GOOD MORNING.

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

Hot School Meals

1. An Oireachtas Committee heard this week that the Hot School Meals programme, which began in 2019 and has now expanded to over 3,000 primary schools, is not sustainable in its current form. 

We at The Journal decided to ask our readers for their views on the scheme, whether they were a parent or a teacher. Menu fatigue, a healthy eating backlash and “soggy” chicken goujons are just some of the issues dozens of them raised.

Mercosur

2. The EU will carry out onsite audits of the South American food supply chain before they are exported to countries including Ireland, as part of efforts to sway doubters over its colossal Mercosur trade deal.

Board of Peace

3. Donald Trump has appointed former UK prime minister Tony Blair to his so-called ‘Board of Peace’, formed to oversee the next phase of his 20-point ceasefire plan for Gaza.

Bad patch

4. Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee has said that Ireland’s relationship with the US is “going through a rocky period” and that the major world power under the Trump administration has moved back to foreign policies that it would have held “in the past”.

Hands off

5. Staying with the US President, large demonstrations are planned across Denmark and Greenland today to protest against his threats to take over the Arctic island.

Lord of the Dance

6. A court in Belfast has heard that upcoming Lord of the Dance shows are in “grave danger of falling apart” if Michael Flatley is not permitted to engage with performers, a court in Belfast has heard.

Dangerous driving

7. Fianna Fáil TD Michael Cahill, who was caught driving at over 190km/h on a motorway in Cork last March, has apologised and announced he is leaving the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice.

Domestic violence

8. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has expressed alarm after a garda who carried out a “terrifying” assault on his then wife was given a three-month suspended sentence.

New job

9. Claire Byrne told The Late Late Show’s Patrick Kielty that turning 50 last summer and an upcoming pay cut at RTÉ were factors contributing to her shock move to rival Newstalk.