LAST UPDATE | 28 Dec 2024

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

1. Fatal crashes

Two elderly pedestrians are dead following separate crashes in Leinster.

A woman in her seventies died after she was hit by a car while walking in Co Carlow yesterday evening, while a man in his 60s died following a collision in Co Meath.

2. Sinn Féin

Caroline Dwane-Stanley, whose TD husband Brian left Sinn Féin amid a surprise controversy that grabbed headlines earlier this year, has announced that she has left the party.

The Laois county councillor said she was leaving over how “the party leadership dealt with the controversy”, further accusing it of not making contact with her in the past five months.

3. State papers

Ireland warned the US that labelling the Real IRA a terrorist organisation might encourage more people to join the paramilitary group, newly released documents show.

The issue was a talking point during Bertie Ahern’s visit to Washington DC in March 2001.

4. StakeKnife

Revelations surrounding the double agent Stakeknife left republicans “paralysed and damaged”, more freshly released confidential records have shown.

Stakeknife, who is widely believed to be the late Freddie Scappaticci, was the IRA’s highest-ranking agent for many years, overseeing the torturing and murdering of informants.

Papers made public this month shed new light on private conversations between British and Irish officials about the controversy.

5. Murder investigation

5. Police in Northern Ireland have named a deceased man whose death is the subject of a murder investigation in Newtownards, Co Down.

A murder investigation has been launched after 50-year-old Mark Dorrian was found unconscious in a flat on Thursday.

6. Yemen airport bombing

The senior UN official for humanitarian aid in Yemen, who narrowly dodged an aerial bombing raid by Israel on Sanaa’s airport, has flatly denied that the facility had any military purpose.

Israel had claimed that it was targeting “military infrastructure” in Thursday’s raids and that targets around the country were used by Houthis to “smuggle Iranian weapons” and bring in senior Iranian officials – a claim strongly rejected by the UN official.

7. Freeman’s Journal

Historian Felix M Larkin looks at the Freeman’s Journal, a newspaper that survived for decades.

He outlines how it was an integral part of Irish life and the struggle for greater independence from the British crown, before losing pace with competitors as independence grew closer.

8. Rugby

Leinster seized a bonus-point win over Munster at Thomond Park, ensuring some post-Christmas blues for their domestic rivals.

9. Premier League

Arsenal moved into second place in the Premier League table with a 1-0 win over Ipswich Town at the Emirates thanks to a Kai Havertz goal.

The Gunners’ victory takes them back to within six points of leaders Liverpool, having played one match more than the Reds, and a point clear of Chelsea following their Boxing Day defeat to Fulham.