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

IRELAND

People taking part in a demonstration through Dublin city centre to mark three years since Russia invaded Ukraine. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

• Tributes are being paid to a five-year-old boy, Aaron Hussain, who died in a crash in Co Laois yesterday afternoon.
• Hundreds of Ukrainians have marched through Dublin’s streets to mark three years since Russia’s invasion.
• The National Transport Authority delayed the rollout of new 24-hour bus routes before Christmas following intense lobbying by TDs ahead of the general election.
• Support for Fianna Fáil has fallen by two points, according to a new opinion poll.
• Ireland’s bid to join the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) as an associate member took a significant step forward this week, with the country set to become an associate member in 2026.
• A man has been hospitalised following a shooting in Dunmurry, Belfast.

INTERNATIONAL

Supporters of Friedrich Merz, the candidate of the mainstream conservative Christian Democratic Union party, watch the first projections at the party headquarters in Berlin, Germany. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#GERMANY: Germany’s Christian Democrats are set to win the country’s parliament election, with the far-right surging into second place past the outgoing government parties.

#THE VATICAN: The Vatican has said Pope Francis’s condition “remains critical” but the 88-year-old has not had another respiratory attack.

#NATO: Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today that he would “immediately” quit as Ukraine’s president in exchange for the country gaining NATO membership.

#MULHOUSE: Four people were in custody today after a deadly stabbing in eastern France that authorities linked to Islamic extremism, the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said.

#GAZA: Hamas said Israel has gravely endangered the five-week-old Gaza ceasefire by delaying the release of Palestinian prisoners under the deal because of the manner it has freed Israeli hostages.

PARTING SHOT

BEHIND THE GOVERNMENT’S attention-grabbing announcement this week that it will exempt small cabin homes on family land such as back gardens from planning rules, there’s the reality that many people have lived in such structures for years.

For some families, such as Brendan McDonagh from Brittas in Co Dublin, the government’s plan comes too late.

We asked readers living in illegal cabins about their experiences as the government scramble to deal with the housing crisis.