Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland
There are now more Catholics than Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time since its partition, according to the latest Census.
The Census 2021 figures, published on Thursday, show that 45.7 per cent of the population said they were either Catholic or brought up as a Catholic.
The figures for Protestants (and other Christian faiths) was 43.5 per cent while 1.5 per cent were from other non-Christian religions.
Northern Ireland had a significant Protestant majority when it was established in 1921 as part of the partition of Ireland.
The 2011 Census recorded 48 per cent of the population as being either Protestant or brought up Protestant, down five percentage points on 2001. The Catholic population stood at 45 per cent in the last census, up one percentage point on 2001.
The 2021 Census showed 9.3 per cent of the population as belonging to no religion – this figure is up from 5.6 per cent in 2011.
Taoiseach to address UN General Assembly
Taoiseach Micheál Martin is set to address the UN General Assembly in New York today.
It comes after his Aer Lingus flight was forced to return to Dublin on Wednesday.
Reports have suggested the plane experienced a vibration in its right-hand engine.
Concerns of 'twin pandemic' of flu and Covid-19 this winter
The HSE’s chief clinical officer, Dr Colm Henry has acknowledged concerns about the possibility of a twin pandemic this winter, but it was by no means certain and people could help themselves by getting vaccinated.
Yes, there was some trepidation, but it was not definite that the winter would be catastrophic, he said when speaking on both Newstalk Breakfast and RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
While there had been an early rise in flu cases in the winter just passed in Australia, there had not been a rise in fatalities. The high early spike in Australia did not see a rise in hospitalisations and the system had coped, he said.
Elderly urged to avoid turning off lights in bid to save electricity
A professor of energy systems engineering has warned elderly people not to turn off lights in a bid to save electricity.
“Don't be switching off lights, the last thing we need is elderly people falling over. Six LED lights cost 9c for seven hours,” Aoife Foley told Newstalk’s Pat Kenny show.
“Don't have them all on, have adequate lighting,” she urged.
Professor Foley also called on homeowners and business owners with smart meters to contact their energy provider so they can avail of off-peak tariffs.
Smart meters record and export data every 30 minutes to the retailer, but also will provide interval data - the electricity consumed day (8am to 11pm), night (11pm to 8am) and at peak times (5pm to 7pm).
The smart meter also collects data about how electricity is performing which is then sent annually to the CRU, she explained.
Daughter and sister of murdered Jason Corbett hit out over US retrial
A daughter and sister of Limerick man Jason Corbett who was killed by his father-in-law and his second wife have hit out that he was not named during a court hearing set for June of next year for a retrial to begin.
Molly and Tom Martens were convicted of the second-degree murder of the Limerick native and father-of-two Jason Corbett on August 2nd, 2015 in Panther Creek, North Carolina in the US.
His children Jack, then aged 10 and Sarah, 8, were in the house on the night he was killed.
A jury in 2017 convicted the Martens of second-degree murder and Judge David Lee sentenced each to 20 to 25 years jail time.
Three years later, the North Carolina Court of Appeals overturned the convictions, saying Judge Lee had made errors that were so prejudicial it denied the Martens a fair trial.
