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GOOD MORNING
The 8 at 8
Homelessness services prepare for Citywest closure, Garda Detective arrested, and veterans who faced homelessness reflect on a year living together.
LAST UPDATE | Jan 21st 2023, 9:21 AM
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
Citywest closure
1. Homelessness services in Dublin are preparing for the potential fallout of the anticipated closure of the Citywest processing centre to new arrivals from Ukraine.
Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman revealed on Thursday that the centre is expected to reach capacity and be unable to accept new arrivals within a few days.
He warned that the closure could potentially last for several weeks.
Garda Detective arrested
2. A Detective Garda has been arrested as part of a corruption investigation focused on the alleged passing of information to an organised crime group.
A garda spokesperson said that the detective, based in the Dublin area, was arrested earlier this week and questioned.
“As part of an ongoing investigation by the Garda Anti-Corruption Unit into the alleged unauthorised disclosure of Garda information to a third-party or parties, a Dublin-based member of An Garda Síochána was arrested earlier this week at a Dublin Garda Station.
“They were later released without charge. The member of An Garda Síochána is currently suspended,” the spokesperson said.
Veterans who faced homelessness
3. “I was dying in the flat I lived in before I found this place. I don’t want to be dramatic, but that’s how it was, I was dying, and now I’m living,” says Cork man and former soldier Dan Murphy.
The Journal met with a group of veterans, some of whom were facing homelessness and some who were living in dire conditions, who have spent the last year living together in a home in Cobh ran by Óglaigh Náisiunta na hÉireann (ONE).
ONE is to open a second home in Cork city; there is already a waiting list. Their plans to roll out further services depend on the financial support of the Government, and their own fundraising.
Many of the veterans living in Cobh found themselves back on the rental market later in life, with no options, for the first time in their lives.
Biodiversity
4. The Citizen’s Assembly on biodiversity is set to meet for a final time today after calling an additional meeting for more time to discuss issues such as agriculture, peatlands and forestry.
The assembly was convened last year to consider the threats of biodiversity loss and how to reverse it; the main causes and impacts of biodiversity loss; and how to improve the government’s response and measure progress.
The assembly’s conclusions included that the State has “comprehensively failed” on biodiversity to date.
Urantsetseg Tserendorj
5. There is no statutory basis for sentence reviews in cases of children found guilty of committing serious crimes and the area is “crying out for legislation”, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt today heard submissions in the case of the teenage boy who was just 14 when he murdered Mongolian national Urantsetseg Tserendorj as she walked home from work two years ago.
The judge adjourned the sentence hearing until next month to allow him time to consider the options available to him.
Sligo jewelry shop theft
6. Two people have been charged in relation to the theft of up to €80,000 worth of jewelry from a Sligo shop on Thursday.
The man in his 20s and the woman in her late teens are due to appear before a special sitting of Sligo District Court today at 2:30 pm.
Yesterday, Gardaí arrested two people and recovered stolen property following the alleged theft of jewellery from a premises in Sligo.
The Spire
7. Wait. Is The Spire good? Carl Kinsella settles the matter 20 years on.
For less than two hours on Thursday morning, I asked nearly one hundred people what – if anything – they felt about The Spire. The answers amounted to a near unanimous feeling of mild positivity.
In typical Irish fashion, the 121m steel monument intended to celebrate the turn of the millennium wasn’t finished until three years later. Today marks the the 20th anniversary of the structure’s completion.
Shortly after its inception, the project was beset by complaints and challenges – including a High Court challenge, difficulties in obtaining planning permission, and environmental regulations.
The gender pay gap
8. Analysis: Recently, gender pay gaps are in the news a lot.
This is because, under new legislation, all companies with more than 250 workers are now obliged to publish indicators of their gender pay gap on their websites.
So what do the gender wage gap figures mean? And what do they not mean?
Economist and lecturer Dr Aedín Doris looks at the recent publications of gender pay figures and what it means for equality in the workplace.
Protests in Peru
9. Stone-throwing protestors fought pitched battles with police at fresh demonstrations demanding the resignation of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Friday, while several hundred tourists were left stranded near Machu Picchu.
Civil unrest since the ouster of Boluarte’s predecessor, Pedro Castillo, in early December has left 45 people dead and prompted the government to impose a state of emergency in violence-hit areas.
On Friday, security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators using slingshots in the flashpoint southern city of Arequipa.
