LAST UPDATE | 8 Apr
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our main story this morning, Eoghan Dalton reports that lecturers voted to express alarm at the direction of Ireland’s Technological Universities (TUs), amid a raft of conference motions calling for urgent action to reverse the sector’s funding struggles.
During the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) annual congress in Killarney this past week, staff spoke to The Journal in stark terms about a “sinking feeling” over the future of the nascent sector.
They also spoke of concern that courses, often from smaller campuses, are being scrapped without consultation with staff.
2. Israeli leaders are preparing for military operations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where most of the Palestinian territory’s population has fled after six months of fighting.
Talks in Cairo aimed at brokering a truce have made “significant progress”, with more negotiations expected in the coming days, Egyptian state-linked outlet Al-Qahera reported today.
Israel pulled its forces out of the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, but Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said troops had left the city of Khan Younis “to prepare for future missions, including… in Rafah”.
3. Today is Leo Varadkar’s last day as Taoiseach and he will spend it at the first North-South Ministerial Council in nearly three years.
The council was set up under the Good Friday Agreement to develop cross-border co-operation between ministers in the North and the Republic.
It is the council’s first meeting since July 2021 as no meetings took place while powersharing was on hold in Northern Ireland.
4. Staying with the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar has responded to comments made by former Dublin Bay South TD Kate O’Connell who described his decision to stand down as the “end of a dark enough chapter in my life”.
O’Connell told The Journal that Varadkar was a “barrier to re-entry” into Fine Gael.
5. Russian strikes on Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region have killed three people today, in a second day of deadly attacks on the area, its governor has said.
The strike on the rural area came a day after three people were killed in a Russian attack on the town of Gulyaipole.
6. A man has been charged following the seizure of an estimated €135,000 worth of suspected cannabis and cocaine in Dublin last week.
He will appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice at 10.30am today.
7. Gardaí are appealing for witnesses after a fire at a house in Mulhuddart and the alleged assault of a woman.
Emergency services responded to reports of a fire at a residential property in Parslickstown Court in Mulhuddart at around 4.30am on Sunday morning.
8. Mayo cruised to victory in Gaelic Park last night as they had fifteen points to spare over New York in their Connacht football championship opener.
Kevin McStay’s team triumphed 2-21 to 2-6 against New York in the provincial quarter-final, with Ryan O’Donoghue and Cillian O’Connor both finding the net.
9. The west coast will be the best place to witness a partial solar eclipse in Ireland tonight, according to Astronomy Ireland.
The non-profit astronomy society said the moon will start passing in front of the sun at 7.55pm.
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