LAST UPDATE | 5 Sep 2024

GOOD MORNING.

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

School sexual abuse

1. Almost all of the people who gave testimony to the scoping inquiry into sexual abuse at religious schools in Ireland said that the abuse they experienced led to the premature end of their childhood.

The scoping inquiry revealed almost 2,400 allegations of sexual abuse of children in schools run by religious orders. There were 844 alleged abusers in over 300 schools run by 42 religious orders across the country.

‘Ripped off’

2. Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley is to introduce legislation that would ban so-called dynamic pricing in order to protect consumers from being “ripped off” when buying tickets for cultural events. 

It comes after the cost of Oasis concert tickets caused uproar among the public. Dynamic pricing meant that ticket prices rose in line with demand, so people ended up paying much higher prices than they expected to. 

Child poverty

3. There has been an increase in the number of children unable to access essential items.

The ESRI has found that “material deprivation” among those aged under 18 rose from 17.7% in 2022 to 20.1% in 2023.

US Presidential Debate

4. US Vice President Kamala Harris travels to the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania today, where she will reportedly spend five days preparing for next week’s presidential debate.

The debate will be the first ever meeting between Harris and Trump.

Passenger Cap

5. Minister for Finance Jack Chambers has said the passenger cap at Dublin Airport is a “serious risk” to economic growth in Ireland.

Dublin Airport is only allowed to fly through a maximum of 32 million passengers a year based on planning conditions from 15 years ago.

School shooting

6. The perpetrator of a shooting at a US high school was a 14-year-old student and two of the four people killed were fellow pupils, authorities have revealed.

Kildare feud

7. A judge has warned that lives will be lost over an ongoing feud between two rival groups in a small rural village as six men appeared in court in relation to a number of incidents in the Carbury area of Co Kildare in the past week.

Gender based violence

8. Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei has died after being set on fire by her boyfriend in Kenya, Uganda’s Olympic Committee chief has said.

Cheptegei, 33, had sustained burns to 80% of her body.

Pollution

9. The Government has launched a plan to improve water quality in Ireland and restore freshwater habitats.