LAST UPDATE | 8 May 2025

GOOD MORNING.

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

1. Occupied Territories Bill

Tánaiste Simon Harris  has vowed to set out the timeline for the government’s version of the Occupied Territories bill, pledging progress will be made “within weeks”.

His promise comes amid the release of a joint statement yesterday from Harris and foreign ministers from Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia and Spain condemning Israel’s plans for a prolonged occupation of Gaza and rejection of the prospect of any measure that would forcibly displace the population.

2. Conclave

The Catholic Cardinals tasked with electing a new pope are getting back at it this morning.

The 133 electors had an early breakfast at 6.30am (5.30am Irish time) before returning to the Sistine Chapel.

3. Climate change

This April was almost the hottest of modern records, coming second only to April 2024.

The average global surface air temperature last month was 14.96 degrees Celsius, the second hottest since modern records at the start of the industrial era, according to the latest monthly climate bulletin from Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

 In Europe, the average temperature was 9.38 degrees Celsius, which is 1.01 degrees above the 1991-2020 average for April, making it the sixth-warmest April for Europe.

4. EU membership

Support for Ireland to remain in the European Union remains strong but has dipped to its lowest level in 11 years, a new poll reveals.

The European Movement Ireland’s EU 2025 poll with Amárach Research asked 1,200 people in the Republic of Ireland if Ireland should remain a member of the EU.

The poll reveals that 82% agree that Ireland should remain a member of the EU, while 9% said no. A total of 8% said they did not know.

5. Conflict

Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged small arms and artillery fire overnight along the de facto border in contested Kashmir, according to the Indian army.

The two countries experienced their worst violence in two decades yesterday after India launched deadly missile strikes on its neighbour, with days of repeated gunfire along their border escalating into artillery shelling.

6. Gaza

Irish MEPs have shared their frustration at the European Union’s response to Israel’s actions in Gaza, with many of them calling it a moral failure that will damage the EU.

The Journal contacted all of Ireland’s current MEPs, asking for their views on the bloc’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to get a sense of the mood in the parliament currently.

Of Ireland’s 14 MEPs, two did not respond to our request — Fine Gael’s Nina Carberry and Independent Luke Ming Flanagan.

All 12 of the MEPs who replied told us that the EU is not currently doing enough.

7. Ukraine

A three-day truce in the Russia-Ukraine war ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken effect today in theory – but Ukraine has not agreed to the proposal.

Putin unilaterally ordered the temporary truce to coincide with Moscow’s Victory Day parade tomorrow. 

Ukraine never agreed to the proposal, has dismissed it as theatrics and called instead for a 30-day ceasefire. 

8. Trade deal

US President Donald Trump is expected to announce a trade deal with the UK, US media has reported, after he touted a “major” upcoming agreement on social media.

He said he would announce the deal at a 10am (3pm Irish time) news conference in the Oval Office at the White House, and described it as the “first of many.”

9. Bathing waters

Planning some sea swimming? You’ll be happy to know that there’s been year-on-year improvement in the quality of Ireland’s bathing waters.

The Environmental Protection Agency has released its annual report on bathing water quality and it says 2024 saw the highest number of bathing sites classified as ‘excellent’ of the last ten years.

122 bathing sites – 81% – were given the top grading of ‘excellent’, the highest number of ‘excellents’ given since the current classification system began in 2014.