EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know as you kick off your day:
1. #JOBSWATCH: IT giant IBM is to create several hundred jobs in Dublin with the opening of a new global services integration hub in Mulhuddart. The Taoiseach has welcomed the jobs announcement, which will see between two and three hundred high-skilled jobs created in west Dublin. The company currently employs 3,000 people across its Irish locations in Blanchardstown, Cork and Galway.
2. #POLL: A majority of voters – 65 per cent – say they are dissatisfied with the performance of the coalition government, according to a new poll. Support for the government parties has also dropped with Labour falling 4 points to 15 per cent and Fine Gael dropping 2 points to 34 per cent. The big gainer in the poll was Sinn Féin with an increase of 7 points to reach 17 per cent.
3. #GAFFE: Fine Gael TD Simon Coveney has said the referendum on 31 May will be a one-off and that a second referendum will not be held regardless of the result. The party’s Director of Elections was speaking after Richard Bruton said he may have caused some confusion by suggesting that a second referendum could be held in the case of a No vote during a debate on Today FM, before retracting what he had said.
4. #DEBT CRISIS: Credit agency Moody’s has downgraded 16 Spanish banks amid ongoing fears over the country’s economic prospects. The agency blamed the economic difficulties in Spain and the ongoing crisis in the Eurozone. Moody’s also downgraded Santander UK, a UK-based subsidiary of the Spanish banking giant.
5. #JOBS: Bank of Ireland is expected to brief staff later today on a new voluntary redundancy scheme which will see more than 1,000 people leaving the company. RTE.ie reports it had originally been expected that 750 people would seek redundancy under the scheme.
6. #PROPERTY: The number of properties available to rent in Ireland has hit a three-and-a-half year low, according to the latest report by property website Daft.ie. Average rent across the country in the first three months of this year was largely unchanged, with the average nationwide rent now standing at €812.
7. #WAITING LISTS: Between 15,000 and 20,000 children are on waiting lists for orthodontic work, with many waiting for up to five years, the new head of the Irish Dental Association has said. Dr Andrew Bolas said the system of free dental screening for children under 16 is in danger of collapse due to chronic understaffing.
8. #RYANAIR: Passengers planning to fly with Ryanair this weekend have been warned that they need to check in online before a scheduled downtime of the airline’s website kicks in at 4pm today. Ryanair’s online check-in facility will be inaccessible from 4pm today until 12pm on Sunday, and customers who fail to check in online will be charged €60 to do so at the airport.
9. #GO KATIE!: Katie Taylor has qualified for the final of the World Boxing Championships in Qinhuangdao in China after beating her opponent by 16-6 this morning. She has already secured her Olympic qualification and is guaranteed at least a silver medal after this morning’s victory. The final will take place tomorrow morning. Good luck Katie!
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