GOOD MORNING.

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

The UCD case

1. A UCD student’s alleged rape and the circulation of a photo of her shocked the country. This week she was arrested over alleged deception of the university.

This morning, The Journal sets out a timeline of this story to date. 

Meath

2. A 25-year-old law student was granted bail after appearing in court charged with possession of explosives.

Isobella Perrie Sullivan, of Abbeylands Park, Clane in Co Kildare, appeared before a special sitting of Trim District Court in Co Meath on Friday evening after a bomb was intercepted in a car near the Irish border.

A-rated

3. The most energy-efficient homes command a premium of close to €100,000 over less-efficient properties.

That’s according to the latest housing market report from Geowox, an Irish property-tech start-up that provides automated property valuation models.

Hosepipe ban

4. The whole country is now under a hosepipe ban, which will last for just under six weeks.

Yet Ireland is normally a very wet country, with an average of 700mm to 1,400mm of rain falling every year.

So what has happened to all of this water, and how come we can no longer do things like fill up our paddling pools and water our gardens with a hosepipe?

White House Correspondents’ Association dinner

5. Donald Trump said the media are “all going to be broke” when he was no longer in the White House as “there’s not going to be anybody to report on”.

As well as poking fun at the press, with whom he has a fractious relationship, the US president also joked about running for a third term and donned a red “Trump 2028” cap during his speech to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which had to be rescheduled after the previous event was cut short when a gunman opened fire.

Los Angeles

6. The teenage girl allegedly killed and dismembered by American singer D4vd had an abortion after their sexual encounter, according to text messages revealed Friday in a Los Angeles court.

D4vd is accused of stabbing Celeste Rivas Hernandez to death a little over a year later in April 2025, before dismembering her body with a chainsaw.

Karim Kahn

7. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was removed from office, nearly two years after sexual misconduct allegations against him first emerged.

By a large majority, the ICC’s 125 member states ousted British barrister Karim Khan for “serious misconduct and serious breach of duty”, the court’s oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties, said in a statement.

St Joseph’s Centre

8. Members of trade union Siptu voted in favour of 72-hour strike action at a dementia care facility in Dublin after a “lack of progress in talks with management”.

St Joseph’s Centre in Shankill, Co Dublin, is the country’s largest care home dedicated solely to dementia care.

Taser pilot

9. An Garda Síochána expanded its taser pilot to Limerick from 7am this morning.

Last December, gardaí launched a pilot in stations Store Street, Pearse Street, and Kevin Street in Dublin, and Waterford.