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

IRELAND

Poolbeg Lighthouse almost invisible, surrounded by high seas and waves generated by Storm Bram RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

• Only Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo remain under wind warnings but around 25,000 homes are still without power due to Storm Bram.
• The final Kenova report urged the UK government to reveal the identity of Stakeknife, the British Army’s top spy in the IRA.
• The president of the European Council António Costa said Russia was responsible for the drones in Irish airspace during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Ireland last week.
• Police from Portugal, France and Northern Ireland were deployed into Dublin to assist gardaí during the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, The Journal learned.
• A judge said “it is clear” that Enoch Burke “has something to hide” by refusing to comply with legal requests to provide the High Court with details of his income.
• Four men were arrested after gardaí seized a large quantity of cocaine estimated to be worth over €7.2 million.
• Even with Government supports, first-time buyers need a combined salary of between €84,000 and €129,000 to be in with a chance of purchasing an apartment.
• The Minister for Housing said he believes it was “misconceived” for his department to share a video on social media offering advice to young people who are moving back in with their parents.
• Disability rights advocate Cara Darmody and her father began a 50-hour sleep-out protest outside Dáil Éireann today at 11am amid a Status Orange weather warning.
• Elon Musk and social media giant X were granted permission by the High Court to challenge an investigation by Irish media watchdog Coimisiún na Meán into whether X, formerly Twitter, contravened the Digital Services Act regarding complaints procedures at the messaging site.
• A number of hospitals across the country introduced visitor restrictions due to the high number of patients with the flu. 
• The majority of the cash set aside for mobile phone ‘storage solutions’ has been drawn down by schools, Cabinet was told today.
• Senator Frances Black said she is “really concerned” that questions about the timeline for the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill are being met with “vague answers and no detail” from government leaders.
• AIB staff living in Northern Ireland and working in the Republic have been told they must work five days a week in an office in the Republic of Ireland or face termination.
• The OPW is set to spend an estimated €10m on the provision of event catering and hospitality services for State dinners, high-level lunches and other State events at Dublin Castle, Áras an Uachtaráin and other State venues.
• A man was arrested and 18 stolen cattle have been returned to their owner after they were recovered by gardaí yesterday.

INTERNATIONAL

File photo of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy with his advisers. AP AP

#UKRAINE: Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he intends to send an updated plan to end the war with Russia to Washington tomorrow, after it was amended following talks with European allies.
#EPSTEIN FILES: A US federal judge agreed to unseal grand jury records from the probe of Ghislaine Maxwell, accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
#CLIMATE CHANGE: The planet is on track to log its second hottest year on record in 2025, tied with 2023 after a historic high in 2024.

PARTING SHOT

Brian Warfield from The Wolfe Tones at Feile an Phobail in Belfast in 2015 Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Five months after their “farewell” tour, the Wolfe Tones have announced two upcoming gigs in Dublin’s 3Arena “due to phenomenal demand”.

In July, the Wolfe Tones performed what was described as their “Final Farewell” shows in Limerick’s Thomond Park Stadium.

But in an announcement today, the Wolfe Tones’s Brian Warfield remarked that “the calls for us to return were constant”.

“Fans have written, stopped us along the way in streets and pubs and everywhere, reached out from every corner of Ireland and beyond,” said Warfield.

“Their messages showed us how deeply the Wolfe Tones meant to them and a strong bond remains between us and them after all those years.”

The Wolfe Tones will play the 3 Arena on Friday 3 July and Saturday 4 July.