LAST UPDATE | 18 May 2023

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day. 

Dublin teen hospitalised after attack

1. A 17-year-old  has been hospitalised with serious head injuries in an assault in Dublin.

Gardaí said he was attacked by “a group of males” on La Touche Road in Bluebell yesterday evening.

Northern Ireland elections 

2. As Stormont remains in a deadlock, weary voters are heading to the polls in the first local elections since 2019. 

The election is likely to see the Sinn Fein become the biggest party at local government level, and the Alliance party emerge as the third biggest. 

One hopeful candidate, John Hyland from Liverpool, who moved to the Ballymena area in the last few years, speaks about his experience on the doorsteps: “One woman asked me ‘Are you the gay fella?’ when she opened the door, but she ended up saying ‘Good for you, we need that here’.”

Asylum seekers

3. Minister Roderic O’ Gorman has confirmed that three new accommodation centres for asylum seekers are to open in Dublin, as the Government has been scrambling to house international protection applicants sleeping rough. 

The centres will located at the Airways Industrial Estate in Santry, the former Senior College on Eblana Avenue in Dún Laoghaire, and Dolcain House in Clondalkin. 

 Triple lock

4. The Tánaiste is expected to confirm that Ireland is seeking greater co-operation with NATO later today, while also questioning whether the country’s current security and neutrality arrangements are fit for purpose in 2023. 

Ukraine

5. Ukraine said “unprecedented” air attacks had rocked its capital and other areas early this morning, a day after it reached an agreement with Russia to extend a deal allowing grain exports across the Black Sea.

In the port city of Odessa, one person was killed and two were wounded after a missile hit industrial infrastructure, the military said. 

HMV

6. British music retailer HMV is set to open its first store in Ireland since it closed its’ doors almost seven years ago.

It’s five remaining stores in Ireland closed in 2016 after the company entered administration. 

Co Clare 

7. A group that has been protesting the housing of refugees in Co Clare, has said it is “disappointed and let down” by Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s response to their objections.

Obesity

8. Almost half of the obese adolescents given a new treatment lost enough weight to drop below the clinical cut-off for obesity, new research presented in Dublin has found.

Germany 

9. Five Germans went on trial today over a far-right plot to kidnap the country’s health minister and overthrow the government in protest against Covid-19 restrictions.