LAST UPDATE | 12 Sep 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

1. Calls for expanded legal aid

Fianna Fáil’s Justice spokesperson Jim O’Callaghan has called for the government to “carefully consider and act upon” remarks made by a District Court judge in which he called for mandatory legal aid for all domestic violence cases.

Opposition justice spokespeople have also called for the legal aid income threshold to be revised, with Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordán pledging to raise Judge John Campbell’s remarks with Minister for Justice Helen McEntee when the Dáil resumes.

2. Landmark case

Google will confront a threat to its dominant search engine beginning today when federal regulators launch an attempt to dismantle its internet empire in the biggest US antitrust trial in a quarter century.

Over the next 10 weeks, federal lawyers and state attorneys general will try to prove Google rigged the market in its favour by locking its search engine in as the default choice in a plethora of places and devices.

3. HSE overspend

The Health Service Executive deficit is likely to hit at least €1bn this year, The Journal understands.

During the summer, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said large overspends in the Department of Health cannot continue. The rising deficit is set to create further tensions within Government, the Department and the HSE just one month out from the Budget.

4. Capel Street fire

One person died after a fire in Dublin city centre yesterday afternoon.

Gardaí and emergency services attended the scene of a fire on Capel Street around 4.30pm. A number of people were evacuated from the building.

5. Commission of Investigation

An inquiry examining allegations of a cover-up in the case of a convicted child abuser in Waterford has heard details of an alleged phone call between a monsignor and a former Fianna Fáil TD which aimed to “suppress accusations” emerging into the public domain.

The Commission of Investigation, which formed in 2019 but had only taken place in private until now, is querying whether various agencies and organisations prevented Bill Keneally getting charged at an earlier stage.

6. Headford Road brawl

Gardaí are investigating after a man and a woman were hospitalised after they were run over by a car that was “driving at speed” during a large brawl in a Galway city carpark involving multiple weapons.

Two men were also assaulted during the “serious public order incident” that occurred on the Headford Road in Galway Sunday evening at roughly 6.10 pm.

7. Turkey cave rescue

An international team of rescuers have pulled to safety a US explorer who spent nine days trapped deep in the narrow tunnels of a Turkish cave with internal bleeding.

“Mark Dickey was removed from the last exit of the cave,” the Turkish Caving Federation said, adding that the “cave rescue part of the operation has ended successfully”.

8. Additional funding

Managers of the country’s primary schools have appealed for additional funding to meet increases in energy, insurance, cleaning and waste disposal costs this winter, RTÉ reports.

State capitation funding for schools was increased last year by 40%. The measure was billed as a ‘once off’ cost of living increase, but primary schools say they will need this and an additional 10% rise in this year’s Budget.