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LAST UPDATE | 8 Apr 2025
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. A trade war arising from the American trade war may result in some significant changes to the Irish housing market, according to our main story this morning.
Muiris O’Cearbhaill reports that it could lead to a reduced the buyer pool in the housing market due to the sector’s reliance on wealthy multinational workers.
2. Ireland’s response to the US tariffs sees Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon travel to the US to meet with US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins about levies imposed by the Trump administration.
Speaking to The Journal before boarding his flight to the State yesterday, Heydon set out plans to visit Kentucky and Chicago to engage with Irish companies like Altec and Kerry Group, which he said significantly contribute to the American economy.
3. The global reaction to the tariffs continues apace, with China now vowing to “fight to the end” against fresh tariffs of 50% threatened by Donald Trump, further aggravating a trade war that has already wiped trillions off global markets.
Closer to home, the EU has offered the United States “zero-for-zero” tariffs on flows of industrial goods as it works to avert an all-out transatlantic trade war.
4. Gardaí have issued a renewed appeal for information on the 20th anniversary of the murder of Emer O’Loughlin in Co Clare, along with an appeal for the whereabouts of a neighbour at the time her body was recovered from a caravan fire.
5. Former European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has said that she will make a decision on whether she will run for Áras an Uachtaráin by May during an appearance on RTÉ’s Upfront opposite another rumoured contender, Bertie Ahern.
6. Last month was the warmest March in recorded history in Europe, an EU climate body has warned.
Copernicus Climate Change Service announced yesterday that March 2025 was the second-warmest March globally, with temperatures far above pre-industrial levels.
7. A plan that the government believes could put as many as 12,000 homes back on the rental market gets one step closer today with Cabinet set to approve a draft General Scheme for the establishment of a register for short-term lets.
8. RTÉ-produced podcasts are about to come under a regulator’s umbrella, similar to all other content published by the station under new proposals set to be brought to Cabinet this morning.
9. Filming for the upcoming adaptation of hit UK TV gameshow The Traitors has concluded at Slane Castle in Co Meath.
Slane will be the backdrop for “all the mind games, missions, and unexpected twists”, said RTÉ, which has the rights to broadcast the Irish version featuring 22 contestants from around the country.
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