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

IRELAND

The aftermath of a sudden hail shower in Dublin this afternoon. Source: Sasko Lazarov

• Health officials confirmed 10 deaths and 592 new Covid-19 cases. 
• Gardaí who carried out searches for the body of a murdered teenage boy said they have discovered partial remains. 
• A major breach of data belonging to Irish online shoppers has been confirmed.
• Justice Minister Helen McEntee will take six months of paid maternity leave from 30 April.
• It emerged gardaí raided a shebeen in Cavan.
• People in nursing homes will be permitted two visits per week from 22 March if approximately 80% of residents and staff have been vaccinated against Covid-19.
• The EU medicine’s regulator has granted authorisation for the use of the Johnson & Johnson one-dose Covid-19 vaccine in people aged 18 and over.
• A 35-year-old man who decapitated his mother in her Louth home has been jailed for life after he pleaded guilty to murder this morning.
• Almost three-quarters of consumers say they will not feel comfortable shopping on their local high street until the Covid-19 crisis is better controlled, according to new research.

INTERNATIONAL 

Police officers carrying flowers from members of the public for Sarah Everard in Kent. Source: PA

#UK ROYALS: Prince William has defended the monarchy against accusations of racism made Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, saying they are “very much not a racist family”.

#MURDER: A police officer suspected of murdering Sarah Everard was taken to hospital for a head injury sustained in custody.

#EU: The European Central Bank has announced that it will accelerate the pace of bond-buying in the second quarter of the year to stave off a rise in borrowing costs for European governments.

PARTING SHOT 

Earlier today, this site published a piece from an anonymous reader about her experiences walking home in Dublin and London late at night. 

She was reminded of her own experiences following the recent missing person case of Sarah Everard, and a court case in Dublin involving a woman in her ’60s suffering an assault at the hands of a man on her morning walk.

Here is a sample of her piece: 

This week’s events have opened up the conversation again about men, why they commit these crimes, why we’re not talking about them more. And yes, not all men are in this bracket, of course, they are not.

Every woman, if she’s lucky, has a stack of good men in her life, our fathers, brothers, friends, colleagues. There are wonderful men, but it might be time for these good men to start a conversation about the guys who are not. Enough about women, we’re done, we want to know what this is.

Is it a failure of education, a sickness, is it neurology, what is the makeup of a monster? It’s time we find out, understood it and got a handle on it. Because I, for one, as a woman, a mother of daughters, am done. I’m not prepared to educate them about keys, outfits and about living in fear. Enough.