LAST UPDATE | 6 Jan 2022
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. Gay rights
In our lead story this morning, Órla Ryan reports that a working group tasked with examining how the Irish State could exonerate gay men charged with convictions under laws that have since been repealed is due to submit a progress report to the Government later this month.
The group’s final report is due to be published in Q3 of this year, possibly paving the way for the exoneration process to begin before the end of 2022, The Journal has confirmed.
Hundreds of gay men were charged in the 20th century under legislation that no longer exists. Homosexuality was decriminalised in Ireland on 24 June 1993.
There have been renewed calls for such convictions to be quashed after the British Home Office announced that a pardons scheme in the UK will be extended to cover all gay sex convictions imposed under laws that have since been repealed.
2. Schools
Primary and secondary school students are back in classrooms today amid widespread concerns over staff shortages due to Covid-19 infections and close contacts.
With the coronavirus disease highly prevalent in communities, principals of schools across the country have warned that significant numbers of teachers, special needs assistants and non-teaching staff will not be available due to having Covid-19 or being identified as a close contact.
Teachers’ unions also flagged problems; the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) noted that up to 8,000 teachers are expected to be absent today while the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) said up to 50% of member teachers will not be available due to Covid.
3. Novak Djokovic
Australia has agreed to delay Novak Djokovic deportation until Monday at least, his lawyers have said following a court appearance today.
The tennis world number one is fighting against his deportation after the government revoked his visa for failing to meet Covid vaccine-entry requirements.
The vaccine-sceptic Serb was stopped by border officials on arrival to Australia late yesterday and denied entry into the country.
He is currently being held at an immigration detention facility in Melbourne.
4. Golfgate
Back in Ireland, the case against two prominent politicians and two hoteliers over their alleged role in organising the ‘Golfgate’ dinner during Covid restrictions last year will get underway later today.
The case will be heard at Galway District Court over the next two days.
5. Covid Digital Certs
Updated EU Covid passes are to be issued to people from tonight to reflect those who have received a Covid-19 booster vaccine.
Minister of State Ossian Smyth said that almost 5 million Covid certs had been issued by his Department to date, and that the Irish Government would begin to issue the updated certs to people from tonight, after Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said they would be issued from “later this week”.
6. “Gay cake” case
A ruling is set to de delivered today in the long-running so-called “gay cake” case at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg.
Northern Ireland gay rights activist Gareth Lee referred his case to the ECHR after a UK Supreme Court ruled that he was not discriminated against when the Christian owners of a Belfast bakery refused to make him a cake iced with the slogan “Support Gay Marriage”.
7. Ghislaine Maxwell
In the US, prosecutors have urged the judge who presided over the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell to conduct an inquiry into a juror’s reported claims that he was a victim of sexual abuse.
In interviews published by The Independent and the Daily Mail, one juror in the case described a moment during the deliberations when he told fellow jurors that, like some of Epstein’s victims, he had been sexually abused as a child.
And he said he convinced other jurors that a victim’s imperfect memory of sex abuse does not mean it did not happen.
8. Italy
The Italian Government has said that it would make vaccination against Covid-19 compulsory from 15 February for everyone over the age of 50, in a bid to battle surging infections.
The new decree obliges people over 50 who do not work to get vaccinated, and those who do work to obtain a vaccine pass – which effectively covers all over 50s.
9. Grammys
The organisation behind the Grammy Awards yesterday postponed the music awards scheduled for 31 January due to “uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant” of Covid-19 that has ripped through the United States in recent weeks.
“Holding the show on January 31 simply contains too many risks,” a statement from the Recording Academy said, adding it would announce a rescheduled date “soon.”
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