LAST UPDATE | 31 Dec 2019

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #SEX ABUSE IMAGES: Gardaí have cut the backlog of material due to be assessed as part of child sex abuse investigations in half over the last three years.

2. #ORGAN DONATION: The mother of an infant organ donor makes public appeal for people to sign up to the programme.

3. #MUGGING: Gangs are once again targeting Christmas revellers this year – gardaí have tips on how to stay safe.

4. #AOIFE MULALLY: A senior gynaecologist at the Coombe Maternity Hospital in Dublin has been appointed as the new clinical lead for termination of pregnancy services in the HSE. 

5. #WINNERS AND LOSERS: From Eoghan Murphy to Pearse Doherty, 2019 was a year of differing fortunes for our politicians. Here we take a look back at the political year that was.

6. #RUDY AWAKENING: Rudy Giuliani’s of Irish-American concerns was “skimpy” while his New York Mayoral campaign showed “a certain ineptitude”, according to an internal Irish Government report from 1989. 

7. #UKRAINE: Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo will travel to Ukraine ahead of Donald Trump’s trial in the Senate over allegations he sought to push Kiev to investigate a political rival.

8. #DRUGS: Over €150k worth of heroin was seized in Dublin yesterday.

9. #AUSTRALIA: Two more people have died as wildfires continue to rage.