LAST UPDATE | 30 Aug 2024

GOOD MORNING.

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

Emigration

1. In our main story this morning, Eoghan Dalton reports on readers’ stories about why they emigrated from Ireland. 

It comes after the number of Irish people leaving Ireland reached its highest point in almost a decade, according to new figures from the CSO.

Many readers reported difficulties with trying to access more stable living arrangements, to a better quality of life, with one reader who is set to leave Ireland today saying: “I’m 42 years of age and have been waiting for my life to change for 10 years.”

US election

2. Kamala Harris has urged a ceasefire in Gaza, but said she would not change President Joe Biden’s policies for key US ally Israel, including deliveries of weaponry.

In her first interview since replacing Biden as the Democratic candidate in the US election, the US Vice President told CNN’s Dana Bash that she was “unwavering” in her support for Israel but that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”

Apple 

3. A ruling will be issued in the long-running case between the European Commission and Ireland over an alleged unpaid tax bill from technology firm Apple, of €13 billion, in the European Court of Justice on 10 September.

The case has been ongoing almost eight years and successive Irish governments and Apple have argued that the tax is not owed. The case has made its way to the highest court in Europe.

Ballina

4. Gardaí have arrested a man in relation to an incident of criminal damage at a property in Co Mayo.

On the telly

5. RTÉ has announced its new season, which includes programmes about Irish nature, sport, health, history and comedy.

Gaza

6. Israel has agreed to at least three days of “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza to allow for polio vaccines to be administered.

Pavel Durov

7. French President Emmanuel Macron has defended a decision to previously grant French nationality to Telegram chief Pavel Durov, who faces a possible trial related to illegal content carried on his popular messaging app.

National Childcare Scheme

8. Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman has said that two years of childcare should be a legal right as he outlined new subsidy rates for early education, which are set to come into effect from Monday.

UK smoking ban

9. A social media post by a Conservative MP has been branded as “repugnant” by the Board of Deputies of British Jews for likening the Labour Government’s proposed smoking ban to the Holocaust.