IRELAND

Leigh Gath has been named by the HSE as the Confidential Recipient for whistleblowers. Sasko Lazarov Sasko Lazarov

• The same-sex marriage referendum will take place next May.
• A woman has described how she was sent home from Portlaoise Regional Hospital three days before her baby died and was told she just had a kidney infection. 
• The State will offer up to €84,000 to people bringing cases against the State for child sexual abuse in school.
• The Health Minister Leo Varadkar says he thinks our abortion laws will be different… in 20 years’ time.
• Campaigner Leigh Gath has been named as the woman who will deal with whistleblowers concerned about HSE services for vulnerable users.
• Plans are being drawn up for the first ever drug injecting centre in Ireland.
• Organised gangs are flying into Dublin to shoplift your belongings this Christmas.
• An unemployed chef is offering up his home to a family in need on Christmas Day and will even cook them a full festive dinner.

INTERNATIONAL

A Pakistani man comforts a student standing at the bedside of a boy who was injured in a Taliban attack on a school. AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

#PAKISTAN: 132 students and 9 staff were slaughtered in a terror attack on an army-run school today.

#RUSSIA: The Russian Rouble has lost 20% of its value – here’s three graphs that show just how bad the Russian crisis really is.

#SYDNEY: The man who held a Sydney café hostage was well known to police and had a significant number of charges against him before yesterday’s siege.

INNOVATION

• Nasa has discovered a hint of life on Mars. [TheTelegraph]
• Here’s what Ireland searched for on Google in 2014. [TheJournal.ie]

PARTING SHOT

“Oh God it’s Mom”

One mother called in to a TV station from North Carolina to tell her sons (who are both political pundits) to stop bickering saying ‘I want a quiet Christmas’.

Adding, “I hope they get this out of their system  today on your show”.