GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your week.

Vaccination milestone

1. Half of Irish adults are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

HSE chief executive Paul Reid confirmed this morning that over 50% of the adult population are now fully vaccinated. 

As of 5 July, 1,786,900 second and final doses of a vaccine have been administered in Ireland, as well as a further 72,047 single dose vaccines, for a total of around 1,858,947 people fully vaccinated.  

Vaccination efforts have been ramped up following the rapid spread of the Delta variant, which now makes up over 70% of new Covid-19 cases. 

Insurance

2. A report on insurance reform will be brought to Cabinet today by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar which notes that preliminary data from the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) indicates that the average award paid out has decreased by around 50%.

The implementation report of the Action Plan for Insurance Reform seeks to make Ireland’s insurance sector more competitive and consumer-friendly.

The six-month progress report, which will be published later today, will show that in the period since the guidelines were introduced, some 540 cases have been adjudicated by PIAB and there has been an average reduction of in excess of 50% in the awards being issued. In some instances, the reduction has been as high as 74%.  

Outdoor events

3. A pilot music festival attended by thousands of people in Dublin was hailed as a success at the weekend, with just one concertgoer receiving a positive antigen test on arrival.

This person later returned a negative PCR test.

Results from similar pilot events in other European countries have indicated that live entertainment, with certain measures in place, can be done safely.

Governments are keen to get the entertainment industry, which has been one of the worst-hit by the pandemic, back in business, but the Delta variant has put a summer of concerts and sports events at risk, Michelle Hennessy reports. 

Richard Donner

4. The US director of Superman, the Omen and the Goonies has died aged 91. 

The Hollywood Reporter cited Donner’s assistant in confirming his death, while Deadline said there was no cause of death revealed by Donner’s business manage or producer wife, Lauren Schuler Donner.

“Richard Donner had the biggest, boomiest voice you could imagine,” Goonies star Sean Astin said on Twitter.

UK restrictions 

5. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s pledge to end nearly all of England’s remaining coronavirus restrictions in one move despite cases rapidly rising has triggered a series of warnings.

Labour criticised the Prime Minister’s plan to gamble on public responsibility and the immunity from vaccines as “reckless” and called for him to maintain protections such as mask wearing.

Shuttered business welcomed the opportunity to reopen but medics raised concerns of rising hospital admissions and charities representing the clinically vulnerable also warned of their heightened risk.

Remote working

6. Dublin City Council has passed a motion calling for a pilot of a four-day work week for its staff.

Councillors unanimously supported looking at a trial scheme for a shorter working week at yesterday evening’s monthly Council meeting.

Pfizer jabs

7. An additional 16,000 people will be fully vaccinated by the end of July as part of a private scheme by Pfizer Ireland to inoculate staff and their family members, the company has estimated.

Representing 0.43% of the eligible adult population, the slight bump to the vaccine rollout will be welcome at the end of the month as the race to get as many people vaccinated as possible before the Delta variant takes hold in Ireland continues.

Stormont

8. New DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson is expected to announce changes within his party at the Stormont Assembly later today. 

The BBC reports Donaldson has been reviewing senior positions, including ministerial posts. 

The DUP has been rocked by bitter divisions played out in public after successive revolts deposed former leader Arlene Foster and then her successor, Edwin Poots, who quit after just 21 days in the role.

A number of members of the DUP publicly resigned, including councillors Kathryn Owen and Glyn Hanna.

Weather 

9. Today will be mostly cloudy, according to Met Éireann. And it will be fairly warm, up to 19 degrees.