Every day, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you really need to know with your morning coffee.
1. #CHARM OFFENSIVE: Enda Kenny will this morning continue his government’s “diplomatic offensive” programme of rebuilding Ireland’s international relations with his first trip to Downing Street, meeting David Cameron. The visit could see Kenny invite Cameron (or his successor) to events marking the centenary of the 1916 rising.
2. #JUNK: Moody’s has followed up last week’s downgrade of Irish bank debt by cutting the ratings of Ireland’s four main financial institutions: AIB, Bank of Ireland, EBS and Irish Life and Permanent have all seen their ratings cut by two notches. All four institutions are now ranked as junk.
3. #FINLAND: The Finnish general elections have thrown Portugal’s bailout in doubt – after the eurosceptic True Finns party, opposing Eurozone bailouts, recorded massive gains to finish third, potentially muscling its way into a coalition government.
4. #CLOYNE REPORT: The long-awaited publication into clerical sexual abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne could be delayed, after it emerged that there are legal disputes over precisely how much has been cleared for release by the courts.
5. #MURDER: Gardaí have until 2pm today to question a man who remains in custody over the death of a woman in Co Laois over the weekend. The Irish Independent reports that the man apparently visited a pub immediately after the death, admitting to the murder and asking that Gardaí be called.
6. #SWIMMING: A 4-year-old boy is in a critical condition in a hospital in Galway after an accident at a public swimming pool in Salthill at the weekend. Lifeguards spent 30 minutes administering CPR to the boy, the Star reports, adding that CCTV is being studied to examine exactly what happened.
7. #CYSTIC FIBROSIS: The Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland has clarified that the new CF unit at St Vincent’s Hospital will have capacity to treat 34 patients, after a statement from health minister James Reilly last week said that just 20 beds would be set aside. The figure of 20 is a lower minimum, however, and CF patients will always be accommodated.
8. #UP HIGH, HAI: Construction will begin shortly on a €430m luxury state-of-the-art skiing facility… in County Louth. The County Council gave planning permission for the project last week and it’s hoped that the Altitude resort will be open by the end of 2012, the Irish Independent reports.
9. #LAST SUPPER: As we enter Easter Week, a new book by a Cambridge scientist has claimed that the Last Supper is being celebrated on the wrong day. Due to a misunderstanding of Biblical proportions, Colin Humphreys reckons, we’ve been marking it on a Thursday – when it actually took place on a Wednesday.
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