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

IRELAND

Protest at Belfast High court by A5 road campaigners. Protester are demanding action on the planned A5 upgrade which has faced multiple legal challenges. There have been 56 deaths on the road since 2006. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

• Ireland is one of few EU countries where the patient load of GPs has increased over the past decade. Each GP has an average of 100 extra people in their catchment area due to a surge in population that has not been matched by an equivalent rise in doctors here, The Journal Investigates revealed. 
• Tánaiste Simon Harris said that Conor McGregor represents “the very worst of toxic masculinity” as anger over the MMA fighter’s appearance at the White House continued today.
• An Bord Pleanála approved planning permission for a gas power plant in Co Kerry.
• A college student who raped a woman in a laneway while walking her home from the pub was jailed for five years.
• Over 210 people were caught driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs over the St. Patrick’s Bank Holiday Weekend.
• The Tánaiste met with financial giants JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and others in New York today to discuss US tariff threats. 
• Around 20 cars at a Tesla dealership in Belfast were damaged over the weekend.

INTERNATIONAL

MMA fighter Conor McGregor, right, poses with billionaire Elon Musk, left, during a St. Patricks day visit at the Oval Office yesterday Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#VIOLATION: Israel killed more than 400 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 100 children, in overnight airstrikes that shattered an already fragile ceasefire agreement with Hamas. 

#UKRAINE: Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held a lengthy phone conversation this afternoon, where the two leaders outlined that talks to end the conflict in Ukraine will begin “immediately”.

#GERMANY: The German parliament passed a huge defence and infrastructure investment package proposed by chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz to form the country’s response to geopolitical upheaval.

#HUNGARY: The Hungarian parliament passed a bill banning the Budapest Pride parade.

PARTING SHOT

AS A TOUR guide in Dublin, one of the few days I refuse to work is, paradoxically, the day with the most tourists: St Patrick’s Day. Half a million people turned out to watch this year’s parade in Dublin, but there is very little that a guide can do to enhance their experience.

The parade needs no explanation, just a good vantage point, and afterwards the crowds of people transform Dublin into something different: a surging sea of green-clad revellers, making my usual guide routes almost impassable. Even the days leading up to it see the city invaded by people wanting to be a part of this celebration of Irishness.

In years gone by, I often braved the crowds as a dutiful parent, hoisting my son on my shoulders so at least one of us could see the parade. Now a teenager, he dwarfs me and is less impressed by such spectacles. That’s fine with me. I’m quite happy to avoid it all: the drunkenness and the leprechaun hats, the parody of Irish identity, the throngs of enthusiastic tourists.

Read Derek Walsh’s full Voices article here.