LAST UPDATE | 11 Apr 2025

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news you need to know as you start the day.

The Morning Lead

1. The government has been quietly scrapping committees that are meant to hold gardaí accountable. 

In our Morning Lead, Valerie Flynn reports that the government is rolling out a new initiative: Local Community Safety Partnerships. However, not everyone is convinced.

Mental Health

2. The brother of a man who died by suicide the same day he presented himself to an emergency department has described the Government’s new mental health implementation plan as a “failure”.

Tariff talks

3. Brussels could hit US Big Tech with taxes if negotiations fail to end Donald Trump’s tariff war against the EU, the bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a Financial Times interview yesterday.

Sun sun sun

4. If you haven’t got a chance to enjoy a pint in the sun or take a dip in the (still baltic) sea, you have at least one more day to bask in the rays.

Temperatures could be as high as 22 degrees today, particularly in the east.

New York helicopter crash

5. A family of five Spanish tourists and a pilot were killed when a helicopter broke apart in midair and crashed upside-down into the Hudson River, officials said.

New arrivals

6. The number of people applying for international protection in Ireland fell for a third consecutive month in March, RTÉ reports.

Golf

7. Rory McIlroy endured a disappointing run to the finish of his first round at the Masters, falling from four-under to even par with an uninspiring 72.

Water safety

8. The volunteer lifeboat crew at Howth RNLI launched their inshore lifeboat twice on Thursday to reports of swimmers in difficulty at Portmarnock.

Taliban

9. Afghanistan’s Supreme Court said three convicted murderers were executed by order of Taliban authorities on Friday, bringing to nine the number of men publicly put to death since their return to power, according to an AFP tally.