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

Seven cygnets as they swim in the Grand Canal in Naas Kildare. Rollingnews Rollingnews

IRELAND

• A man was charged in connection with an investigation into the death of 21-year-old Qayyum Balogun.
• Computer systems across the health service were back up and running after some of the systems went down for several hours this afternoon, the HSE said.
• An agricultural discharge killed an estimated 20,000 fish in a river in Co Louth.
• The European Commission decided to refer Ireland to court for “insufficient” efforts taken by authorities to stop peat cutting.
• There is no evidence of an urban-rural divide when it comes to attitudes towards climate change, a new study found.
• Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns announced she was expecting her second child.
• A man who made an online threat to kill Tánaiste Simon Harris began a four-month prison term.
• A man became emotional as he told a court of the moment his wife revealed to him alleged sexual abuse by former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson when she was a child.
• Fine Gael’s four MEPs said they were deeply concerns by reports that a refinery in Limerick may be aiding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

INTERNATIONAL

Workers construct a stage for a mixed martial arts fight on the White House Lawn, Washing DC, USA. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#LEBANON: A Serbian peacekeeper was killed in a shelling of his UN position in south Lebanon this morning.

#ALBANIA: Thousands of people took to the streets in Albania this week to protest a proposed luxury resort development linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.

#ENGLAND: UK prime minister Keir Starmer was due to meet the family of slain college student Henry Nowak, whose death has led to riots in Southampton. 

PARTING SHOT

Politics by Numbers is a brand-new series for The Journal where broadcaster, author and spreadsheet stan Gavan Reilly takes a data deep dive into a political point of the week.

AS TDs APPROACH the grand staircase that forms the main entrance to the Dáil chamber, they will be met twice along the way by tables with stacks of grey booklets. At both the main reception desk just off the lobby, and at another table just beside the main door, they will find stapled reams that outline all the day’s parliamentary questions.

As a physical edifice, they are a bit of a relic: few people have need to pick up a physical copy any more; a soft copy of the questions booklet is usually available in advance on the Oireachtas intranet, and a PDF version is uploaded to its website at 5.15am for all to see. But those who pick up the hard copy on their way into the chamber, or the adjoining media workspaces, will have noticed a trend in recent months.

The booklet is getting bigger and bigger, and those responsible for processing and answering those questions are beginning to struggle with the load.

You can read Gavan Reilly’s full Voices article here.