EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you really need to know as you start your day.
1. #SMOKING: Health minister James Reilly has said the government may consider extending the smoking ban to ban all smoking in cars. In response to a parliamentary question, spotted by the Irish Times, Reilly said the idea would be considered in all cars carrying passengers under 16 – but admitted the public would need convincing first.
2. #BALLYCOTTON: The mother of the two children killed by their father in Ballycotton, Co Cork in November has told an inquest of her heartbreak at the events. Una Butler said she never could have imagined her husband John – who was being treated for depression – could have acted in a way that would kill daughters Zoe and Ella.
3. #JUDGES: Not only are the country’s judges facing pay cuts after October’s referendum, but some of them are facing financial meltdown over failed property deals. The Irish Independent reports that 10 judges will struggle to service their loans – despite being among Europe’s best paid.
4. #CANBERRA: An 18-year-old has been charged in connection with the assault that has left an Irish citizen fighting for his life in Australia. Daniel Byrne did not enter a plea at his court hearing and has been remanded in custody ahead of another hearing on Friday, ABC Australia reports. Timothy McCarthy, 41, remains in hospital.
5. #FAMINE: The first batch of aid from Ireland has arrived in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu, as humanitarian agencies warn that up to 800,000 children could now face death from starvation in the horn of Africa. The UN is preparing its own aircraft laden with food to bring to the city.
6. #NORWAY: Police in Norway have destroyed a cache of explosives on a farm being rented by Anders Behring Breivik. It’s reported that the cache was comprised largely of fertiliser – adding to the theory that Breivik had opened an agricultural supplies business as a front for securing large quantities of the substance to use as an explosive. This morning Oslo’s central station was temporarily evacuated after a suspect suitcase was identified.
7. #SUPERQUINN: The Musgrave group has set aside a €10m fund to help pay bills to Superquinn suppliers who could otherwise struggle to get their arrears back. The fund should cover around 70 per cent of the suppliers’ losses.
8. #GUESTS: RTÉ spent more hiring guests for Brendan O’Connor’s Saturday Night Show than it did for its flagship Late Late Show last year. The Irish Sun’s figures show that Montrose spent over €135,000 hiring guests for O’Connor’s programme – compared to just under €130,000 for Ryan Tubridy’s Friday night offering.
9. #SCOOBY SNACKS: 134 days after the earthquake that rocked Christchurch, some new survivors have been found: some goldfish. Shaggy and Daphne (named after the Scooby Doo characters) manage to live without feeding for over four months – having lived either off algae in the tank, or by eating some of their fishy companions.
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