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

IRELAND

Refurbished Pearse Station piano donated by Iarnród Éireann finds a new home in the SVP Ozanam House Community Resource Centre. Iarnród Éireann is supporting weekly piano lessons for service users Jason Clarke Jason Clarke

• The final report of the Commission of Investigation examining the years of sexual abuse perpetrated by Bill Kenneally and how complaints about his crimes were handled by authorities has been completed.
• Two men and a teenager who were arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of a woman who was set on fire at a house in Clondalkin have been charged.
• The number of people in emergency accommodation increased by 196 last month, reaching a new record high of 17,308.
• A man charged with assaulting a care worker and attempting to murder three children on Parnell Square in Dublin in November 2023 is fit to stand trial, a judge ruled.
• A man appeared in court charged with murdering mother-of-two Amy Doherty in Derry.
• The Irish Air Corps has flown a special mission to Beirut to fly in senior military leadership personnel and to extract a team of engineers who have been stuck in Lebanon since the IDF launched its invasion of the south of the country.
• Two men were arrested after gardaí seized suspected cannabis worth around €1.52 million.
• Bus Éireann is set to withdraw three Expressway services, including Waterford to Dublin Airport.
• Ireland international Sammie Szmodics confirmed he was “on the mend” after sustaining a head injury in their World Cup qualification play-off semi-final against Czechia in Prague last night.
• School transport fees have been doubled for primary school children.
• Seven out of nine child car seats tested in an EU-organised campaign involving Ireland failed crash tests, with only one passing all tests.
• A Garda investigation is underway after a horse pulling a sulky died in collision with two cars on a Tipperary road this week.
• Two new medical reports relating to Eleanor Donaldson have been submitted to court, a judge said at a review hearing of the trial of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson and his wife.
• A warning was issued over scammers purporting to be contacting people about their medical cards.
• The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by Gemma O’Doherty to a defamation case taken by the brother of the late journalist Veronica Guerin, and criticised O’Doherty’s use of artificial intelligence in her legal submissions.

INTERNATIONAL

Donald Trump speaks during an event with farmers on the South Lawn of the White House yesterday. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#NUCLEAR FACILITIES: Israel claimed responsibility for strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, hours after it threatened to “escalate and expand” its campaign against Tehran.

#MINAB: Iran’s Foreign Minister branded a deadly strike on an Iranian school on the first day of the Middle East war as a “calculated” US assault.

#EPSTEIN FILES: Sarah Ferguson was reportedly asked to testify about her “close personal and business ties” to Jeffrey Epstein. 

#FLORIDA: Tiger Woods was involved in a car crash in Florida, according to US media reports. 

PARTING SHOT

The new wing at the Irish Museum of Time in Waterford. Patrick Browne Patrick Browne

The world’s largest exhibition of cuckoo clocks opened today at Waterford’s Irish Museum of Time.

The exhibition – which includes over 400 timepieces – celebrates the craftsmanship of Germany’s Black Forest, where the cuckoo clock was originally created in the 18th century.

The trend for the novelty clocks took off as a hobby for farming families in the region, who passed the time during the long, cold winters constructing the clocks and incorporating intricate carvings along with the familiar sound of the cuckoo.

The exhibits were purchased from a private cuckoo clock museum near Manchester, which is closing down after 50 years. 

Of course, the opening comes just in time for the annual springtime change this weekend. 

Staff at the museum will be busy setting their clocks forward by an hour as summer officially begins.