LAST UPDATE | 29 Mar 2022

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.

NPHET 2.0

1. Our morning lead story looks at the new group to replace the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) set to be announced later this week, which will be much smaller than the previous. It is understood that the Government believes some new “fresh” thinking is required two years into the pandemic. 

Pensions

2. Cabinet will be updated today on the auto-enrolment of pensions plan which will see those earning more than €20,000 automatically signed up to make contributions for their retirement fund. 

Ukraine

3. Ukrainian forces recaptured a key suburb of Kyiv and desperately clung onto control of the besieged city of Mariupol yesterday, with negotiators preparing to meet Russian counterparts for face-to-face talks in Istanbul today.

Road collision

4. A woman is in a critical condition in hospital after the car she was driving collided with a lorry and a van. 

Donald Trump

5. A US Federal judge has said it is “more than likely” that former US president Donald Trump committed crimes in his attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election. 

Poisoned

6. Oligarch Roman Abramovich and at least two Ukrainian peace negotiators are reported to have suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning following a meeting in Kyiv earlier this month.

Northern Ireland

7. The Northern Ireland Protocol is “not sustainable” in its current format, the UK’s Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis has said. The Secretary of State said 200 businesses in Great Britain are not trading with Northern Ireland due to the post-Brexit trade arrangements.

P&O Dispute

8. A second P&O ferry is being detained, the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has said after undertaking a safety inspection. The firm sparked outrage after sacking 800 seafarers without notice on 17 March amid plans to bring in cheaper agency staff.

Pierre Zakrzewski

9. The funeral of an Irish cameraman who died in Ukraine is taking place in Dublin today. The funeral mass at The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Foxrock this morning will remember Pierre Zakrzewski, a cameraman for Fox News who was capturing the war in Ukraine.

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