EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day.
1. #ABORTION The deadlock over the draft abortion bill continues. The Irish Examiner says that Health Minister Dr James Reilly is ‘under fire’ from both Labour and Fine Gael over his level of consultation on the draft laws. The Irish Independent, meanwhile, says that the six doctor plan was always in the draft bill.
2. #WATERFORD CRYSTAL The European Court of Justice will rule this morning on whether the State will have to pay part of the pensions of Waterford Crystal employees, as the payments became insolvent when the company went bankrupt. The court will decide if the State should have protected the staff under EU law. The legal action against the state has been taken by 10 former staff members of the company.
3. #BANGLADESH The Bangladesh garment trade has been blamed as the death toll in yesterday’s building collapse disaster hit 159. Rescuers are still searching for survivors. Criticism has mounted of foreign firms that source cheap clothes from the country.
4. # NAMA At the end of last year, fewer than one in five loans transferred to the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) was being repaid, the Irish Independent says. In total, €16.5bn worth of loans, or 82 per cent, were in trouble. NAMA says it is collecting more than €100m a month in rent from properties in receivership or owned by debtors.
5. #UNITED LEFT A new left-wing political party is to be set up by TDs Clare Daly and Joan Collins following the apparent collapse of the United Left Alliance. TheJournal.ie has learned that the TDs are set to launch ‘United Left’ sometime next month, but many of the Dáil’s most high-profile left-wing members will not be involved.
6. #DRUGS Gardaí have arrested two men after seizing a number of stolen vehicles and uncovering a cannabis growing facility following the search of a business premises in Ballycoolin Industrial Estate yesterday afternoon.
7. #REDUNDANCIES Aer Lingus is seeking 100 voluntary redundancies as it continues to review its cost base, it said today. The company said that it is launching a voluntary severance scheme. However, it announced a 3.3 per cent increase in revenue in the first quarter of this year.
8. #NORTH KOREA South Korea has offered North Korea talks on the suspended operations at their joint Kaesong industrial zone, in order to resolve the impasse there. The offer came with an ultimatum of ‘grave action’ if Pyongyang fails to accept the proposal within 24 hours. The move suggested that South Korea was considering a permanent withdrawal from the zone.
9. #SOFT DRINKS A fan of soft drinks? A new study shows that there is an association between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and diabetes, says RTÉ. The study showed that consuming a can of soda a day was associated with a 22 per cent increased risk for diabetes, and involved data from people in a number of EU countries.
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