LAST UPDATE | 9 Sep 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Queen Elizabeth II death

1. Britain’s monarch Queen Elizabeth II has died aged 96.

Buckingham Palace confirmed the death of Britain’s longest-serving monarch yesterday evening, saying she died “peacefully” at Balmoral.

The flag at Buckingham Palace was lowered to half mast at 6.30pm. BBC One played the British national anthem following the announcement, showing a photograph of Elizabeth Windsor, followed by a royal crest on a black background and the words Queen Elizabeth II.

Charles becomes king 

2. After spending virtually his whole life as heir apparent 73-year-old Charles Windsor has finally become the UK’s king.

Born on 14 November 1948, Charles became heir to the throne at the young age of three years and three months.

As the queen’s eldest son, Charles inherited the sovereign title and job as head of the Commonwealth, along with hundreds of millions of pounds worth of assets, such as land and property.

An Accession Council – a ceremonial body which meets on the death of a monarch – will meet to proclaim him king. The ceremony will take place at St James’s Palace in central London.

Tallaght funeral

3. The funeral will be held later today for three siblings who were killed at their home in Tallaght, Dublin.

Lisa Cash, 18, and her eight-year-old twin siblings Christy and Chelsea Cawley will be laid to rest at Bohernabreena Cemetery following their funeral mass at St Aidan’s Church in Brookfield at 10am.

A large crowd of mourners gathered yesterday evening as their remains were brought to the church by horse-drawn carriage.

The siblings died after an incident at their home on Rossfield Avenue in Tallaght in the early hours of Sunday.

Fine Gael think-in

4. Fine Gael’s think-in kicks off in Kilkenny today where the focus will be on how the party “can stand up for working people”, it is understood. 

With budget day just over two weeks away, Fine Gael ministers, TDs and senators are expected to push for significant measures to tackle the rising cost-of-living and skyrocketing energy bills. 

Pressure is mounting on Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader to push for a bumper budget with unprecedented measures to help people with rising costs, however, concerns have been raised about spending too much too soon. 

EU energy talks

5. EU energy ministers will today attempt to forge a united response to the energy shock from Russia’s war on Ukraine that has sent prices for electricity and heating skyrocketing. 

The European Commission, the EU’s executive, will ask the ministers meeting in Brussels to consider a series of highly complex proposals designed to ease the burden.

The main drive will be to find ways to compensate households and businesses that are struggling to pay their bills and keep activity going.

Financial issues

6. The vast majority of Irish people are worse off financially than they were a year ago, a worrying new survey has found. 

Research conducted by Red C on behalf of The Journal found that 76% of people are in a more difficult financial position than they were last year. 

This is especially high among older people, parents and people who live outside of Leinster. 

Courts

7. Two teenage boys have been found guilty of attacking a Chinese woman who was shoved into a canal in Dublin after challenging a group of youths about racial taunts.

Video footage went viral on social media site TikTok of the woman remonstrating with boys who laughed as she was suddenly knocked into the Royal Canal in Dublin 15, on the evening of 14 August, 2020.

The two boys, now 16, were charged with assaulting Xeudan Xiong, 50, at the 12th Lock, Castleknock. They were aged 14 at the time.

Garth Brooks

8. Garth Brooks will finally kick off the first of his five concerts in Croke Park this evening.

There has been much anticipation ahead of the concerts, after a scheduled five-night run in Croker was infamously denied permission to go ahead in 2014. Tonight will be his first performance in Ireland since 1997. 

Over 400,000 people are expected to dust off their stetsons and head to the stadium to see the five shows, in what organisers have said is “probably the biggest cultural event in Ireland in the history of music”.

CAO points

9. The first round of of CAO placements were published yesterday, offering 85,894 places in college, university or another educational institution to 57,296 applicants. 

This represents a rise of more than 2,000 in the number of applicants receiving an offer compared with last year. The number of people receiving an offer for their first preference course also rose.

At Level 8 more than half (54%) of offers are for the applicant’s first preference and 82% of offers are for one of their top three preferences, an increase on last year’s figure of 79%.