LAST UPDATE | 20 Oct 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Capel Street

1. Business owners on Dublin’s Capel Street have said that they feel as though the city council hasn’t achieved the street’s full potential since it became pedestrianised in May.

In the past five months a few tables and chairs, as well as some areas of coloured tarmac, have appeared on the street that was formerly bustling with southbound cars.

However this stretch of new tarmac ends abruptly in the middle of the street, making Capel Street’s new use appear “half developed,” according to one shop owner.

UK politics

2. Liz Truss’s Government is teetering on the brink of collapse after another chaotic day which saw the acrimonious resignation of her home secretary, mayhem in the Commons over a fracking vote and confusion over whether the Chief and Deputy Chief Whip had quit.

Irish politics

3. A political clash looks set to take place in mid-December, with a possible Northern Ireland Assembly election likely to occur on the same day as Leo Varadkar becomes Taoiseach.

It looks likely that both events will take place on 15 December.

4. Taoiseach Micheál Martin is travelling to Brussels this morning to attend an EU leaders summit, with both Ukraine and energy issues up for discussion.

Ukraine

5. Ukraine has urged residents to drastically restrict their electricity consumption starting to cope with the destruction of power stations by the Russian army as winter approaches.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after a meeting with energy companies that they were preparing “for all possible scenarios with a view to winter”, as Kyiv accused Moscow of orchestrating a “mass deportation” of civilians from the occupied region of Kherson.

Central Bank changes

6. Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has said the new mortgage lending rules will see more renters able to buy their own home. 

It comes a day after the Central Bank announced that the mortgage borrowing limit for first-time buyers is to increase to four times their gross income from January 2023. 

Sewage pumped into rivers

7. A report issued from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that Ireland is failing to adhere to wastewater guidelines set down by the EU with many of our rivers and lakes being pumped with poorly treated sewage.

Donald Trump

8. Former US President Donald Trump signed legal documents challenging the results of the 2020 election that included voter fraud claims he knew to be false, a federal judge has said.

US District Court Judge David Carter issued an 18-page opinion ordering that four emails between Trump and lawyer John Eastman be given to the House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Weather

9. After pouring rain, thunder and lightning yesterday, the weather looks set to pick up slightly this morning with drier conditions across the country.

According to Met Éireann, while there will be some showers, there will be sunny spells across the country.

The highest temperatures today are set to be between 15 and 18 degrees.