EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the five stories you need to know before you head out the door.
1. #ABORTION: Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he hopes to publish the draft legislation on abortion this evening, and is still hopeful that the new law can be enacted before the Oireachtas breaks for the summer. The Taoiseach said the legislation based on the 1992 X Case will give ‘legal clarity and certainty’. Earlier the Cabinet meeting was adjourned before agreement was reached on legislation.
2. #JOBSWATCH: Food company Glanbia is to create up to 1600 direct and indirect new jobs in a major investment in a dairy facility on the border between Kilkenny and Waterford. The new plant will also create 450 construction jobs when building work begins next month. The plant is due to be completed in spring 2015.
3. #BUS ÉIREANN: Staff at Bus Éireann are to ballot for strike action after management confirmed a number of changes to pay and conditions at the company. Bus Éireann said it is implementing recommendations from the Labour Court in a bid to save €9 million, while SIPTU says it is already sending out ballots to its 900 members about industrial action.
4. #APRIL JONES: The man accused of abducting and murdering 5-year-old April Jones has appeared in court today as the prosecution set out its case. Mark Bridger, 47, is charged with unlawfully disposing of and concealing her body with intent to pervert the course of justice. Bridger has pleaded not guilty to all charges and says he cannot remember what happened to the child -which the prosecution has described as a ‘cruel game’.
5. #CRIME STATS: Newly-released crime figures from the Central Statistics office show sexual offences, robbery and burglary offences have all increased significantly over the past five years, while homicides have dropped by more than half. Separately, the Garda Commissioner has rubbished claims that crime figures are being ‘massaged’, after a group representing Gardaí said crimes were not being registered correctly.
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