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

IRELAND

Keeva Fitzgibbon, Abbie Cooper, Ellie Croke and Hayley Dooley, Rushall NS Laoise at the The VEX Robotics Ireland National Championship at the Munster Technological University. Darragh Kane Photography Darragh Kane Photography

• The number of people in emergency accommodation increased by 378 last month to reach a record high of 17,112.
• Two health insurers announced price hikes for customers this year, which will result in some families paying hundreds extra in annual fees.
• A man was charged with the murder of an English tourist who died two months after being injured in the Temple Bar area of Dublin last year.
• The European Union will implement a mammoth trade deal with the South American Mercosur bloc while waiting for a top court’s ruling on its legality. The move comes despite strong opposition from Ireland.
• Gardaí have classified more than 40 events during Ireland’s presidency of the EU as needing major security operations – with six of those requiring the highest possible level of military and police coverage, The Journal learned.
• Almost 320,000 households were unable to pay their electricity bills in full last December, marking a sharp year-on-year increase and pushing arrears to record levels.
• A 31-year-old Ukrainian man was sentenced to six months in prison arising out of the careless driving of a van that led to the death of an unborn baby. Saoirse Aylward has launched a campaign for legislative reform to address what she describes as a ‘gap’ in the law following her loss.
• A woman in her 60s was arrested as part of investigations into a fatal assault that left a man dead in Ballybough, Dublin, last month.
• The Garda Representative Association said attacks on gardaí have become “all too common”, after an incident in Dublin yesterday saw one garda hospitalised.
• Opposition members of the Oireachtas climate committee said the government’s planned liquefied natural gas terminal is “fundamentally incompatible” with Ireland’s position on climate change.
• The financial services and technology company Block, which has an office in Ireland, is set to lay off nearly half of its staff worldwide and replace them with AI.
• An Irish Navy ship suffered minor damage after bumping into the quayside in Dublin city.
• Fresh produce shortages following torrential downpours across Spain, Portugal and Morocco could push up the cost of food we import from these regions in the coming weeks.
• Last year marked only the second time since 2007 that Jack was not the most popular boy’s name in Ireland.

INTERNATIONAL

Emergency workers and police attend the scene of a tram derailment in Milan, Italy. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#IRAN: Germany “urgently” advised nationals not to go to Israel as it sharpened its travel advice over increasing tensions in the Middle East.

#MILAN: One person was killed and around 20 others injured in a tram crash in Milan, Italy.

#EPSTEIN FILES: Bill Clinton denied wrongdoing at a Congressional panel on his well-documented links to Jeffrey Epstein, as Democrats seek to shift focus toward Donald Trump’s own ties to the convicted sex offender.

#HANNAH SPENCER: From plumber to parliamentarian: Who is the UK’s newest Green Party MP?

#STARMER: And while the UK’s Green Party celebrates its first ever parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton, Manchester, Keir Starmer was dealt a bitter blow but vowed to “keep on fighting”.

PARTING SHOT

The St Patrick statue being taken down from Temple Bar The Journal The Journal

Dublin City Council confirmed it ordered the removal of the giant statue of St Patrick raising a pint outside Dublin’s Temple Bar Pub less than 24 hours after it first appeared on the city centre landmark.

The 14-foot figure, which was installed yesterday morning and depicted Ireland’s patron saint holding what appeared to be a pint of Guinness above the corner of the tourist pub, was removed earlier today.

Marc Kelly, the Monaghan artist behind the installation, told The Journal that its removal “was a shock to me”.

“I did not expect it to be taken down,” he added.

A worker involved in the removal of the sculpture this morning said he wasn’t sure what the pub’s plans for the huge bust were.

When asked where the installation crew planned to cart the bust off to, he responded, tongue placed firmly in cheek, that they might “take him to the zoo” now that he’s seen Temple Bar”.