NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a round-up of today’s news.

IRELAND

Robert Grace performing at the New Year Festival in Dublin Castle tonight. Sam Boal Sam Boal

• A man was charged with the murder of another man in a Dublin restaurant on Christmas Eve.
• The Health Minister warned that influenza and Covid cases will lead to increased pressure on hospitals and the wider health service in coming weeks.
• Gardaí charged a man in relation to a fatal assault in Co Tipperary during the week.
• A man in his 40s died following a road crash that occurred near Abbeydorney, county Kerry, last night.
• An Irish tourist was hospitalised with serious injuries after he was allegedly stabbed repeatedly in an attempted street robbery in Brazil.
• A new flood forecast centre is set to launch at Met Éireann early next year, the agency’s Head of Forecasting said in an interview with The Journal.
• Gardaí renewed their appeal for witnesses over a fire at a Galway hotel earmarked for asylum seekers. 
• The rate of homebuilding in Ireland could increase to 40,000 annually within a couple of years, Tánaiste Micheál Martin predicted.
• A prisoner in Cloverhill Prison with a very serious health condition launched a High Court challenge over what he claims is the ongoing interference with his medical treatment. 

INTERNATIONAL

Firefighters extinguish burning cars after shelling in Belgorod, Russia (Russia Emergency Situations Ministry telegram channel via AP)

#WAR IN UKRAINE: Dozens of people were killed in separate strikes across Ukraine and the Russian city of Belgorod. 

#PALESTINE: Fighting continued to rage across Gaza, where displaced Palestinians said they were “exhausted” with no end in sight to the war between the besieged territory’s Hamas rulers and Israel, now in its 13th week. 

#RIP: The Full Monty actor Tom Wilkinson, who was nominated for Academy Awards for his roles in In The Bedroom and Michael Clayton, died aged 75.

PARTING SHOT

A number of current TDs are set to retire ahead of the next election, and included in this bunch is Louth deputy Fergus O’Dowd. 

O’Dowd has served for almost 50 years with Fine Gael, occupying a variety of elected roles local and national politics, and has been a seasoned contributor for the party on a range of TV and radio programmes, including regular head-to-heads with Vincent Browne in years past. 

As he steps away, what’s his advice to his colleagues in government? To show more humility.

It’s among the his thoughts in a wide-ranging interview with The Journal’s political editor Christina Finn, along with the pandemic, housing and his diverse family. You can read it here.