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GOOD EVENING
The 5 at 5 5 minutes, 5 stories, 5 o’clock…
EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the five stories you need to know by 5pm.
1. #TRAGEDY: Investigations are continuing into the crash which killed 28 people, including 22 children, in a tunnel in Switzerland last night. The bus carrying 52 people was travelling back to Belgium after a ski trip when it hit a wall in a tunnel in the Swiss Alps.
2. #MONEY MONEY: The average amount spent by households in Ireland is just over €810 each week, with housing overtaking food as the area where most money is spent. New figures from the CSO found households spend just under €40 per week on alcohol and cigarettes and €35 per week on energy.
3. #TRANSPARENCY: The chairman of NAMA has said he opposes proposals to make the agency subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Frank Daly told an Oireachtas committee that it would cause difficulties for the bank in maximising its profits for the taxpayer – on the same day Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty introduced legislation which would make NAMA subject to the FoI Act.
4. #IEC 2012: Pope Benedict XVI has yet to give any indication on whether he will attend the International Congress in Dublin this June according to an Irish delegation who met the pontiff in Rome this morning. Organisers of the Congress had travelled to the Vatican to present the Pope with a bowl of shamrock and a ceremonial bell.
5. #SUBVERSION: Fianna Fáil Senator Marc MacSharry has defended his criticism of online forums and said his statement that they amount to “legalised subversaion of the State” was taken out of context. The Senator also echoed his party’s call for a public inquiry into RTE over the Frontline presidential debate tweet.
