LAST UPDATE | 13 Mar 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

Irish Oscars

1. President Michael D Higgins has said it’s been a “remarkable year for the Irish film industry” as he congratulated An Irish Goodbye and animator Richard Baneham on their Oscar success.

An Irish Goodbye took home the gold statuette for Best Live-Action Short Film, while Dubliner Richard Baneham was among the team to win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects for his work on the hit blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water.

“This has been a remarkable year for the Irish film industry and is a testament to the hard work of so many people over recent decades,” the president said. 

Gary Lineker and the BBC

2. Gary Lineker is reportedly expected to return to Match Of The Day this coming weekend amid speculation he and the BBC are close to resolving their impartiality row.

There is “growing confidence” that the former England player will return to host the popular show, according to reports, following a weekend which saw the BBC’s sports coverage suffer severe disruption.

Lineker did not appear on the football highlights programme after he was told to stand down from the role when he compared language used to launch a new UK government asylum seeker policy with 1930s Germany in a tweet. 

St Patrick’s Day plans

3. Tánaiste Micheál Martin is to ring the opening bell at NASDAQ stock market this week as he arrives in New York to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.

The Tánaiste will hold meetings with various Enterprise Ireland and Irish Development Authority clients and other US/Irish business leaders, as well as attending several events with members of the Irish community in New York.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will also travel stateside as part of the St Patrick’s Day plans, spending his time in Washington DC. 

Silicon Valley Bank

4. US authorities have confirmed sweeping measures to rescue depositors’ money in full from failed Silicon Valley Bank and to promise other institutions help in meeting customers’ needs, as they announced a second tech-friendly bank had been closed by regulators.

With the two bank failures rattling nerves, President Joe Biden vowed to hold “fully accountable” the people responsible for “this mess” and said he would deliver remarks today on maintaining a resilient banking system.

“The American people and American businesses can have confidence that their bank deposits will be there when they need them,” Biden said. 

Online abuse

5. Minister for Equality Roderic O’Gorman has condemned “vicious abuse” targeted at LGBT+ people and activists, describing his own experience of receiving vitriol online.

The Green Party minister, who worked on civil partnership legislation while the Greens were in government in 2007 and later campaigned for marriage equality, said he is subjected to daily abuse on social media.

Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Minister O’Gorman said that “the abuse that I get, and it’s very much focused on being gay, is not something I’m terribly comfortable talking about but I’m also aware that right now, online, in various public fora, a lot of people who are gay or advocating on LGBT+ issues are facing particularly vicious abuse”.  

Climate change

6. Iraq has announced a campaign to combat the severe impacts of climate change on the water-scarce country, including by planting five million palms and trees.

The country suffers from extreme summer heat, frequent droughts, desertification and regular dust storms, problems that are all exacerbated by a warming planet.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told a climate conference that more than seven million Iraqis had already been affected by climate change and hundreds of thousands displaced by drought. 

Garda roster

7. Garda sergeants and inspectors are undertaking a day of action today due to concerns over a proposed new roster.

At 11am, 100 members of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) plan to march to Garda Headquarters to deliver a letter to management over the issue.

General Secretary of the AGSI Antoinette Cunningham said: “Today is a clear sign of the frustration, stress and anger that members are feeling in relation to their working arrangements, and in particular, given that this roster has been extended 15 times in three years.” 

Ukraine

8. Fighting is raging for control of the centre of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the longest-running and bloodiest battle of Moscow’s invasion, Russian and Ukrainian forces said on today.

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has claimed to be leading Moscow’s charge for the industrial city, which has been the epicentre of fighting for months.

The Ukrainian military said: “Wagner assault units are advancing from several directions, trying to break through our troops’ defensive positions and move to the centre of the city.”

“In fierce battles, our defenders are inflicting significant losses on the enemy,” it said in a morning briefing. 

French pensions

9. A bill that would raise the retirement age in France from 62 to 64 moved a step forward as it was adopted by the senate despite mass ongoing strikes and protests.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne tweeted yesterday after the 195-112 vote said that she looks forward to the bill’s definitive passage, hailing a “decisive step toward a reform that will assure the future of our retirement” system.

The legislation must now move through tricky political territory with multiple potential outcomes.