EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning coffee…
1. #CROKE PARK: A rift has opened in the Coalition over Leo Varadkar’s comments that public sector pay increments should be halted. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore sharply rebuked Varadkar, the Irish Times reports, saying he would prefer if “ministers didn’t get up every Monday morning and express a point of view.”
2. #QUEEN: Queen Elizabeth II is due to arrive in the North today for a visit that will include a historic handshake with Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness. McGuinness yesterday played down the event, the Irish News reports, saying: “I’ve met far more dangerous people”.
3. #ULSTER BANK: The Central Bank has ordered all Irish banks to examine their payment systems in an effort to avoid any repeat of the Ulster Bank fiasco, the Irish Examiner reports. Meanwhile a Guardian investigation claims to have exposed the cause of the problem in Ulster Bank’s UK sister lender NatWest.
4. #SCHOOL’S IN: Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin is giving half his salary to a school in his Kerry South constituency, so that it can hire an extra teacher. Fybough National School lost one of its three teachers in the last round of education cuts.
5. #MURDER: One of the two men arrested yesterday over the killing of journalist Eugene Moloney in Dublin has been released by gardaí. The other remains in custody. Writing in the Irish Independent today, Treacy Hogan recalls a “happy-go-lucky” reporter who was renowned for his generosity.
6. #SYRIA: NATO officials will hold talks with Turkey today after Syrian forces shot down one of the country’s military jets at the weekend. The talks will focus on whether the action warrants a military response.
7. #NAMA: Nama is demolishing its first apartment block – an abandoned complex on an estate outside Longford town. The move is the first time the State agency has moved on derelict property and is expected to be followed by other demolitions, the Irish Independent reports.
8. #CONSOLATION: Our economy may be the laughing stock of the EU, but an Environmental Protection Agency report has provided some comfort: Ireland has great air. The quality of our atmosphere is among the best in Europe, the report says.
9. #NAKED PRESIDENT: Ever wondered what Barack Obama would look like without his clothes? An advertising campaign in Ecuador features Photoshopped pictures of the US president giving an official speech in the nip. You can see the images over at the Huffington Post.
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