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

IRELAND

Caroline Campbell,left, director of the National Gallery of Ireland and Minister Catherine Martin at the unveiling of The Enchantment of Bottom by Titania by Irish artist Harry Clarke. The artwork is free for the public to view at the Gallery. Naoise Culhane Naoise Culhane

• RTÉ’s exit package its former chief financial officer was “not considered and approved” by the broadcaster’s executive board, despite it being a requirement under the rules of its voluntary redundancy scheme.
• The UK government published its deal with the DUP, which will see the return of the Stormont Assembly.
• Cork’s largest stadium is set to be renamed “SuperValu Pairc Uí Chaoimh” – a step back from a previous proposal which could have dropped Uí Chaoimh from the name entirely and drew significant backlash.
• A Bill that proposes to legalise the personal use of cannabis is “a tiny step” in the direction Ireland needs to go in relation to drugs policy, the Dáil has heard.
• Gardaí arrested two men in connection with the riots in Dublin city centre last November.
• A new scheme of mortgage interest tax relief for certain homeowners opened today. 
• Tourism Ireland dropped the Global Greening initiative that lights up famous international locations in green for St Patrick’s Day.
• It’s a sad day for democracy when a TD is forced to close their constituency office over security concerns, Chair of the Oireachtas Women’s caucus Senator Fiona O’Loughlin said.
• Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said the airline has “absolutely nothing to apologise for” after it bought 25 houses in a north Dublin estate.
• A private meeting with Meta was held in Leinster House today after the tech giant said it would only appear before the Oireachtas Media Committee if the meeting was not held in public session. 
• A student who assaulted a gay couple and threw homophobic slurs at them as they tried to intervene in a row he was having with his girlfriend has been given a fully-suspended sentence. 

INTERNATIONAL

Protestors pack up their things on the motorway to drive closer to Paris Mairead Maguire Mairead Maguire

#GAZA: Hamas is reviewing a proposal for a six-week truce with Israel.

#FRANCE: Our reporter Mairead Maguire was at the scene of a blockade by French farmers on a motorway outside Paris due to unhappiness with carbon-cutting targets, fuel prices, and bureaucracy. 

#EUROPEAN PARLIAMEN: Hundreds of European lawmakers currently sitting in the European Parliament have been involved in public controversy or have outright broken the law in their lifetimes.

#TIKTOK: Songs from the likes of Taylor Swift, U2, and The Weeknd are set to be pulled from TikTok after a breakdown in contract talks with Universal Music Group.

PARTING SHOT

Elmo from Sesame Street Sesame Street Sesame Street

Earlier this week, Elmo from Sesame Street had a simple question for his almost 500,000 followers on X.

“Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?”

Thousands of people replied to let Elmo know the unfortunate reality – they’re not doing too good.

Read more here about Elmo’s post on X, which has been viewed over 177 million times, received close to 120,000 likes, and generated more than 12,000 replies, and was commented on by US president Joe Biden.