Irish beer
While hospitality venues were shut for significant periods of time in 2021, beer production suffered a major decline.
According to the annual Irish Beer Market Report from Drinks Ireland|Beer, the pandemic caused a 46 per cent fall in production between 2020 and 2021.
Sales were down by 1.3 per cent, while beer exports fell by three per cent last year to €246 million.
Northern Ireland Protocol
UK-EU discussions on the Northern Ireland Protocol need to be intensified, the Taoiseach has told Boris Johnson.
In a call on Tuesday morning, Taoiseach Micheál Martin spoke to the UK prime minister about the challenges facing Northern Ireland following the Assembly election.
He tweeted: “We both agreed on the need to see the NI Executive formed as soon as possible.
“On the Protocol, I stressed need to intensify EU and UK discussions, and to avoid any unilateral action.”
Reduced VAT
The lower VAT rate for the hospitality sector “will be brought back up” but in a way that “doesn’t adversely hit the industry”, Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said.
The hospitality sector has a VAT rate of 9 per cent, which is due to expire in August.
Green Party leader Mr Ryan, who spoke on his way to Cabinet on Tuesday morning, said the rate will not be hiked ahead of the “dark winter” – a “difficult” time for hospitality.
Donegal crash
A 17-year-old girl who was injured in a crash in Co Donegal last week has died.
A Garda appeal for witnesses is ongoing following the road traffic collision on Sunday, May 1st, at Meenformal, Glen, Carraig Airt, Co Donegal.
The collision, which involved a single car occurred at approximately 9.15pm.
The girl was taken to Letterkenny University Hospital with serious injuries and then transferred to Beaumont Hospital.
Croke Park fight
The first step in granting a licence for the touted world boxing rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in Croke Park has been given the green light.
Former lord mayor of Dublin and Independent Councillor Christy Burke along with political colleague Niall Ring had tabled a motion for the Central Area Committee and an emergency motion at Monday night’s monthly meeting of the council.
All councillors have agreed to back the granting of a licence to allow the October staging of the match to go ahead between the Bray native and the Puerto Rican.
Russia invasion
The bodies of 44 civilians have been found in the rubble of a building destroyed by Russia, a Ukrainian official said.
It comes as Ukraine’s vital Black Sea port of Odesa is repeatedly bombed, including by hypersonic missiles.
The civilians were inside a five-storey building that collapsed in Izyum in the Kharkiv region in March, said Oleh Synehuboy, the head of Kharkiv’s regional administration.
“This is another horrible war crime of the Russian occupiers against the civilian population,” he said.
