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

IRELAND

Maternity protestors outside Leinster House today calling on Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to end partner restrictions Leah Farrell Leah Farrell

• Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that the country is “on track” for the lifting of the remainder of Covid-19 restrictions on 22 October. 
• The most senior civil servant in the Department of Health has rejected any suggestion that there is a “vast conspiracy” to block the introduction of universal healthcare in Ireland.
• A Cork Fianna Fáil TD has threatened to leave the party saying he was “misled” by government officials over allocations in the National Development Plan.
• The Minister for Justice has publicly apologised to the family of the late Dara Quigley, who died after nude images of her were leaked by a member of the gardaí.
• A protest has been held outside Leinster House calling for an end to ongoing restrictions on partner visits in maternity wards.
• A man has been acquitted of the manslaughter of his mother’s partner who died days after an altercation involving the two men. 
• Public health officials have confirmed 984 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.
• It’s set to be another wet few days for the western half of the country, with rainfall warnings issued for seven counties. 

INTERNATIONAL

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie after he gave his speech at the annual Conservative Party Conference today Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#AUSCHWITZ: Polish police are investigating graffiti in English and German that appeared on multiple buildings at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum.

#FACEBOOK: The Facebook outage which took the social network, as well as Instagram and WhatsApp, offline for more than five hours was caused by an error during a routine maintenance job, the company has said.

#VATICAN: Two priests were acquitted today of charges linked with sex abuse at a school for altar boys, after the Vatican’s first criminal trial for such allegations.

#TEXAS: Two people have been shot and two others injured after a student got into a fight and drew a gun in a classroom at a Texas high school.

PARTING SHOT

If you were up bright and early this morning you may have caught a glimpse of the beautiful orange skies during the sunrise. 

If not, don’t worry, Met Éireann has posted some snaps on its social media: 

A collection of photos from sunrise this morning, sent in to us by Anca in our Observations team.🌅

Got any weather pics you'd like to share with us?
post below👇📸 pic.twitter.com/ZWs2kOol9R

— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) October 6, 2021