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LAST UPDATE | 17 Jun 2025
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start the day.
1. Work began yesterday to excavate the site of a former mother and baby home in Tuam, where hundreds of children are believed to have been buried without a proper funeral or marked grave.
The Journal visited the town itself to hear from locals about how they were feeling on what is a significant day in the story of uncovering the abuses suffered by women and their children in Irish institutions.
2. US President Donald Trump warned residents in Tehran to “immediately evacuate” and left a G7 summit early as the conflict between Israel and Iran intensified.
After a new wave of Israeli strikes on Iran’s capital, including an attack on a state TV building which Iran said killed three people, both countries activated their missile defence systems overnight.
3. The Government plans to publish emergency legislation today to extend Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) across the entire country.
The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025 will extend the RPZs to all areas of the country until Feb 2026, ahead of the new rent controls coming in from 1 March.
4. Meanwhile, TDs from Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, the Green Party and People Before Profit have urged the public to take part in a housing protest outside Leinster House later today.
5. Accounting for housing costs when calculating the number of children living in poverty doubles the number of children technically classed as being “consistently poor”, new research from the ESRI has found.
6. A Garda union will tell politicians today that a “massive issue” remains in An Garda Síochána, with poor morale and little action being taken to address the issue.
7. Returning to the Middle East, Tánaiste Simon Harris will attend via video link a meeting of EU foreign ministers today to discuss the conflict between Israel and Iran and EU efforts “to de-escalate the situation”.
8. Former head of the HSE Paul Reid is expected to be named as the chairperson of An Coimisiún Pleanála, a new planning authority that will replace An Bord Pleanála.
9. A new law comes into effect from today, which will introduce an opt-out system of consent for organ donation in Ireland.
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