LAST UPDATE | 23 Aug 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

CAMHS service

1. In our lead story this morning, Eimer McAuley reports that nurses within the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) are concerned after Trinity College Dublin cancelled its specialist MSc in children’s mental health this year in light of staffing shortages.

Trinity College has said it “very much regrets” having to suspend the “important course”, but it hasn’t been able to find specialist teaching staff to run it this year, as mental health is an area under “significant stress”. 

While the HSE has claimed that the suspension of the course will not pose further recruitment problems for CAMHS, nurses told The Journal that it is the desired qualification for a host of specialist positions, and that there are few equivalent courses on offer in Ireland. 

Pub closures

2. Irish pub closures are accelerating with an average of 152 pub closures annually since 2019, according to new figures from the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland. 

The analysis shows a decline of 1,937 (22.5%) of pubs in Ireland since 2005.

Limerick, Roscommon, Cork and Laois saw the largest percentage reduction in the number of pubs in that 18-year period.  

Ironman

3. The organisers of the Ironman race in Cork where two men died at the weekend are in dispute with the sport’s governing body over whether it was informed of the decision not to sanction the swim race before it had taken place.

Triathlon Ireland is insisting that it informed organisers beforehand that it could not sanction the race, which the organisers have rejected. 

Maui wildfires

4. At least 1,100 people are still missing two weeks after deadly wildfires ravaged the Hawaiian island of Maui, with the FBI seeking family members’ help in identifying the remains of the dead.

The fires were the deadliest to hit the United States in a century, claiming at least 115 lives, according to the latest provisional death toll.

Donald Trump

5. The first co-defendants in the election racketeering case targeting former US president Donald Trump have surrendered to the authorities in Georgia.

It came as candidates vying for the US Republican party’s nomination for the next presidential election took part in their first televised debate in the early hours of this morning, Irish time – but without Trump.

The frontrunner declined to participate in the live Fox News debate. 

Iceland protest

6. Waterford store have staged a sit-in over claims that the store is set to close.

According to a sign placed on the front of the store by workers yesterday evening, staff were informed of a “forced closure” with “only 30 minutes notice”.  

Ferry route closure

7. Ferry giant P&O has announced plans to close its Dublin-Liverpool route towards the end of the year.

It will be axed due to the unavailability of a berth in the Merseyside city for next year, the company said.

Rose of Tralee

8. New York Rose Róisín Wiley has been crowned the Rose of Tralee for 2023.

In his dispatch from the festival, Carl Kinsella writes that it’s essentially “a celebration of normal people doing their best” and that “If you want drama and scandal, you have come to the wrong place.” 

Womb transplant 

9. A woman has been given a womb by her older sister in the UK’s first uterus transplant.

The 34 year old received the organ during an operation lasting nine hours and 20 minutes at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford.