LAST UPDATE | 31 Jan 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

1. Irish doctors emigrating

In our main story this morning, Gráinne Ní Aodha reports that the number of Irish doctors granted visa applications to work in Australia has increased significantly this year, as experts and medical professionals criticised poor working conditions in the Irish healthcare system.

According to new figures, the number of visa applications granted by Australia to Irish doctors rose to 391 last year, compared with 332 visa applications granted the previous year, and 272 visa applications granted in 2018.

That represents a 44% increase in three years.

2. Childcare during Covid

This month, as part of The Good Information Project, we asked readers to get in contact to share their experiences of childcare since the pandemic started in early 2020 and what changes they would like to see happen.

The most common issues among those who got in touch were affordability, availability, and the mental strain that it puts on families.

Others who struggled to find appropriate childcare told us of the strain that working from home while minding children had on both their careers and mental health.

3. Brexit

Boris Johnson has set out plans to capitalise on Brexit and is expected to move forward with the levelling up agenda this week as he awaits the findings of the highly anticipated “partygate” report.

Two years to the day since the UK left the EU, the British Government has launched a new “Brexit Freedoms” Bill as part of a drive it claims will “cut £1 billion of red tape” for businesses.

4. Ryanair

Ryanair missed its targets in December after the spread of Omicron forced governments to reimpose restrictions on international travel.

The business said it had carried 11.3 million passengers in October and 10.2 million in November.

But despite the holidays, just 9.5 million passengers travelled with Ryanair in December, far below its 11 million target.

5. Bloody Sunday

President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Micheál Martin paid tribute to those who died on Bloody Sunday as several events took place to mark the 50th anniversary of the massacre.

Thousands of people today attended a commemoration event in Derry to remember those who died as a result of the massacre on 30 January 1972. Thirteen people died on the day itself and a fourteenth person died a few months later.

6. Spotify

Music streaming giant Spotify announced yesterday that it was planning to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about Covid-19, after artists pulled their songs from the platform in anger at misinformation.

The artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, last week demanded that Spotify remove their music or drop podcaster Joe Rogan after a call from medical professionals to prevent Rogan from promoting “several falsehoods about Covid-19 vaccines”.

7. North Korea

North Korea has confirmed it test-launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of reaching the US territory of Guam in the North’s most significant weapon launch in years.

Sunday’s launch could be a prelude to bigger provocations by North Korea such as nuclear and long-range missile tests that pose a direct threat to the US mainland, as the North tries to further pressure the Biden administration and react to potential further sanctions.

8. Housing

There should be a move to more European-style, apartment based living within Dublin, a top Dublin City Council city planner has said.

John O’Hara, City Planning Officer with DCC told The Journal that there needs to be a quality densification of Dublin City, as part of efforts to reduce urban sprawl and ensure the city remains sustainable.

9. Quiz

Ireland and our patch of the Atlantic Ocean were thrust into the international spotlight this week.

As tensions grow over the Russian military build-up around Ukraine, the former’s navy planned some exercises involving live ammunition in Ireland’s oceanic backyard.

Russia has since agreed to move the exercises outside of Ireland’s exclusive economic zone.

But all this is happening in one spot of a massive, diverse, and sometimes overfished ocean – let’s see how much you know about it.