By Sarah Gill
03rd May 2023
03rd May 2023
Your speedy summary of today's must-read stories.
Texas manhunt
A 38-year-old man named Francisco Oropesa has been accused of and arrested for killing five neighbours after they asked him to stop firing his rifle in his yard in Texas. A manhunt lasted four days before he was taken into custody in a neighbouring town, where he was found in a closet underneath laundry. Officials have said that he had been deported from the United States four times since 2009.
Draft terms of inquiry
The Women of Honour group is not happy with “far too narrow” draft terms of reference for a statutory inquiry into abuse within the Defence Forces. Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, a spokesperson said: “We have always been of the opinion that while quick would be great, it has to be done right. The IRG was done for speed, and now we’re back where we started. Before going into the meeting, our hope was that we would be moving toward planning workshops around an appropriate statutory process in terms of reference. That’s always been our position, that all stakeholders involved are going to need to get together to develop what needs to be done here.”
Another rate rise for mortgage holders
The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to push up its lending rates by at least 0.25 percentage points, with some economists now warning of a 0.5 percentage point rate hike. Such a move would cost those on trackers and variable rates thousands of extra euro in repayments, and push up the cost of new fixed rates for new home buyers. A 0.5 percentage point rise would mean an extra €390 a year for a typical tracker customer with 11 years of repayments left. This is the seventh increase since last summer.
St Vincent de Paul
According to the Society of St Vincent De Paul, the number of people seeking assistance for energy poverty has risen significantly in the last year, with 230,000 requests for assistance received in 2022. This is an increase of 20% compared to 2021. Last week, the CSO reported that the annual rate of inflation had dropped to 6.3% in April, falling from 7% in the 12 months up to March.
Modular homes for Ukrainian refugees
The Housing Oireachtas Committee has been told that the first of 700 modular homes for Ukrainian refugees will be handed over in Mahon in Cork in two weeks. The Office of Public Works have said that the delayed units will “continue to flow” through the summer.
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