GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our main story this morning, Eoghan Dalton reports that SuperValu has closed two stores in recent weeks, bringing to three the number closed this year, after the chain found it “impossible” to keep the outlets open amid slower trade.
Factors in the closures are understood to have included the location of the stores and local competition. Growth in consumer spending at Supervalu has slowed year on year relative to rival supermarket chains Tesco and Dunnes.
The closures come amid an ongoing cost-of-living crisis as retail’s competitive Christmas season nears.
2. Israeli troops have ordered the evacuation of the Al-Shifa hospital “in the next hour” over loudspeakers, an AFP journalist at the scene reported.
Hospital director Mohammed Abu Salmiya told AFP Israeli troops instructed him to ensure “the evacuation of patients, wounded, the displaced and medical staff, and that they should move on foot towards the seafront”.
The United Nations estimated 2,300 patients, staff and displaced Palestinians were sheltering at Al-Shifa before Israeli troops moved in on Wednesday.
3. The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) has said a commonly prescribed antibiotic used to treat infections, including sinus and ear infections, is currently in short supply.
It comes as the Irish Pharmacy Union has indicated it is hopeful that pharmacists could soon gain the authority to dispense alternatives when prescribed medicines are out of stock under a “serious shortage protocol”. There is an ongoing problem with medicines shortages in Ireland and internationally.
Several types of tablets of the generic version of Augmentin may not become available until next month while there is no expected return date indicated for others.
4. In Dublin, for the sixth Saturday in a row, a demonstration will be held in support of Palestinians amid Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign group will hold the march in protest of Israel’s treatment of Gazans and to call on the government to put tougher sanctions on the state.
5. Fine Gael will hold a Special Conference in the Glenroyal Hotel in Maynooth, Co. Kildare today where the party will focus on delivering for rural Ireland and strengthening the party organisation.
The party has been keen to stress that the event today is not an Ard Fheis, and therefore there will be no televised speech given by the Taoiseach.
6. In an interview for The Journal‘s Policy Matters series, People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny has said that his party “are not eurosceptic, we’re euro-critical”.
Kenny said while he isn’t anti-EU, he is against the direction the EU is heading in.
“Most people in Ireland would be supportive of the European Union, that’s fact. And if there was a referendum to leave the European Union it would fail,” he said.
7. New data from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has revealed that the median age for first-time buyer mortgages has increased to 35 years old.
BPFI found that while the median income for these buyers has reached its highest level on record – €82,000 – mortgages prices have also increased to €270,000 on average.
8. IBM has stopped advertising on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, after a report said its ads were appearing alongside material praising Adolf Hitler and Nazis.
The move by the US tech giant is a fresh setback as the site formerly known as Twitter tries to win back big brands and their advertising money.
9. Champions Dublin lead the way with five players represented on the 2023 PwC GAA-GPA All-Star football team. Kerry, beaten in the final have four players on the team, with Derry enjoying a huge showing with four newly-minted All-Stars.
Roscommon and Monaghan claim the final two positions. At 42, Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton becomes the oldest-ever All-Star in either code, a record that only seems likely to be broken by himself if he stays on for 2024.
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