GOOD MORNING. 

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

Toll charges

1. In our morning lead this morning, Christina Finn reports that the government does not intend on reducing toll charges despite price hikes in fuel.

Pressure is mounting on the government to do more to help ease the rising cost of living, with yesterday seeing the largest annual increase in the Consumer Price Index since 1984, but a spokesperson for Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has ruled out a measure for toll charges.

LGBT+ groups to meet gardaí  

2. Representatives for LGBT+groups are to meet with gardaí next week to discuss recent homophobic attacks in Dublin.

Oisín O’Reilly, CEO of LGBT+ community resource centre and café Outhouse on Dublin’s Capel St, told The Journal that there has been a “very open conversation” among community leadership over the last number of weeks in the wake of recent incidents. 

Midlands Prison 

3. A man who was due to stand trial next week accused of murdering his wife and two children has been found dead in prison. 

The cause of death for Sameer Syed, who was found in his cell in Midlands Prison, is not yet known. 

Syed (38), of Grosvenor Lodge, Rathmines, Dublin 6, was charged with murdering his wife Seema Banu (37), his daughter Asfira Riza (11) and son Faizan Syed (6) at Llewellyn Court, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16 on 28 October 2020.

Protocol bill

4. It has been confirmed that the legislation which will attempt to override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol without the agreement of the European Union will be published on Monday.

The protocol ensures there is no hard border on the island of Ireland by Northern Ireland effectively remaining in the EU’s single market for goods. This has created checks on trade between Britain and Northern Ireland.

Capitol ‘coup’

5. The government panel investigating the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol have put the blame for the chaos firmly on former president Donald Trump.

The committee said the assault was not spontaneous but an “attempted coup” and a direct result of the defeated president’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Evidence has included a never-before-seen 12-minute video of the deadly violence and testimony from Trump’s most inner circle.

UK men in Ukraine 

6. The UK government has said the death sentence handed down to two British men fighting in Ukraine was a “sham”.

The men were accused of being “mercenaries” after fighting with Ukrainian troops while Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has insisted it has “absolutely no legitimacy” and will raise it with her Ukrainian counterpart later today.

Cavan road fatality 

7. A teenager has died following a collision involving a car and a lorry in Co Cavan last night.

The 17-year-old boy was seriously injured during the collision, which occurred on the N3 in Kilnalack at around 6pm yesteday evening, and later died in hospital. 

A woman in her 50s and man in his 40s were also taken to Cavan General Hospital to be treated for their injuries, which are understood to be serious but non-life threatening.

New work leave

8. A new ‘sick child leave’ and up to ten days domestic violence leave have been recommended as part of the proposed Work Life Balance Bill.

The Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth published its pre-legislative scrutiny report on the Bill, which aims to bring the European Union’s work-life balance directive into Irish law.

Ireland in the EU

9. What are the big challenges facing Ireland in its future with the EU? Contrasting visions have been put forward this year thanks to the war in Ukraine, so Alexander Conway, from the Institute of International and European Affairs, looks at the lay of the land.