EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the five biggest stories of the day.

1. #FIRST DOSES: Stephen Donnelly has said that 35,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are due to be delivered to Ireland next week.

2. #PORT STAFF THREATS: The European Commission has said that its officials were being temporarily withdrawn from duties at Northern Ireland’s ports, after the North’s Department of Agriculture temporarily suspended the need for post-Brexit checks at Belfast Port and Larne Port “in the interest of the wellbeing of staff“.

3. #NURSING HOMES: More than 1,500 people have died with Covid-19 in nursing homes in Ireland, with 369 in January alone, the Oireachtas Health Committee has heard.

4. #BESSBOROUGH: Part of a controversial plan for apartments on land on the former estate of the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork has been rejected by Cork City Council.

5. #OIL AND GAS: Cabinet has approved the introduction of legislation to ban new licenses for oil and gas exploration, however, existing licences issued by the State will still be honoured under proposed plans.