NEED TO CATCH up? TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of today’s news.

IRELAND

Minister for Education Norma Foley congratulating students from Dominican College in Dublin on their Leaving Cert results today. Chris Bellew / Fennell Photography Chris Bellew / Fennell Photography / Fennell Photography

• Leaving Cert students received their calculated grades. Average marks across all subjects and at all levels went up by an average of 4.4%. 
• Ireland is now officially in a recession after the largest ever quarterly GDP drop.
• There were 102 more cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Ireland and no further deaths associated with the disease.  
• Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he cannot guarantee that ‘wet’ pubs will be able to open this month. 
• Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin received a written apology from President of University College Dublin over harassment from a colleague at the university from 2015 to 2017.
• People were advised to plan ahead for Christmas and Halloween “within a Covid-19 environment”.
• A high court challenge has been brought over the Minister for Foreign Affairs alleged refusal to decide on a passport application made on behalf of a young child, born via a surrogacy arrangement, living outside of Ireland.
• A friend of a teenager accused of murdering an 18-year-old in a Dublin park said that he brought the knife that was used in the fatal assault.

INTERNATIONAL 

A firefighter battles the Creek Fire as it threatens homes in the Cascadel Woods neighborhood of Madera County in California. AP / PA Images AP / PA Images / PA Images

#UK: A year 11 pupil was involved in a shooting on the way to school in Suffolk, England.

#BREXIT: Downing Street said new Brexit legislation is necessary to protect the Northern Ireland peace process if Britain is unable to secure a free trade deal with the EU.

#WILDFIRES: Evacuation orders have been expanded to more mountain communities in California as a huge wildfire churned through the Sierra National Forest.

#MINSK: Belarus opposition said a senior figure, Maria Kolesnikova, has been ‘kidnapped’.

PARTING SHOT 

Around 60,000 Leaving Cert students received their calculated grades today after months of what has been an uncertain and stressful time for many.  

Poppy Kane, a sixth-year student, wrote about her thoughts over the past six months ahead of receiving the results today. 

Here’s a sample of what was on her mind: 

With such uncertainty and the long-drawn-out decision on our Leaving Cert, at this point, I find the whole subject exhausting. Some days it’s hard to not worry about a future we have so little control over, and others, it’s easier to just accept whatever will be, will be.

At this point, I feel I’m awaiting closure, not only to my secondary school years but also to this moment in time of such confusion and irresolution. Sitting here, in anticipation of a few numbers, what I hope for most is something that’s been lacking for months now; clarity.