EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #RACE TO THE ÁRAS Senator David Norris has claimed his possible re-entry into this year’s presidential race would be the biggest comeback in Irish political history. Speaking on The Late Late Show last night, he said even if he does not succeed in getting his name on the ballot paper, he wil have “exposed” the problems with the nomination process. Although there are still only four official candidates, Norris’ re-entry and Sinn Féin’s announcement that Martin McGuinness will likely be the party’s candidate have blown the race wide open.
2. #BAILOUT Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said it is not likely that the European Central Bank will allow him to burn any of Anglo Irish Bank’s senior bondholders but he will raise the issue with president Jean-Claude Trichet during their meeting today anyway. Meanwhile, the Irish Times reports that EU finance ministers have signed off on interest rate cuts on Ireland’s bailout which will mean up to €10 billion savings over the life of the EU/IMF loans.
3. #CHILD ABUSE A priest in Wexford believes that Irish wives and mothers also participated in a cover-up of child abuse. Writing in The Irish Catholic newspaper, Fr Paddy Banville said he was aware his point is “politically incorrect” but said that the “failure” by Irish mothers to deal with the abuse of their children by other family members “probably surpassed” the failure of the Catholic bishops in their “bungling attempts to deal with clerical abuse”.
4. #TAX EVASION A company owned by champion horse trainer Aidan O’Brien has been named-and-shamed on the Revenue Commission’s defaulters’ list. The 41-year-old had to pay a €526,077 settlement following a probe into tax evasion on offshore assets, reports the Irish Daily Star this morning.
5. #TOSCAN DU PLANTIER French police investigating the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in Cork fifteen years ago have been unable to get their hands on a series of revealing diaries kept by prime suspect Ian Bailey. The journals contain accounts of assaults he carried out on Toscan du Plantier, as well as details of his luried sexual fantasies. Ralph Riegel and Michael Sheridan report in The Irish Independent that Gardaí have already returned the key documents to Bailey.
6. #AIRSHOW CRASH A World War II-era plane has crashed into spectators at an airshow in the US, killing at least three people and injuring dozens more. The experienced stunt pilot who was flying the plane was among the dead.
7. #DALE FARM Irish travellers living on the Dale Farm camp in Essex, England will be evicted on Monday after the group failed in a last-ditch legal attempt to keep the bailiffs out. However, the local council, which has written to the travellers to ask for co-operation, now fear that some of the families may just locate to other illegal sites in the area.
8. #C’MON IRELAND The Irish rugby boys take on Australia in the second match of their World Cup 2011 campaign. Keep up-to-date with every try and penalty with TheScore.ie‘s liveblog.
9. #SHE SAID NO An Italian actress has been labelled Italy’s newest heroine after she said no…to the country’s premier Silvio Berlusconi. Despite alleged pleas from the prime minister’s camp, Manuela Arcuri refused to sleep with Berlusconi in exchange for the chance to host a prestigious music festival, according to the Daily Telegraph.
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