LAST UPDATE | 2 Nov 2021

GOOD MORNING.

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

Landlord sanctions

1. In our main story today, Michelle Hennessy reports that there have been just 29 sanctions against landlords over breaches of rent pressure zone rules in the last 12 months, despite hundreds of investigations by the Residential Tenancies Board.

The new Investigations and Sanctions Unit at the RTB, which was set up in 2019 to  investigate potential breaches of rental law by landlords, has commenced 400 investigations to date and it approved a total of 245 investigations in 2020.

Coveney visiting Middle East

2. Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney is to begin a four-day working visit to the Middle East today, traveling to Israel and Palestine first before continuing to Jordan.

It comes after 12 countries, Including Ireland, released a statement calling on Israel to reverse its decision to construct 3,000 settlement units in the West Bank – a move that Israel’s ally the US has publicly criticised.

COP26

3. The third day of COP26 kicks off this morning. 

Alongside governments and key negotiators, there are a lot of people involved in the climate sphere who head along to the annual UN summit to attend events and participate in the proceedings.

Ahead of the all-important outcome in less than two weeks that will lead us to the next stage of the world’s action on climate change, reporter Orla Dwyer spoke to a few of the Irish people attending this year’s summit to ask: Are you hopeful going into COP26?

Deforestation

4. Sticking with COP26 news, world leaders meeting at the climate summit in Glasgow will today issue a multibillion-dollar pledge to end deforestation by 2030 but that date is too distant for campaigners who want action sooner to save the planet’s lungs.

According to summit hosts the British government, the pledge is backed by almost $20 billion in public and private funding and is endorsed by more than 100 leaders representing over 85% of the world’s forests, including the Amazon rainforest, Canada’s northern boreal forest and the Congo Basin rainforest.

Booster shots

5. In Covid-19 news, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has approved a recommendation to rollout booster vaccines for healthcare workers. 

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has advised that the mRNA vaccines Pfizer & Moderna can be used regardless of the initial vaccine course – meaning healthcare workers who got AstraZeneca as their first dose can avail of an mRNA booster dose.

Latest figures

6. Public health officials yesterday evening confirmed 2,855 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

As of 8am yesterday, there were 515 Covid-19 patients in hospital, of which 91 were receiving intensive care.

UK-France fishing row

7. In international news, the British government has welcomed a decision by Emmanuel Macron to not push ahead with threats to take punitive action against the UK in a dispute over post-Brexit licences to fish in British waters.

The French president had warned that Paris could block British boats from landing their catches in French ports and tighten customs checks from midnight in protest at what they claim is a refusal by the UK authorities to grant licences to French boats.

But last night, reports said Macron had said negotiations must continue.

Alec Baldwin

8. The crew member who who handed Alec Baldwin the loaded gun that killed a cinematographer on the set of Rust has expressed his shock and sadness, in his first public comments since the tragedy.

David Halls’ role in the accident on the New Mexico set of a 19th-century Western last month has been under scrutiny after he told police he had failed to fully check the firearm before the fatal incident.

CBT

9. American psychiatrist Aaron T Beck, considered the father of cognitive therapy – an approach developed in the 1960s that revolutionized the field of psychotherapy – has died aged 100.

Cognitive therapy directs patients to change the way they look at certain situations, and to identify those “automatic thoughts” in order to overcome them. They are then invited to test out those modified beliefs in everyday life.

That approach is now the most widely practiced therapy method around the world, used to treat depression, anxiety, eating disorders, personality disorders and other psychiatric problems.