LAST UPDATE | 2 Feb

GOOD MORNING.

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

Meta

1. Irish authorities are unlikely to take any action after it was revealed that Facebook parent company Meta is making around 10% of its revenue from scam ads and banned goods.

Catholic Church 

2. Abuse survivor David Ryan is set to have a private audience with Pope Leo XIV later today at the Vatican.

Epstein  

3. Former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson has resigned from the Labour party to avoid causing it “further embarrassment” following further revelations about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Immigration 

4. An asylum seeker group that mobilised hundreds of supporters outside the gates of the Dáil this week has garnered attention in recent months, partly for how it has been protesting against other migrant organisations.

Renting

5. The government’s major incoming reforms for the private rental sector will result in sharp increases in rent for new tenants across several parts of the country, Sinn Féin has claimed.

Grammys

6. Donald Trump threatened to sue the host of the Grammy Awards over a joke about his connections to Jeffrey Epstein.

Fallout 

7. George Mitchell, who was honoured for his work in the Irish peace process, has been removed from a scholarship programme that bears his name due his links to the Epstein scandal.

Drugs

8. Gardaí seized €3.4m worth of benzodiazepine tablets in searches of businesses in Dublin.

Groundhog Day 

9. The most famous groundhog in the world, Punxsatawney Phil, has predicted six more weeks of wintry weather in the US after he saw his shadow today as part of his annual prediction at Gobbler’s Knob in western Pennsylvania.