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

IRELAND

Daffodils appear in Phibsborough in Dublin Sam Boal Rolling News Sam Boal Rolling News

• Two men have been arrested in connection with an incident in which two people died following a shooting at a restaurant in Blanchardstown on Christmas Eve.  
• The Taoiseach has paid tribute to a former Fine Gael TD who was killed yesterday in a road collision.
• A motorcyclist is in a serious condition following a collision in Wexford. 
• Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has said that new measures at the border were “a crackdown” on people who are entering the country in the wrong manner and seeking international protection status.
• Houseboat dwellers in Dublin’s docklands are facing steep annual fee increases, and have accused Waterways Ireland of attempting to gentrify the canal and ‘displace’ those who’ve made it their home.
• Support for Sinn Féin is at its lowest level since the last general election.
• A patient group and opposition TDs have expressed disappointment at the delay in appointing a chairperson to lead the inquiry into the historical use of sodium valproate, prescribed as an anti-epilepsy drug to women while pregnant.
• A County Council has been told by a State auditor that it should consider targeting its deputy mayor’s expenses to help it recoup some of the €739,000 in costs arising from clearing a toxic waste dump operated by the politician’s company.
• A vital overhaul of Ireland’s mental health legislation may not happen before the next general election, the head of the national coalition for mental health has warned.

INTERNATIONAL

A screen grab captured from a video shows two environmental activists from the collective dubbed Riposte Alimentaire (Food Retaliation) after throwing soup at Leonardo da Vinci's famous renaissance Mona Lisa (La Joconde) painting at Louvre Museum in Paris, France. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#PARIS Protestors have thrown soup at the Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

#GAZA The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as well as top Egyptian, Qatari and Israeli officials met in Paris today to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza.

#JORDAN A drone attack on a base in Jordan killed three American troops earlier today.

#UNITED NATIONS UN Chief Antonio Guterres has pleaded for donor states to “guarantee the continuity” of the body’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) after several halted funding over accusations of staff involvement in Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel. 

PARTING SHOT

From 1 February, a charge – described as a ‘deposit’ – will be added to aluminium and steel cans and plastic bottles.

The cans and bottles can be returned, empty and undamaged, to shops or new machines that some stores will have. 

It’s part of efforts to reduce litter and increase the amount of materials that get recycled.

Today, we asked you: Will you use the new deposit-return scheme to get rid of your empty cans and bottles?

And the results are in:

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