LAST UPDATE | 1 Oct 2021
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. This morning we report that press conferences by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) are set to come to a permanent end as health officials revert to their original duties later this month.
Members of NPHET have not held a public briefing since 24 August as the team is set to be scaled back in October and move to a surveillance function.
Sources on the team have indicated that while officials, including Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, will occasionally make media appearances it is unlikely that any more press conferences will be held as the country exits the emergency phase of the pandemic.
2. Restaurants and pubs will not be able to insist customers continue to show their vaccination certs to access services when the government lifts restrictions on 22 October.
Cabinet agreed to extend the emergency provisions that allow for indoor hospitality to reopen under certain conditions, such as with the use of the Covid pass, until 9 January 2022.
However, Government is keen to stress it remains the plan that all restrictions relating to the requirement for certification of vaccination, immunity or testing before entering a pub or restaurant, and other indoor activities, will be lifted on 22 October.
3. Australia is to reopen its borders next month, the country’s prime minister said today, 18 months after citizens were banned from travelling overseas without permission.
Scott Morrison said vaccinated Australians would be able to return home and travel overseas “within weeks” as 80% vaccination targets are met.
On 20 March last year Australia introduced some of the world’s toughest border restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
4. The Metropolitan Police are investigating whether Wayne Couzens committed more crimes before he kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard as the force vowed to make the streets safer for women and girls.
A senior officer admitted a vetting check on the former police officer was not done “correctly” when he joined the Met in 2018, while he was linked to an indecent exposure incident at a McDonald’s in Swanley, Kent, just 72 hours before Ms Everard was abducted in March.
The Met announced it will no longer deploy plain clothes officers on their own after the sentencing hearing was told Couzens had used lockdown rules to falsely arrest Ms Everard during the abduction.
5. The role of Chief Scientific Adviser should not be combined with any other role, according to the president of one of Ireland’s leading academic bodies, the Royal Irish Academy.
Dr Mary Canning issued a statement following the advertisement of the role of Director General of the Government’s science funding agency, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
This role was combined with the Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) almost 10 years ago, with concerns over a conflict of interest being raised ever since the dual role was first announced. Before this, the office was independent to the funding agency.
6. A man who alleges he was sexually assaulted by the late Inner City Helping Homeless founder Anthony Flynn has spoken out.
Investigations are continuing into allegations of sexual assault against Anthony Flynn, the late founder of ICHH. The 34-year-old Dublin councillor was found dead in tragic circumstances at his home in East Wall in August.
An internal report for ICHH, released last week, detailed four serious allegations made against Flynn.
7. The British Government said it is “continuing to work closely” with the pig industry amid a reported shortage of butchers which could impact food supplies over Christmas.
UK ministers are considering plans to ease visa restrictions for up to 1,000 foreign butchers, according to The Times.
A spokesman for the Department For Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told the PA news agency it was aware of labour shortages.
8. A 96-year-old former Nazi concentration camp secretary has been remanded in custody after spending several hours on the run in a bid to flee her trial in Germany to face charges of complicity in the murder of more than 10,000 people.
The court in the town of Itzehoe ordered that Irmgard Furchner be held in custody pending the resumption of the trial on 19 October.
One of the first women to be prosecuted for Nazi-era crimes in decades, Furchner is charged for her role at the Stutthof concentration camp in occupied Poland where she was secretary to the camp commandant while still a teenager.
9. Ireland’s first transregional third level institution, the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, has been officially opened.
TUS comprises a student population of more than 14,000 and a staff of approximately 2,000 people working fulltime and part-time across six campuses in Athlone, Limerick, Clonmel, Ennis and Thurles.
In a statement the college said the status and recognition of being a Technological University will enable TUS to offer a more diverse range of research and to award degrees in new areas of speciality, while it will remain committed to retaining and building upon its ethos of providing higher education to all those who would benefit from it.
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