EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you begin your day.
1. #MISSING CCTV footage of missing Irish woman Jill Meagher has been released by police in Australia. The footage shows the 29-year-old outside the Duchess Boutique on Sydney Road in Brunswick at about 1.40am. Meagher appears to be talking to a man in the footage, and police said they are “particularly interested” in speaking with him.
2. #PRIORY HALL Dublin City Council has spent a total of €638,000 on security for Priory Hall since residents were moved out of the apartment block last October due to fire concerns. Four security personnel are at a temporary base at the front of the apartment blocks 24-hours-a-day, according to documents obtained by TheJournal.ie.
3. #DEBT DEAL A blow has been dealt to the Irish Government’s hopes of securing a deal to reduce the impact of its bank debt. A statement from four EU finance ministers suggested that the EU’s rescue fund, once established, will only deal with future problems. This seems to contradict what Finance Minister Michael Noonan understood following last June’s summit.
4. #SHOOTINGS Gardaí are to interview the children who saw their fathers being murdered earlier this week. The Daily Mail reports that the children of Gerard Eglington and Declan O’Reilly are to be spoken to by police to see if they hold any information that could help with the investigation.
5. #SYRIA There were two explosions near an army staff building in Damascus earlier today, Reuters reports. State TV described the bombs as the work of ‘terrorists’, which refers to insurgents. Meanwhile the Save the Children charity has said that horrific acts are being committed against children in Syria.
6. #MICHAELA The PSNI has been invited to fly to Mauritius to help with the probe into the murder of Michaela McAreavey, the Daily Mail reports today. However, it says that the gardaí did not receive the same invitation. It is believed that a small number of PSNI officers will be sent to the island to help with the investigation.
7. #WHAT THE FLIUCH The bad weather continued in some parts of the country overnight, leading to flooding in Co Meath and Co Louth, the Irish Times reports, saying that 50mm of rain fell between Monday and yesterday. The latest weather update from Met Éireann says that there will be more persistent and heavier rain in the east early today, but the rain will clear around the country during the morning and early afternoon, apart from a few showers.
8. #TRAVELLERS Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan sent a letter to a number of his constituents saying that a Traveller family would not be allocated a house in their area, the Daily Mail reports this morning. The minister’s spokesman said that there had been anti-social behaviour in the area in the past and that representations were made to Hogan on the issue. One of the family members the note referred to described the situation as “a disgrace”.
9. #BANANAS Find peeling bananas a chore? Then take a look at these pre-peeled bananas, which are available in an Austria-based, German-owned supermarket, Billa. The move wasn’t well-received, with critics lambasting Billa for being environmentally unfriendly and wasteful – particularly given how conveniently packaged bananas naturally are.
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