LAST UPDATE | 20 Jul 2023

GOOD MORNING. 

Here’s everything you need to know as you start your day.

The Girls in Green

1. In our main story this morning, Sinead O’Carroll speaks to Irish fans who have made the trip to Sydney to cheer on the women’s football team as they take on Australia in their World Cup opener. 

There will be about 75,000 people watching the game in a sold-out Stadium Australia at 8pm (11am Irish time), with a third of the crowd expected to be supporting the girls in green.

Auckland

2. Two people have been killed in a shooting in New Zealand after a gunman stormed a high-rise construction site in downtown Auckland, hours before the Women’s World Cup was due to kick off.

The gunman was found dead after a police shootout, during which an officer was shot and injured. Four civilians were also injured.

Threshold

3. Threshold has called on the Government to institute a scheme that would protect tenants who have issues getting their rental deposits back from landlords.

The housing charity received almost 200 requests for assistance in retrieving deposits in the second quarter of this year.

Ukraine

4. Russian strikes hit the Ukrainian port of Odesa for a third consecutive night since Moscow pulled out of a grain export deal, as Crimean authorities said a teenager had died in Kyiv’s latest attack on the peninsula.

At least 20 people were wounded following strikes on Odesa and the southern port city of Mykolaiv, local officials said, posting images showing buildings in flames with facades partially destroyed.

Housing

5. Households in Ireland do not generally spend more of their income on housing compared with other parts of Europe, a new study has found.

Research published today by the ESRI, funded by the Department of Housing, explores the housing affordability challenges faced in Ireland.

Celbridge

6. Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to come forward following a fatal road traffic collision that occurred on Tuesday night in Celbridge, Co Kildare.

The collision, which occurred at around 10.50pm, involved a truck and a car.

Smugglers

7. Since the war in Ukraine started, downed Russian military hardware such as armed drones have been discovered with Irish and other western country components, despite strict sanctions on exports to the Putin regime.

In recent weeks, another report has surfaced on social media that a part from another Irish company was found inside a downed Russian drone.

Trumped

8. A federal judge has rejected Donald Trump’s bid to move his hush money criminal case from New York state court to federal court.

US District Judge Alvin K Hellerstein ruled that lawyers for the former president had failed to meet a high legal bar for changing jurisdiction.

Hugh Lewis

9. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has condemned an attack on the family home of a councillor in which a rock was thrown through a window with a note telling him to “stop supporting” refugees.

Independent councillor for for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Hugh Lewis has said the rock was thrown through the window of the house on Monday night.