GOOD MORNING.

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

Familicide

1. A report on familicide – cases of murder-suicide in which one person kills multiple close family members – will go to Cabinet today, four years after it was first commissioned.

Tax Break

2. Father Peter McVerry has said that Fine Gael’s recent push for tax cuts for middle earners prioritises the least vulnerable in society.

Three Fine Gael ministers published an opinion article in the Irish Independent last week which called for a full-time worker on a wage of €52,000 to get €1,000 back in tax relief in the next budget.

This Morning

3. Eammon Holmes has alleged that there was a “total cover-up” on ITV’s This Morning show over Phillip Schofield’s affair with a young male colleague.

Schofield, 61, resigned from ITV on Friday and was dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to an “unwise, but not illegal” affair.

Vaping

4. Legislation banning the sale of e-cigarettes to those under 18 is expected to be enacted before the Dáil’s summer recess.

Justice Minister

5. Helen McEntee is to return to her position as justice minister on Thursday. 

McEntee went on maternity leave in November 2022, with Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys taking over her role until the Cabinet reshuffle.

Space Exploration

6. The United Arab Emirates has unveiled plans to send a spaceship to explore the solar system’s main asteroid belt, the latest space project by the oil-rich nation after it launched the successful Hope spacecraft to Mars in 2020.

Contribution Charges

7. A new report carried out on behalf of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has found that 87% of parents have had to cut back or delay spending in order to pay the voluntary contribution charge.

Russia

8. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported a drone attack on the Russian capital this morning.

It came after Russia launched a pre-dawn attack on Ukraine’s capital today as its air defences worked to stop drones in what has been a relentless wave of daylight and night-time bombardments targeting Kyiv.

Kosovo 

9. Over 30 peacekeepers deployed in a NATO-led mission in Kosovo have been injured in clashes with Serb protesters who demanded the removal of recently elected ethnic Albanian mayors, as tensions flare in the Balkan nation.