By Sarah Gill
19th Jan 2024
19th Jan 2024
Your speedy summary of today's must-read stories.
Investigations continue after homeless hostel explosion
Gardaí and Defence Forces are continuing to investigate an explosion at a homeless hostel on Little Britain Street in Dublin, in which a man in his 30s—believed to be Eastern European—was killed. It is understood at this stage to be a self-contained and isolated incident. The explosion was confined to one room within the property, and no one else was injured. Residents at the premises were evacuated, and a cordon, along with local traffic diversions, remain in place. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) experts, using a remotely controlled robot, determined that there was a suspicious device found inside the room during their examinations.
Teaching-through-Irish allowance
Educators have said that a yearly allowance for teachers who teach through Irish should be reintroduced, after it was scrapped to save the Government money. Gaeloideachas, a representative national body for education through the Irish language, said that official recognition is needed for the additional workload for teachers who are teaching in Irish-medium settings in order to address the recruitment crisis in the sector. According to a survey carried out by the INTO last October, there were 18 permanent and 18 fixed-term posts vacant in 53 Gaelscoileanna across the country, along with 34 vacant long-term substitute posts.
Israel says troops reached far south of Gaza
The Israeli army said troops had reached the southernmost point of their ground invasion of Gaza so far as they intensified operations across the south of the Palestinian territory. As fears rise that the Israel-Hamas war will escalate, tensions flared in the wider region following Pakistani strikes in Iran and new US military action targeting Iran-backed Yemeni rebels. In Khan Yunis, southern Gaza’s main city, the army said its Givati Brigade was “fighting in the southernmost area that ground troops have operated in so far”.
Social housing
More than 1,100 social homes have been stuck in the same phase of the planning system for the three-and-a-half-year period that the Government has been in power. When the Government came to power in June 2020, some 23,600 social homes were in the planning pipeline — with statuses ranging from pre-planning, pre-tender, and final tender report to on-site and completion — but some 1,150 have never progressed. These include 52 homes in Stranorlar in Donegal, which cleared its Stage 2 approval in the fourth quarter of 2019, and 28 homes on Thomas Davis Street in Cork City which were Stage 3 approved in quarter 4 of 2019.
Contempt of court initiated against Tusla
The High Court is being asked to find that Tusla is in contempt of a court order over its alleged failure to comply with a special care order made for a young teenager who is at “grave risk”. Lawyers moving the first stage of his application on Thursday afternoon said they cannot find any previous instance where an agency of the State in this jurisdiction has been brought to court for contempt. Michael Lynn SC, representing the boy suing through his mother, said an order made more than a month ago for the child’s detention in a special care unit is “simply being flouted” by Tusla (the Child and Family Agency).
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