LAST UPDATE | 23 Jun 2020

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #CHILDCARE: Early Childhood Ireland will today tell the Oireachtas special committee on Covid-19 that uncertainty in the childcare sector is having a “profoundly stressful impact” on childcare providers. 

2. #BUSINESS: Ibec, the group that represents Irish business, has said a significant number of SMEs will collapse this year unless there is a dramatic intervention.

3. #VISAS: US President Donald Trump will prolong a ban on US employment permits, including J1 visas, to the end of 2020 and broaden it to include the H1-B visas used widely in the tech industry, the White House has confirmed.

4. #COVID-19: Men appear to produce higher levels of Covid-19 antibodies than women, UK figures suggest.

5. #CONTACLESS: Almost €600 million was spent by consumers using contactless payments  in Ireland in May – the highest monthly total to date in 2020.

6. #WET WIPES: Irish researchers have found that half of wet wipe brands analysed as part of a study into pollution contained microplastic fibres despite being labelled as “flushable”.

7. #HEALTH: Over half of Irish 17-year-olds are categorised as having ‘unhealthy’ lifestyles, according to the Growing up in Ireland survey.

8. #HIGH COURT: A businessman has claimed before the High Court that a former developer is using the firm of criminal Martin ‘The Viper’ Foley to try to collect a disputed debt from him of more than €100,000.

9. #NORTH KOREA: A South Korean group has launched hundreds of thousands of leaflets by balloon across the border with North Korea, despite Pyongyang repeatedly warning it that it will retaliate against such actions.

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