By Sarah Gill
28th Jul 2023
28th Jul 2023
Your speedy summary of today's must-read stories.
November referendum
Leo Varadkar has reaffirmed a commitment to holding a referendum in November to amend the “women in the home” clause in the Irish constitution. The Taoiseach said there has been “some difficulty agreeing on the wording” of the proposed amendment. He pointed out that there are two key issues at play, the wording in the Constitution that says the family is founded on marriage and the clause relating to the role of women in the home. “I think we all agree that in the modern world, there are lots of families that are not married families.
Garda visibility
The Government has announced an additional €10 million in funding for garda overtime in Dublin. The Minister for Justice said the money will be made available immediately, and while the Garda Representative Association (GRA) welcomed the announcement, they said the overtime is being offered because there is not enough gardaí to police the streets. It comes as 87 new gardaí will graduate from the Garda College in Templemore today, with almost another 180 to begin training there on Monday.
HSE claims
The HSE’s legal fees have hit nearly €500m over the last five years, with the overall cost of claims in the same period reaching over €2bn. Figures released to Sinn Féin’s Health spokesman David Cullinane by the State Claims Agency show that legal fees climbed from €73m in 2018 to €118m in 2022. Cost of damages awarded against the HSE in those years went from €229m in 2018 to €351m in 2022, and include VAT.
Trump
Lawyers for Donald Trump have met with members of special counsel Jack Smith’s team ahead of a potential indictment over the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Mr Trump confirmed the meeting in a post on his Truth Social network, writing: “My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country.”
Weather warning
Outbreaks of rain will continue across the country today as a Status Yellow rain warning has been issued for three counties from tomorrow morning. Met Éireann forecasts that today will remain cloudy with showers becoming most frequent in the western half of the country from this afternoon.
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