs in 5,000 deaths in Ireland each year.
8. #SNOWSTORM: A major snowstorm that forecasters have warned could be a blizzard for the history books has hit the US from New York to Boston. By last night, more than 18.5 inches of snow had fallen in parts of central Connecticut and more than 500,000 homes have been left without electricity, AP reports.
9. #EXECUTION: A Kashmir separatist has been hanged over his role in a deadly attack on parliament in New Delhi in 2001 in an episode that brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of war. Mohammed Afzal Guru is only the second person to be executed in India in nearly a decade, AFP reports.
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