GOOD MORNING.

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

Dam partially destroyed in Ukraine

1. Ukraine is evacuating residents from villages that have become flooded after a huge dam was partially destroyed, with Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of being responsible.

Nurses who quit jobs to work in Ireland spend months unemployed

2. A large group of overseas nurses who quit their jobs after receiving employment offers from Irish hospitals and nursing homes have been unable to come and work here due to work permit delays and rejections. 

Some have lost their job offers as a result.

“I am completely broken,” said one nurse, speaking of the toll of the expensive and drawn out process. 

Child Benefits 

3. 650,000 families are to receive an additional €100 per child in child benefit payments today, as part of a Government package to help people cope with the rising cost of living. 

Five arrested in NI feud investigation

4. Five men have been arrested in Northern Ireland after detectives investigated a report of an unlawful assembly held in Newtownards, Co Down. 

The incident has been linked to an ongoing feud between rival drugs gangs.

Children’s eye-care

5. Optometrists have called for an end to the “geographical lottery” in children’s eye-care, as well as the establishment of a national public programme for children aged over eight.

Cost of living

6. A new information and awareness campaign has been launched for customers who are concerned about mortgage repayments due to cost of living pressures.

Holiday homes

7. The Government has said that taxing holiday homes would not increase housing supply.

The claim comes at the same time the Government is looking to crack down on short-term letting platforms, such as Airbnb, in an effort to boost the state’s housing stock and help deal with the housing crisis.

Cancer treatment 

8. More surgeries to fight cancer took place last year than in 2019 after some treatments had to be put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the National Cancer Strategy Implementation Report for 2022 has found.

Austria election

9. Austria’s main centre-left opposition party today reversed the result of its weekend leadership election, announcing that a computer error led to the wrong candidate being declared the winner.