LAST UPDATE | 4 Jul 2024

GOOD MORNING. 

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

UK general election

1. The UK is going to the polls today in a general election that is widely expected to unseat the Conservative Party in favour of Labour.

Poll after poll ahead of this election has shown that the UK’s electorate is moving away from Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party and towards Keir Starmer’s Labour this time around.

In our main story this morning, Lauren Boland looks at what to watch out for as votes are cast.

West Clare

2. Twenty-one Ukrainian refugees, including six children, are to be relocated from their accommodation in Kilbaha on the Loop Head peninsula in West Clare to three different locations across the county, up to 100km away.

The majority of the 21 Ukrainian people have been staying in Loop Head Hotel in the West Clare village of Kilbaha, and have been there for 18 months.

ESRI

3. Covid-19 infection rates were more than a third higher in the most deprived areas than in more affluent areas of the country, new research suggests.

A new report published by the Economic and Social Research Institute, in collaboration with Pobal, examined the health impacts of the pandemic on people living in disadvantaged areas in Ireland.

Interest rates

4. Taoiseach Simon Harris has said he wants the cost of monthly repayments to fall “as quickly as they rose”. 

In a meeting between Harris, banks, credit unions and non-bank lenders, which was sought by the Taoiseach, the group discussed mortgages, the housing market, SMEs and farmers.

Hurricane Beryl

5. Hurricane Beryl has battered Jamaica’s southern coast with devastating winds and sea surge.

The Category 4 storm has left a trail of destruction in its path across the Caribbean, killing at least nine people as it has strengthened rapidly.

Media Committee

6. The TV licence fee should be abolished and replaced with Exchequer funding, the Oireachtas’ media committee has officially recommended. 

The recommendation does not mean the TV licence fee will certainly be abolished, as that decision is still subject to a report from the Government’s working group on reforming the TV licence fee.

Interview

7. Bláthnaid Raleigh, who saw her rapist jailed this week for eight years, has said she wants to see sports clubs committing to educational programmes focused on conduct and consent.

She said there is a “huge problem” in people feeling unwilling to call out inappropriate behaviour, thereby “breeding a culture” which can progress into dangerous and violent actions.

Front pages

8. Returning to the UK general election, the daily papers there have made their final pitch to voters as the public heads to the polls.

The Daily Express and Daily Mail are still backing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, while the Daily Mirror urges a vote for Labour.

Smoking

9. Legislation to increase the legal age at which tobacco can be bought from 18 to 21 is to be tabled in the Dáil today.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, who brought forward the legislation, will present the Public Health (Tobacco) Amendment Bill 2024 in Leinster House this afternoon.