EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things we really think you ought to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #CABINET The Cabinet will be back around the table today for the first time since the summer recess. Legislation, the upcoming referenda and householders struggling with mortgages are expected to be on the agenda. As the Cabinet prepares to discuss mortgages and the issue of debt forgiveness, The Irish Times reports today that there is no catch-all solution on the issue, and a Department of Finance spokesperson has said a debt forgiveness scheme is not the answer.
2. #GALWAY There are reports that overcrowding at University Hospital Galway is such a serious issue that staff are having to step over elderly patients who have been forced to wait on the floor. Labour TD Derek Nolan has requested a meeting with the clinical director of the facility to discuss the issue after receiving reports from concerned constituents.
3. #LIBYA The family of Muammar Gaddafi are understood to have crossed the border into Algeria. The Algerian Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Gaddafi’s wife, two sons and his daughter are in the country, while his own whereabouts remain unknown. Rebel leaders say they will demand the extradition of Gaddafi’s family.
4. #BACK-TO-SCHOOL A report in today’s Irish Times indicates that private schools are not suffering as a result of the recession, with eight fee-paying schools in Dublin raising their prices, and some taking in more students. Meanwhile the Irish Daily Mail is reporting that the board of management at a school in Dunkettle in Cork has taken the initiative to lease rooms at a local hotel to act as classrooms, so that children don’t have to learn in freezing prefabs.
5. #DSK Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has returned to the International Monetary Fund to warm applause, and has delivered an apology to his former colleagues. It was his first visit since charges of sexual assault were brought against him. The charges were dropped last week.
6. #STABBING The man arrested in connection with a fatal stabbing in Tallaght at the weekend is due to appear in court this morning. The 32-year-old man, reported yesterday to be of no fixed abode, will appear before Dublin District Court at 10.30am. The victim, 23-year-old John Murdoch, died after being stabbed during an altercation in the early hours of Saturday morning.
7. #ITALY The town of Filettino in Italy has begun to print its own money in a bid to fight austerity measures. The mayor has started minting the town’s own money – the notes have his photo on the back – and people in the town have already started using it, reports Reuters. According to the New York Times, mayor Luca Sellari wants Filettino to become an independent state under a monarch.
8. #PORN SETS A HIV scare has shut down porn sets in Los Angeles, according to the LA Times. The measure was taken after a performer tested positive for the HIV and the sets will remain closed until the further tests can be completed.
9. #RUGBY The Irish rugby squad will begin their trip to New Zealand today for the Rugby World Cup today. They’re flying out of Dublin Airport at around 5.30pm.
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