GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
War on drugs
1. In our lead story this morning, Garreth MacNamee reports that intimidation, overt dealing and drug use near play areas and schools are the result of a drug crisis among Ireland’s youth which activists believe is worsening.
While gardaí are cracking down on both drug dealing and drug use taking place outside some secondary schools, campaigners and addiction specialists have called for drugs to be decriminalised and treated as a public health issue instead of a criminal one.
Cocaine, cannabis and heroin are suspected of being sold and used outside schools in pockets of Dublin, according to security sources.
The issue has become so problematic that Dublin City Council has set up a sub-committee to address the problem of people using drugs on school grounds.
Ukraine
2. A Russian-announced ceasefire is due to begin today at the besieged steel plant in the devastated Ukrainian city of Mariupol, to allow civilians to flee even as its defenders vowed to fight to the end.
The three-day halt in Russia’s attack on the Azovstal steelworks was announced as EU member states debated a proposed ban on Russian oil, the bloc’s toughest move yet over Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
“The Russian armed forces will open a humanitarian corridor from 8.00am to 6.00pm Moscow time (6.00am to 4.00pm Irish time) on 5, 6 and 7 May from the site of the Azovstal metallurgical plant to evacuate civilians,” the Russian defence ministry said.
Stormont
3. Voting is underway in the Northern Ireland Assembly election.
The process is taking place amid speculation of a potentially seismic result.
The DUP and Sinn Féin are vying for the top spot which comes with the entitlement to nominate the next First Minister.
Dublin
4. A man is in hospital after receiving burn injuries when he was allegedly set alight during a violent dispute in Dublin this evening.
At 5.15pm gardaí and other emergency services went to Thornton Heights in Dublin 8 where they found the man injured.
Courts
5. A man has been charged in with connection with a fatal assault in Kilkenny on Tuesday.
The man (20s) will appear before Carlow District Court this morning at 10.30am.
New York
6. In the US, rapper Kidd Creole who was a founding member of Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for stabbing a homeless man to death on a New York City street.
The 62-year-old rapper, born Nathaniel Glover, was found guilty of manslaughter last month for the death of John Jolly, who was stabbed twice in the chest with a steak knife in midtown Manhattan in August 2017.
Tap tap tap
7. Back in Ireland, debit card payments on buses could be in place late next year after it was confirmed that the National Transport Authority (NTA) had launched a tendering process for the new system.
The new system would “dynamically update” so that the fare charged to the customer would depend on the frequency of use, as is the case with some services with the Leap Card.
Russian rally
8. The Office of Public Works has said that it will not be granting permission to a Russian V Day rally in the Phoenix Park this weekend.
The event was planned to take place at the Papal Cross in Phoenix Park on 8 May, with concerns being raised by both Minister Eamon Ryan and Ukrainians living in Ireland.
Healthcare
9. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital to land owned by the Sisters of Charity religious order effectively amounts to public ownership.
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions yesterday, he said: “It’s now 300-year lease at a tenner a year. That’s what the agreement says. And to me, that is public ownership.”
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