EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know as you start your day.
1. #EUROPE: Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said that Francois Hollande’s victory in the French presidential elections will not affect the holding of the Fiscal Compact referendum in Ireland – despite the fact that Hollande vowed to renegotiate the treaty if elected.
Meanwhile, neither of Greece’s main political parties have secured enough votes during the country’s parliamentary elections to form a ruling coalition, with about 95 per cent of the vote counted this morning. The far-right party Golden Dawn, however, won unprecedented support from voters.
2. #SHOOTING: Gardaà are continuing to question man in his 30s following a fatal shooting of a pensioner in Co Mayo yesterday afternoon. The 71-year-old victim died after being shot at his home at Wallpark in the Glencorrib area, near the border with Galway.
3. #CATHOLIC CHURCH: About 900 people are expected to attend a conference in Dublin today aimed at discussing the a way forward for the Catholic Church in the wake of recent scandals. Debate will focus on issues from the mishandling of clerical sex abuse allegations to sharing church responsibilities with laypeople.
Fr Toney Flannery, the principal organiser of the event, will not attend as he has been ordered by the Vatican to reflect on some of his recent “unorthodox” writings, RTÉ reports.
4. #INQUIRY: Meanwhile, Catholic Primate Cardinal Sean Brady has welcomed a call by the Archbishop of Dublin for an independent commission to investigate the abuse of children by Fr Brendan Smyth.
Brady is currently facing calls to resign over his role in a 1975 abuse inquiry, during which he failed to deal with allegations of abuse made against the notorious paedophile.
5. #HEALTH: The HSE says there has been a major delay by the health authorities to assess the needs of thousands of children with disabilities within a required time frame. In an unpublished report seen by the Irish Times, the HSE says that about 80 per cent of children who need assessment do not receive it within legal limits.
6. #CANCER: Scientists from Cancer Research UK are starting trials to establish whether a common curry ingredient can improve the treatment of patients suffering from bowel cancer, the BBC reports.
Previous studies have suggested that curcumin – a compound found in the spice tumeric – can slow the spread of cancer, boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy and protect healthy cells from the radiotherapy.
7. #LEARNER DRIVERS: The findings of a recent Garda operation have shown that almost half of learner drivers are ignoring the law against driving unaccompanied. The operation involved stopping 2,200 learners and found that 43 per cent were not accompanied by a licensed driver, and 30 per cent had not displayed L plates, the Irish Examiner reports.
8. #RUSSIA: Vladimir Putin is to be inaugurated as the president of Russia in a Moscow ceremony today. Putin won his third term as the country’s president in a controversial election last March.
9. #TAX US: Higher taxes for higher earners – that’s not going to happen, right? But some of the world’s richest people – like Stephen King and Warren Buffet – are in favour of it. Check out six of the super-rich who say: ‘tax me more’.
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