Community gathers at Kate Moran funeral
An entire community has been stunned into silence by the tragic death of a young GAA star in Co Galway, her funeral has been told.
Kate Moran, 20, from the village of Monivea, was fatally injured playing for Athenry Camogie Club in a senior league game in Ardrahan on Monday.
GAA players from Monivea and Athenry lined the route outside the Church of The Sacred Heart, Ryehill, Monivea, on Friday, with many gathered for over an hour before the funeral began.
Parish priest Ronnie Boyle said the community “has been stunned into silence by this inconceivable, terrible, unfortunate accident”.
Relaxed Covid restrictions for Irish holidaymakers
A further 2,778 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed by the Department of Health as Irish holidaymakers can look forward to relaxed restriction in Spain and Portugal.
The holiday hotspots for Irish travellers are set to lift their facemask requirements in many public places, although the requirement will remain in place for public transport and healthcare settings.
Both countries also still require visitors to have a valid vaccination cert or test certificate.
It comes as the rollout of a second booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine began today in Ireland, with all over-65s and over-12s with a weak immune system advised to get the jab.
A professor of immunology has warned the public against equating Covid-19 with the flu virus and being complacent about presenting for their second booster jab, cautioning that long Covid remains little-understood.
Madeleine McCann suspect identified
Almost 15 years after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, Portuguese police have formally identified German national Christian Brueckner as a murder suspect.
The 44-year-old was identified as a suspect by German prosecutors in June 2020, but he has not been charged since then.
Investigators believe the convicted sex offender killed Madeleine, then three years old, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz where she had been staying with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and younger siblings, Amelie and Sean, in May 2007.
Here we chart the main events after the three-year-old vanished.
Potential payment to house refugees
A €400 monthly payment is being considered for families who take in Ukrainian refugees.
The plan, currently being discussed by Government, is based on the fact most Ukrainian refugees will need to be housed for at least a year.
Ireland will not cap the number of refugees it accepts even as the Government admits it is facing a struggle to house arriving Ukrainians, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said yesterday.
It comes as more than half of the accommodation pledges made for refugees in Ireland have failed to come to fruition with around 25,000 Ukrainians having already arrived in the country.
