LAST UPDATE | 2 Feb 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

1. #OVERCROWDING: In our lead story this morning, Rónán Duffy reports that previous estimates about excess deaths caused by delays in Irish Emergency Departments (EDs) may be “significantly underestimated”.

It comes after new UK research, published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, outlined a statistically significant increase in mortality following ED waits over more than five hours. 

2. #RUSSIAN SHIPS: The Irish Defence Forces along with French, British and US naval forces have begun monitoring the movements of Russian ships en route to an exercise off the south coast. 

Sources have confirmed to The Journal that an Irish Air Corps aircraft was patrolling south of Cork yesterday.

The Russians have decided to transit through the English channel and will have to cross the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone to get to the new location for their naval drills. 

3. #CORONAVIRUS: Ireland is in a positive position with Covid-19 but the global public health risk remains high, an Oireachtas Committee will hear today. 

While Ireland’s current position has improved, more variants of concern are likely to emerge in the future, the Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan will explain. 

4. #LONGFORD: Gardaí have launched a probe into a developing feud in Longford town after a man was injured in a suspected attempted murder.

On Monday of last week, a video was shared on social media showing a white van driving through a green space in an estate and knocking down a man in the Ardnacassa area.

The man suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was brought by ambulance to Mullingar Hospital. 

5. #PENSION: The State pension should be retained at its current age of 66, the Social Protection Committee has recommended. 

It was confirmed in the publication of the Pension Commission report last October that the State pension age will rise by three months each year from 2028 until it hits 67 in 2031. 

One of the recommendations in the Pensions Commission report was that the State pension age should rise in quarterly increments to 67 between 2028 and 2031. 

6. #DOWNING STREET: Boris Johnson is under renewed pressure over lockdown parties in Downing Street, amid reports he attended more gatherings under investigation by the police.

The Daily Telegraph reported that he was seen heading up to his flat on the night of a gathering there which the Met is investigating.

The UK Prime Minister is also said to have spoken at two more leaving dos which are the subject of police inquiries.

7. #ECUADOR: The heaviest flooding to hit Ecuador in two decades has killed at least 22 people in Quito, inundating homes, swamping cars and sweeping away athletes and spectators on a sports field.

Video footage showed torrents of water carrying stones, mud and debris down streets in the Ecuadoran capital, as rescuers helped inhabitants wade through the fast-running currents to safety.

8. #GUINEA-BISSAU: The African Union is “deeply concerned” by an attempted coup that occurred in Guinea-Bissau this afternoon in the country’s capital.

Heavily-armed men surrounded the Palace of Government, where President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam were believed to have been to attend a Cabinet meeting.

9. #WHOOPI: Actress Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from the talk show she hosts for two weeks after saying that the Nazi genocide of six million Jews “was not about race.”

Despite an apology from the host of “The View” talk show, ABC News President Kim Godwin said she had decided it was not enough.

“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” Godwin said in a statement posted on the TV channel’s public relations Twitter account.