GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.

€50 million aircraft

1. Our morning lead this morning is about government plans to buy a new cargo aircraft for the Irish Air Corps which would carry troops and vehicles to foreign military missions and rescue stranded Irish citizens.

Niall O’Connor reports that the deposit for the purchase was paid late last month by the Department of Defence and that the final cost could be in the region of €50 million. 

Fatal crash

2. A man and a horse are dead following a fatal collision on the N2  in Monaghan last night. 

The crash site remains closed this morning as Garda Forensic Collision Investigators will examine the scene later. Local traffic diversions are in place.

Paramedics at ‘breaking point’

3. The National Ambulance Service is at “breaking point” due to the winter surge with crews having to “wait hours on end to hand” over their patients, according to Siptu.

Representatives have called for Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to intervene.

New poll

3. Fresh polling suggests Fine Gael have regained some ground among voters following Leo Varadkar’s return as Taoiseach, although Sinn Féin remain the most popular party.

New Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks polling indicates Sinn Féin have dropped by two points to 32% while Fine Gael have increased by two points to 25%. Fianna Fáil remains in third place with a one point drop to 16%.

Bruna Fonseca

4. Gardaí have made a renewed appeal for information to assist their investigation into the death of Bruna Fonseca, who was found dead in a flat in Cork City on New Year’s Day.

In their latest statement, Gardaí have appealed for witnesses that were on Liberty Street, either on foot or in a car, between 4.30am and 6.30am on New Years Day. 

School shooting

5. A teacher who was critically injured when she was shot by a six-year-old pupil in class in the US is showing signs of improvement, authorities said.

The condition of the woman (30s) at Richneck Elementary School, Virginia is “trending in a positive direction” as she remains in hospital.

Kilmainham executions 

6. Today marks the centenary of the executions of five young former Free State soldiers who were condemned to death on charges of treason.

It also sees the opening today of an exhibition exploring the role of Kilmainham Gaol in Civil War state executions, which includes the last letters of one of these men, Sylvester Heaney, to ho on public display for the first time.  

It seems they had grown disillusioned with the Free State cause and had been secretly approached by members of a Leixlip-based anti-treaty flying column who to help attack the Airfield and seize the arms stored there.

Analysis 

7. Police in Northern Ireland will return today to the scene of Natalie McNally’s murder, three weeks on from her death.

McNally, 32, who was 15 weeks pregnant, was stabbed in her home in the Silverwood Green area of Lurgan, Co Armagh, on 18 December. 

Police said this weekend that they seized a car as part of their investigation. 

Rugby talent problems 

8. The coming departure of Munster out-half Ben Healy for Scotland has the IRFU concerned: might other young players follow suit?

The42 looks at whether Irish rugby has enough space for the talent it’s producing.