GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
Budget day
1. It is Budget Day and Christina Finn starts your day with her take on what is likely to happen, she speaks to her sources and finds out what will be in the speech.
This year’s package is €4.7 billion – with new spending accounting for €1 billion and €500 million set aside for tax measures.
The cavernous setting of the Convention Centre was the venue for last year’s budget, but politicians have now returned to Leinster House, so proceedings should be similar to other years, pre-Covid.
Booster shots
2. More than 40,000 booster or extra doses of Covid vaccines have been administered so far in Ireland.
The booster programme was rolled out across the country on 27 September, starting with people living in long-term residential care facilities aged over 65 and people in the general population over the age of 80.
People over the age of 12 who are immunocompromised will also receive an extra dose of a Covid vaccine.
Brexit changes
3. Brexit Minister David Frost is to set out Britain’s demands for changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol amid a stand-off with the EU over the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
In a speech to the diplomatic community in Lisbon today, Frost will warn the protocol cannot survive without fundamental reform to governance arrangements.
But even before he delivered his address, he was accused by the Irish Government of creating a “red line” barrier to progress in resolving the dispute over post-Brexit trading arrangements.
Air Crash
4. A small aircraft crashed yesterday in a densely populated suburb in San Diego, California, killing at least two people, including a UPS driver.
At least two others were injured in the incident. Witnesses described an elderly couple being rescued from one of two homes that were destroyed in Santee, a largely residential suburb of 50,000 people.
At least three other homes sustained significant damage. Several vehicles, including a delivery truck, were also set on fire.
Alcohol related crime
5. Minimum pricing for alcohol had little impact on drink-related crime following its introduction in Scotland, a UK study has found.
Researchers looked at trends in alcohol-related crime, disorder and public nuisance after minimum unit pricing (MUP) was introduced in May 2018.
These issues were declining before MUP and its introduction had no statistically significant impact on the trajectory, they found.
Global warning
6. World leaders must deliver on their promises to curb dangerous climate change at the UN Cop26 talks in Glasgow, the conference’s president has warned.
Alok Sharma is calling for leaders to honour the Paris Agreement in 2015, which committed countries to try to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C – beyond which the most dangerous climate impacts will be felt.
In a speech in the French capital, the Cop26 president will say the latest round of UN climate talks in less than three weeks must secure agreement to accelerate climate action this decade to keep the 1.5C goal alive.
UK Gradual approach ‘cost lives’
7. Serious errors and delays at the hands of the UK Government and scientific advisers cost lives during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a damning report from British MPs.
The study, from the cross-party Science and Technology Committee and the Health and Social Care Committee, said the UK’s preparation for a pandemic was far too focused on flu, while ministers waited too long to push through lockdown measures in early 2020.
In a wide-ranging report, MPs said the UK’s pandemic planning was too “narrowly and inflexibly based on a flu model” that failed to learn the lessons from Sars, Mers and Ebola.
Dublin from space
8. A NASA astronaut has captured an image of Dublin at night taken from orbit on the International Space Station.
Texas astronaut Shane Kimbrough is part of the crew of Expedition 65 which began its mission in April and is due to complete it later this month.
On Twitter, Kimbrough shared an image of Dublin saying that he looked forward to visiting Ireland next year.
“One of my favourite cities – Dublin, Ireland! Look forward to seeing all of my friends there next year. Slàinte!”
Free travel teens
9. Applications will open this morning for Irish 18-year-olds to apply for a free travel pass to explore the countries in the European Union.
The DiscoverEU initiative allows members of the European Union who are 18 years old to apply for one of 60,000 travel passes for travel around the EU next year.
The aim of the scheme is to get young people interested in connecting with Europe.
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