EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you five things you need to know before you head out the door…
1. #BIRD FLU: The avian flu virus has been detected in a small number of pheasants in West Cork, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed. Preliminary tests show the strain is not the most likely to cause infection but further tests are being carried out to establish the precise strain. The birds on the affected land in Clonakilty are being slaughtered and biosecurity measures have been put in place.
2. #CRIME: Murders, assaults and drug offences have all decreased in the last year while burglaries and fraud have risen, according to newly released crime figures from the Central Statistics Office. Minister for Justice Alan Shatter welcomed the decreases in eleven out of fourteen categories of crime as a “substantial achievement for law enforcement”.
3. #HOUSEHOLD CHARGE: With one day to go before the deadline, latest figures show more than 600,000 people have now paid the €100 household charge. The Minister for the Environment has appealed to people who have not yet paid to do so. An anti-household charge demonstration will take place at the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis in Dublin tomorrow.
4. #AIR TRAVEL: The European Commission has rejected claims by Ryanair that its officials are banned from using low-cost airlines. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary had said the Commission was discriminating against airlines such as his – but the Commission says 300 EU officials used Ryanair for business trips last year.
5. #NAMA: A group of paintings which had been pinned up on the hoardings of the abandoned Anglo Irish Bank headquarters in Dublin have been removed – but it is unclear who has taken them down. The artworks had been put in place on St Patrick’s Day by a guerrilla group of artists who said that wanted to kickstart a debate about the role of NAMA in Ireland.
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