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

Ireland

People cycling in Dublin city centre. Source: Sam Boal

• Local authorities are set to receive €289 million this year to spend on walking and cycling infrastructure to encourage sustainable travel.
• The Russian ambassador to Ireland downplayed concerns about planned Russian missile tests in international waters off the Irish coast.
• Two gardaí required hospital treatment after a stolen car was reportedly involved in a number of crashes in the Wexford area yesterday.
• Documents showed the Department of Defence spent almost €3m in a five year period renting aircraft and on civilian flight tickets to ferry Irish troops to peacekeeping missions across the world.
• Leo Varadkar said that a bill on the right to request to work remotely is set to go to Cabinet tomorrow.
• Health officials reported an additional 8,039 cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. 
• Parachute Regiment flags appeared in areas in Co Derry ahead of the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
• The trial of Lisa Smith will go ahead after the Special Criminal Court rejected an application to have the charges against her dismissed.

International

Police cars parked on the grounds of Heidelberg University in Heidelberg, Germany today. Source: AP/PA Images

#COVID: The head of the World Health Organisation warned that conditions remain ideal for more Covid variants to emerge and that it is dangerous to assume Omicron is the last one or that “we are in the endgame”. 

#GERMANY: An 18-year-old student opened fire in a lecture hall at Heidelberg University in southwestern Germany, killing a young woman and injuring three others before fleeing the scene and turning the weapon on himself.

#RUSSIA: Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged the European Union to stay united in the face of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

#LOCKDOWN PARTIES: UK prime minister Boris Johnson is facing fresh allegations of breaking coronavirus rules. 

Parting Shot

Ireland’s pay gap is better than the EU average, but the latest article in The Journal‘s The Good Information Project looks at what else can be done to fix this issue. 

The gender pay gap is the difference between the average hourly wages of men and women across the entire workforce, regardless of seniority. It is seen as a marker of the participation of women in senior roles (which are higher paid) in an individual company, sector, or in the country as a whole.

A survey carried out by Work Equal last year found that three quarters of people believed that closing the gap is important and should be a priority for government and employers.