Government announces plans to tackle domestic violence
The maximum sentence for assault is set to be doubled as part of measures contained in a zero-tolerance strategy to tackle domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence.
The Government has revealed a €363m five-year strategy which will focus on education from an early age on issues such as consent, healthy sexual relationships, and domestic violence, to be covered in an age-appropriate manner from primary school through to third level.
The strategy, due to be published by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Justice Minister Helen McEntee on Tuesday, also includes funding to double the number of domestic violence refuge spaces from 141 to at least 280 in the next five years, meaning places will be available in every county for the first time.
Student contribution fee to be cut in budget
The Minister for Higher Education said he wants to start slashing the €3,000 student contribution fee for college-goers from this October’s budget.
Simon Harris said he is “unapologetic” in the view that the registration fee needs to come down, and student grants need to rise.
Mr Harris refused to disclose how much he wants to see the contribution fee reduced, saying only that there is an opportunity for the government to consider the registration fee this October.
Meanwhile, the Minister also announced an additional 1,056 college places that will be available from September.
Mr Harris said the additional places will be in targeted areas, and will include an extra 60 places in medicine.
Mortgage switching doubles as approvals rise in May
Mortgage switching is at its highest level in a decade as overall the trend is more than doubling year-on-year.
It comes as Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) published the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for May 2022.
A total of 5,355 mortgages were approved in May 2022 – first-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 2,640 mortgages (49.3 per cent of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 1,082 (20.2 per cent).
The number of mortgages approved rose by 24.4 per cent month-on-month and by 14.3 per cent compared with the same period last year.
19-year-old in critical condition following Cork road crash
A 19-year-old male is in critical condition following a serious road crash in Co Cork in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The crash occurred on the R586 Dunmanway road, Dromovane, Enniskeane at around 12.20 am.
The vehicle left the road and hit trees and foliage.
The driver was removed from the scene and taken to Cork University Hospital where he remains in a critical condition.
101-year-old man convicted of being Nazi guard jailed for five years
A 101-year-old man has been convicted of 3,518 counts of accessory to murder for serving at the Nazis’ Sachsenhausen concentration camp during the Second World War.
The Neuruppin Regional Court sentenced him to five years in prison.
The man, who was not identified, had denied working as an SS guard at the camp and aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners.
In the trial, which opened in October, the man said that he had worked as a farm labourer near Pasewalk in north-eastern Germany during the period in question.
