LAST UPDATE | 28 Jan 2025

GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news to know this morning.

1. Diplomacy

The government to send a much higher number than usual of senior ministers to the United States for St Patrick’s Day in an attempt to lovebomb the new Trump administration.

While the new ministers are bedding in this week, it is understood the list of destinations for the annual Patrick’s Day exodus of government ministers and junior ministers will be drawn up shortly.

2. Denis O’Brien

A High Court judge has ordered Denis O’Brien to discover documents in a case taken against him over the awarding of the country’s second mobile phone licence to his company in the 1990s.

O’Brien, along with the State, is being sued by Persona Digital Telephony Limited and Sigma Wireless Networks limited, who were unsuccessful bidders for the phone licence. Independent TD Michael Lowry, who was Minister for Communications at the time, is a notice party in the case.

The mobile phone licence was ultimately awarded to O’Brien’s Esat Digifone consortium in 1996. The awarding of the licence became the subject of investigation by the Tribunal of Inquiry into certain Payments to Politicians and Related Matters, also known as the Moriarty Tribunal. 

3. Power outages

Crews from France, Austria, Finland and the Netherlands are travelling to Ireland to help ESB Networks deal with the widespread power outages caused by Storm Éowyn.

Around 180,000 premises currently have no power in the wake of last Friday’s storm, which brought strong winds to Ireland and knocked off power and water supply for thousands. 

4. Housing Assistance Payment

There is a drastic shortage of housing available for people looking to make use of the Housing Assistance Payment (Hap) Scheme as a way of securing a home, new figures show.

According to a new report by Simon Communities of Ireland, the shortfall is particularly acute outside Dublin with several major urban areas lacking any Hap tenancy at all.

These include the city centres of Cork, Galway and Limerick. Large towns across the country were also without a single Hap tenancy, including Sligo town, Portlaoise and Athlone.

5. Sinn Féin reshuffle

Finn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald Lou McDonald is set to announce her party’s new front bench today, with a number of changes to portfolios likely.

6. Northern Ireland

Tánaiste Simon Harris is meeting today with Northern Ireland’s first minister and deputy first minister on his first visit to Belfast since taking on his new position in the Cabinet.

7. Omagh bombing inquiry

The public inquiry into the Omagh bombing is to hold its first substantive hearings starting today.

Bereaved families and survivors are expected to gather at the Strule Arts Centre in the Co Tyrone town for the inquiry which will examine whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by UK authorities.

8. Executive order

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops.

The move likely sets in motion a future ban on their military service.

9. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni

A New York judge has set a March 2026 trial date as the public feud between Blake Lively and her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni continued to grow and accelerate.

The court yesterday also moved an initial conference from mid-February to next week.