LAST UPDATE | 1 Sep 2021
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. As Cabinet agreed this week to a “new phase” in Ireland’s pandemic experience, ministers were closely watching the rising cases in countries that have moved more quickly to ease Covid restrictions, Michelle Hennessy writes in today’s lead story.
The government yesterday announced four key dates for the lifting of restrictions, with a plan to lift almost all measures on 22 October.
This will mean the return of large live indoor events and a phased move back into offices – not to mention the return of music and dancing at weddings.
2. In a speech yesterday evening, Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced the plan for the final easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
“The evidence is clear and incontrovertible – your effort and your sacrifice has saved lives,” Martin said in a speech yesterday evening.
He added: “Because of the effort of our vaccination team and because you have stepped up to the mark and taken the vaccine when it was offered, we are now entering a whole new phase of the pandemic.”
3. Sticking with the easing of restrictions, public transport services are allowed to fill all their seats today for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
As part of the latest stage of easing remaining Covid-19 restrictions decided by the government yesterday, public transport can now operate at 100% capacity.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) confirmed that buses, trams and trains would be returning to full capacity and that seats would no longer be blocked off to avoid people sitting too close together.
4. Ireland takes the presidency of the UN Security Council for 30 days from today, with the focus for the month expected to be on the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
During Ireland’s two-year term on the UN Security Council, it aims to put a focus on how conflict disproportionately affects women and girls, among other issues.
The UN Security Council presidency rotates between members of the Security Council each month, with Ireland taking the presidency role on from India.
5. US President Joe Biden has called the US airlift of more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan an “extraordinary success”, after the last US soldiers pulled out of the country.
“We completed one of the biggest airlifts in history,” Biden said.
“No nation has ever done anything like it in all of history; only the United States had the capacity and the will and ability to do it.”
6. Meanwhile, UK officials and the Taliban are in talks over how to secure “safe passage” out of Afghanistan for British nationals and Afghan allies.
Downing Street confirmed Sir Simon Gass, the Prime Minister’s special representative for Afghan transition, has travelled to Qatar and is meeting with “senior Taliban representatives” to stress the importance of allowing people to leave Afghanistan.
7. The World Organization (WHO) has said it is monitoring a new coronavirus variant known as ‘Mu‘, which was first identified in Colombia in January.
Mu, known scientifically as B.1.621, has been classified as a “variant of interest”, the global health body said on Tuesday in its weekly pandemic bulletin. The WHO said the variant has mutations that indicate a risk of resistance to vaccines and stressed that further studies were needed to better understand it.
8. After his bronze medal in the men’s hand-cycling H5 time trial on Tuesday, Portlaoise’s Gary O’Reilly narrowly missed out on adding another medal in the road race this morning. O’Reilly finished the 79.2km race in an impressive fourth place in a time of 2:24:57, just 17 seconds outside the medals, with Mitch Valize of the Netherlands completing a golden double following his time trial win.
In the field, Rio bronze medallist Niamh McCarthy finished fifth in a blisteringly competitive final of the women’s F41 discus. Cork’s McCarthy threw 28.94m with her final effort which wasn’t quite enough to take her past bronze medal winner Hayat El Garaa (29.30m) and on to the podium.
9. Met Éireann has released the list of winter storm names for 2021/2022. Met Éireann and the UK’s Met Office have worked together on the Storm Names partnership since 2014 to help raise awareness of the impacts of severe weather.
It is the third year the pair been joined by Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). The three weather services compile the list of names based off public suggestions.
Irish names included on this year’s list are Barra (Finbarr), Méabh, Pól and Seán.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say