Monaghan deaths
Gardaí suspect a man found dead in his home in rural Co Monaghan was murdered by another man who was then knocked down and killed by a car as he fled the scene.
The murdered man was named locally as Christopher Mooney (60), who was subjected to a sustained attack, including being stabbed, at his home in Knockreagh Lower, Broomfield, on Thursday morning.
The other man was named locally as 37-year-old Kieran Hamill, with an address in Culloville, Co Armagh.
Gardaí in Castleblayney were called to Mr Mooney’s home on Thursday morning after a family member who had gone to the house found him dead and saw another man leaving the scene.
About 30 minutes later, gardaí from Carrickmacross were alerted to a road traffic crash at Ballynacarry Bridge on the N53 between Castleblayney and Dundalk.
Intel staff in Kildare told to consider taking unpaid leave
Manufacturing staff at Intel in Kildare have been told to consider taking unpaid leave as the chip-making company seeks to cut back dramatically on costs.
About 4,500 of its Irish workforce are based at its Leixlip plant in Co Kildare, although it remains unclear how many will be required to take the temporary work breaks which are likely to extend to three months.
The move follows a slowdown in demand for the chip giant’s products. PC sales tumbled 15 per cent in the third quarter of this year, with HP, Dell and Lenovo, all of which use Intel’s processors, suffering steep declines.
In a statement on Thursday, Intel said the push for voluntary time off programmes would enable it to reduce short term costs and “offer employees attractive time off options”.
Christmas Bonus to be paid to 1.3 million people next week
A total of 1.3 million people will receive their Christmas Bonus next week at a cost of more than €300 million to the State.
Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said the payment will be made to pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, widows and lone parents.
The payment is in addition to a person’s normal weekly social welfare payment.
A further 94,080 recipients of jobseekers' allowance will also be paid along with 17,500 long-term recipients of illness benefit.
It is the first time the latter cohort will receive the payment.
Ms Humphreys said this is because these people "have worked all their lives, paid their PRSI, and then have to take time out of the workforce due to serious and possibly long-lasting health conditions".
RSV: Doctor highlights 'red flag' warning signs as virus hits children
An emergency doctor has highlighted the "red flags" that parents should look for if they think their baby could be infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
RSV is a very common and very contagious virus that causes cold-like symptoms initially but can lead to worrying complications in a small minority of cases.
Nearly all children will have had at least one infection of RSV by the age of two and for most it will cause a mild cold. However, it can develop into bronchiolitis or pneumonia.
Emergency medicine paediatric consultant Dr Carol Blackburn said children aged under three months are the most vulnerable.
The red flags parents should look out for are not feeding, vomiting after feeding and fewer than three wet nappies in a 24-hour period, a sign of dehydration.
Cooler weekend ahead as Met Éireann predicts very cold snap next week
Temperatures are set to drop this weekend as Met Éireann predicts a very cold snap next week with potential hail, sleet and snow showers.
The national forecaster said it will become noticeably colder from Wednesday onwards with a northerly airflow and with showers possibly turning more wintry at times.
This weekend average daytime temperatures will drop to as low as 5 degrees Celsius, with mostly dry conditions forecast for the coming days.
Friday is due to be mainly dry with a mix of cloudy periods and sunny spells. A few light showers may develop along east and south coasts with highest temperatures of 8-11 degrees.
