EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you up to speed with the five things you should know as you head out the door.
1. #SPECIAL NEEDS: The Education Minister Ruairí Quinn has reversed recently-announced cuts to resources for students with special educational needs, as well as announcing “measures” to retain the level of resource teachers available to students at 2012/13 levels. During this morning’s Cabinet meeting, agreement was secured to release 500 additional teaching posts to schools in September to deal with the demand for extra resource hours.
2. #ANGLO TAPES: The Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said he is shocked by the content of the The Anglo Tapes which have shed new light on conversations between senior bankers at the former Anglo Irish Bank – saying thay that arrogance and hubris seemed to be “part and parcel of the culture of that bank”. Gilmore said he hoped legislation to provide a legal basis for politicians to under take inquiries into matters of public interest would be enacted before the summer recess
3. #INSURANCE: The Health Minister James Reilly has said he will delay the introduction of new legislation increasing charges for private health insurers until a new forum can hold talks on how health insurance costs can be lowered. Reilly is setting up a consultative forum on health insurance, where insurers will discuss ways in which their charges for using public hospitals can be lowered.
4. #EDUCATION: The Irish government has halved its spending on education over the last 16 years, according to a new OECD report which outlines that Irish teachers now instruct pupils for 915 hours per year, compared with the EU average of 777 hours. The report shows that 9.4 per cent of government spending in Ireland in 2011 was allocated to education compared to 13.7 per cent in 2000.
5. #SNOWDEN: Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to extradite former CIA agent Edward Snowden, whose location was today pinpointed to the transit area of Moscow airport. Putin emphasised that Russia has no extradition agreement with the US in Snowden’s case and that “the sooner he selects his final destination point, the better both for us and for himself”.
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