LAST UPDATE | 23 Dec 2025

GOOD MORNING, AND happy Christmas Eve Eve. 

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

National security

1. Micheál Martin has said there has been too much “squeamish debate” around Ireland working with NATO other countries’ military forces. 

In an interview with The Journal, the Taoiseach said Ireland should not be afraid of mutually beneficial co-operation with other nations, particularly amid the heightened threat posed to Europe by Russia. 

Late-night trains

2. Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien has told The Journal he is in talks with Iarnród Eireann about expanding late-night rail services beyond the Christmas and New Year festive period.

Daniel Aruebose

3. A woman in her 20s who was arrested yesterday in connection with the death of Daniel Aruebose has been released without charge.

Frosty relations

4. Donald Trump has reiterated that the United States needs Greenland for “national security” after his appointment of a special envoy to the Danish autonomous territory triggered a new spat with Copenhagen.

Weight-loss drugs

5. The pill version of the popular weight-loss drug Wegovy has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, according to Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk.

Bondi Beach

6. The Australian state of New South Wales is set to approve sweeping laws cracking down on guns and giving authorities the power to ban protests after the nation’s deadliest mass shooting in decades.

Mary Lou McDonald

7. During an end-of-year interview with The Journal, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the upcoming by-elections Galway West and Dublin Central will be “a referendum on the government” and on what she terms their failures in healthcare, housing and their “inability to respond to the cost of living crisis”.

Housing

8. Just 30% of the government’s new-build social homes target was met in the first nine months of the year, according to Department of Housing figures.

RIP

9. Singer Chris Rea, known for hits including Driving Home For Christmas, has died at the age of 74.