NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a round-up of today’s news.

IRELAND 

Santa, joined by, left to right, Fiadh Grace Malone (4), Albi Sullivan (6), and Jazmyne Erhabor (6), helped bring the magic of Christmas to life by switching on the festive lights at Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street, supported by Children’s Health Foundation. Mark Stedman Mark Stedman

• A High Court judge has awarded Nikita Hand the costs of her civil action against Conor McGregor in which a jury found that he sexually assaulted her in a Dublin hotel in 2018. 
• Met Éireann has issued a slew of weather warnings today, as Storm Darragh looks set to cause severe winds and rainy conditions across the country this weekend.
• Gardaí are investigating a serious assault after a woman was found injured and unresponsive at a car park in Newbridge, Co. Kildare yesterday morning.
• The average cost of rent for new tenancies in Ireland has grown to over €1,600, according to a new report released today by the Residential Tenancies Board.
• A large number of people are to be re-accommodated after they set up at least 60 tents outside the Dáil in Dublin.
• Ireland’s fiscal watchdog has urged the next government to treat the country’s “extraordinary” corporation tax receipts “more like Norway treats its oil”. 
• TDS from parties on the left have been talking today, as government formation negotiations are underway, but are currently presenting a not-so-united front.

INTERNATIONAL

Thousands of civil servants protest in Paris against the resigning government's measures. Abaca Press / Alamy Stock Photo Abaca Press / Alamy Stock Photo / Alamy Stock Photo

#FRANCE: French prime minister Michel Barnier has handed in his resignation to president Emmanuel Macron, following his loss in a vote of no confidence in parliament last night.

#CALIFORNIA: A tsunami warning has been put in place after a powerful earthquake struck off the coast of California, US seismologists have said.

#GEORGIA: More than 300 protesters have been detained and more than 100 people have been treated for injuries as mass protests in Georgia, fuelled by the country’s governing party’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the EU, entered the second week.

#NEW YORK: Bullets that an unidentified gunman used to shoot and kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson yesterday morning in New York City had words written on them, according to law enforcement officials.

#SOUTH KOREA: South Korean police have begun investigating President Yoon Suk Yeol for alleged “insurrection” over his declaration of martial law, a senior police officer has said.

PARTING SHOT

VOTES WERE CAST, ballots counted and 174 seats have been filled in Dáil Eireann – but with an average of four-in-10 registered voters opting out of political participation, how healthy is Ireland’s democracy?

Emma DeSouza looks at why voter numbers have been in decline steadily in Ireland in recent years and asks what can be done to stop the trend.

You can read her full column here.