EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning coffee.
1. #ESB: As ESB workers begin to digest the news that part of the energy provider is to be sold off by the government, it appears the developments have caused some unrest among staff – with UNITE, the workers’ largest union, intending to ballot members on proposed industrial action. Other unions have yet to indicate whether they’ll follow suit.
2. #NORTHERN IRELAND: Six people have been arrested after an attempted bomb attack on the home of a doctor who regularly offers his services to the PSNI, and previously to the RUC. The PSNI says it believes the bomb is the work of the Real IRA.
3. #RACE FOR THE ÁRAS: The Irish Independent reports this morning that David Norris is giving the clearest indication yet of his intention to get back into the race for the Presidency. He is to speak to members of the Dail’s Technical Group at its meeting this afternoon, sounding out whether it would still be prepared to nominate him. The Irish Times adds, though, that Mary Davis and Trocaire’s Justin Kilcullen are also due at the meeting.
4. #STRIKE: INMO members are to stage a four-hour work stoppage at Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick next Wednesday, protesting at what it believes are “appalling conditions for patients”, and poor staffing levels as a result of the recruitment freeze.
5. #TRANSPARENCY: The Commissioner for Environmental Information has ruled that NAMA is a “public authority” – meaning the state’s bad bank is required to supply information to the public under Environmental Information Regulations, which are similar to Freedom of Information requests. The ruling comes after a 19-month battle by Gavin Sheridan of TheStory.ie.
6. #GREECE: Prime minister George Papandreou has denied that his country is on the verge of a bailout, after a conference call with Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel last night. The three later described Greece as ‘integral’ to the Eurozone, with the big powers backing the country’s austerity plan.
7. #LIBYA: Fresh from that phone call, Sarkozy today joins David Cameron in Libya where he meets Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council, to see how his new interim government is taking shape.
8. #REPOSSESSIONS: AIB has told the Oireachtas it has repossessed 38 houses since the start of the property crash – with 17 of those occupied by the owner. Bank of Ireland told the same committee meeting that it hasn’t yet begun to offer debt write-offs – while AIB has agreed to restructure around 5,000 mortgages.
9. #BLOGGER: There’s a hot new blogger on the Irish scene – only the patron saint, St Patrick, whose Confessio has been republished online. The Confessio, one of Patrick’s two major works, doesn’t contain any references to snakes or shamrocks.
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