LAST UPDATE | 24 Oct 2025

GOOD MORNING, AND happy polling day. 

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

Voting

1. Today is the day this country will elect its 10th Uachtarán na hÉireann.

We have a guide on how to vote in today’s election and what you need to know as you go to your polling station.

Fine Gael

2. Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly has said the way he was put back in his box by his party when seeking the presidential nomination was the lowest point in his political career.

Speaking to The Journal ahead of polling day, he said he has “mixed emotions” about the party’s campaign over the last number of weeks, stating that clearly he would have liked to be the chosen candidate.

Gold medal

3. Ireland’s Lara Gillespie stormed to gold in the Elimination race at the UCI Track World Championships in Chile last night.

Gillespie, the reigning European champion in the event, beat Great Britain’s Katie Archibald in a pulsating sprint finish to seal World Championship gold in Santiago.

From the outside

4. Returning to the Áras election, Cáit Caden – who currently lives in Canada – writes that the Irish abroad should have the right to vote for their president. 

Trump tariffs

5. In the US, Donald Trump has said he’s ending all trade talks with Canada over an anti-tariff advertising campaign that used the voice of former US president Ronald Reagan.

War in Ukraine

6. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is heading to London for a meeting of its key backers, where British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he will call on Europe to deliver more long-range missiles.

Saggart

7. Back at home, a protest at the entrance to an Ipas centre in Citywest concluded peacefully last night after two previous nights of unrest.

Crude relations

8. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the latest US sanctions targeting two major oil firms were “serious”, as Lithuania said two Russian planes violated its airspace.

Children’s literature

9. The Booker Prize has announced that it is launching its first award for children’s fiction.