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

IRELAND

Poet Geoff Finan performing from a van to an audience on the grounds of IMMA Dublin as part of Words Move by Festival in a Van and Poetry Ireland. Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

• Children under the age of 12 won’t need to take a PCR test when entering the State from next week.
• Of the 124 patients admitted to ICU with Covid-19 between 24 March and 23 June, 18 patients had received one dose of a vaccine and one was fully vaccinated, according to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly. 
• Ivana Bacik took her seat in the Dáil for the first time today, after her victory in the Dublin Bay South by-election - the 37th woman to take a seat in the House.  
• Bernard O’Byrne, the CEO of Basketball Ireland stood down down “with immediate effect” from his role following comments made on social media. 
• Legal counsel for women seeking judicial reviews of the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes report proposed proceeding with three test cases in the High Court. Eight women, some of whom cannot be named, are taking legal challenges against the Irish State.
• The leaders of the SDLP used parliamentary privilege to name Soldier F, who is accused of murdering two men during Bloody Sunday in 1972.
• The Oireachtas Health Committee voted to waive pre-legislative scrutiny of the indoor dining bill by eight votes to six, despite strong concerns voiced by the opposition. 
• A Tralee woman spoke today of her battle to find answers regarding her husband’s death as she settled her action against the HSE for a “substantial” sum. Liam Duggan, the late husband of Catherine Duggan and young father of two died from septicaemia at the University Hospital Kerry in early 2017.

WORLD

Children are evacuated from a burning building in downtown Durban, South Africa as ongoing looting and violence continues. Andre Swart / PA Andre Swart / PA / PA

#SOUTH AFRICA: 32 people have now died in South Africa during rioting that broke out following the imprisonment of the country’s former President Jacob Zuma. Police and the military are struggling to quell the looting and violence in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

#PEACE TALKS: An Afghanistan government delegation is to meet the Taliban in Doha to jump-start a long-stalled peace process - as the US all but winds up its “forever war” in Afghanistan.

#EURO2020 FALLOUT: A vandalised mural of England footballer Marcus Rashford has become a symbol of love and solidarity, the man behind the street artwork said after hundreds of well-wishers covered it with anti-racism messages of support.

PARTING SHOT

Hosts of the Talking Bollox Podcast, Calvin O’Brien and Terence Power, spoke to The Good Information Project about their frustration at being locked out of the housing market and their much-loved experience of growing up around Dorset Street Flats. 

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