Not guilty plea
Gerry “The Monk” Hutch has pleaded not guilty to the murder of David Byrne at a hotel in Dublin.
Hutch (59) was arraigned before the city’s Special Criminal Court on Tuesday where the murder trial was opened.
Mr Byrne (34) was killed in 2016 during a crowded boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel in one of the early attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud.
Eviction ban approved
The Government has approved a one-off ban on evictions ahead of the “exceptional” winter period, the Minister for Housing confirmed.
Under the plans, notices of termination can be issued to tenants but the property does not have to be vacated until the ban is phased out next year, with the last date on June 18th.
The ban will mean that landlords who want to sell or live in the property they rent out can still issue an eviction notice, but that it cannot take effect until April next year at the earliest.
Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said the Cabinet had approved the ban to “provide some space” amid a shortage of accommodation and to recognise “the exceptional times that we’re actually in”.
Traffic collision
One person has been airlifted while three children were transported by road ambulance to hospital following a road traffic collision in West Clare this morning.
Gardaí have confirmed that the main N67 Kilrush to Kilkee road will remain closed for a number of hours following the crash.
The incident, involving a car and a van, occurred at the junction at Lisdeen Church at around 9.30am. Emergency services were quickly alerted.
National Ambulance Service paramedics and gardaí responded to the incident along with fire crews from Kilkee and Kilrush stations.
High Court settlement
A 9-year-old girl whose hearing loss was not picked up for over three years has settled her High Court action for €300,000.
Shirley Collins, the High Court heard had her first hearing test when she was just over a year old but hearing loss of mild to moderate severity was only diagnosed when she had another test when she was four years old.
It was claimed there were a number of alleged failures in the child’s early audiological management.
Her Counsel Hugh O Keeffe SC with Doireann O’Mahony BL said it was their case as a result of the delay in diagnosis it may have impacted on the girl’s speech and language.
Germany stabbing
Two people have been killed and another seriously hurt in a stabbing in south-west Germany, police said.
The suspected assailant was detained.
Officers were alerted to the stabbing in a suburb in the city of Ludwigshafen on Tuesday afternoon, the force said.
The 25-year-old suspect was found in a pharmacy after allegedly fleeing the scene.
