Domestic violence linked to murder
A report on crime trends has revealed that the majority of murders in Ireland last year had a domestic abuse motivation.
A garda review of crime found a 399 per cent increase in domestic abuse motivations for sexual offences from 2020 to 2021.
While the figures show that murders overall have fallen, the proportion of those with a domestic abuse motivation represented more than half of murders for the first time in 2021.
Sinn Féin alternative budget
Sinn Féin has calculated it will cost €1.6 billion to freeze energy prices and ensure households have certainty over their bills this winter.
The main opposition party made the claim as it launched its alternative budget and cost-of-living package in Dublin on Friday, ahead of next week’s actual budget.
It proposes additional spending of €13.5 billion for the rest of this year and next year in its Budget 2023 proposals.
Flogas hikes prices
Flogas is the latest supplier to increase its gas and electricity prices.
The supplier is increasing the unit price of its electricity by 17 per cent and the unit price of its gas by 23 per cent from October 26th.
Flogas has already increased its electricity standing charge by between €200 to over €300 a year and its gas standing charge by over €100 in recent months.
The latest increase will add around €340 a year to the average customer's electricity bill and €395 a year to their gas bill.
State sells last Bank of Ireland shares
Bank of Ireland has become the first Irish lender to return to full private ownership since the aftermath of the 2008-09 global financial crisis after the Government said it had sold the last of its shares.
The country's largest bank by assets, Bank of Ireland was the only lender to avoid majority State ownership during the bailout and the only one on which the Government has made a profit on its investment so far.
The Government said on Friday it had recovered almost €6.7 billion in cash from its €4.7 billion investment in and support for the bank between 2009 and 2011.
Taoiseach addresses UN
The heightened nuclear risks from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine are unprecedented, the Taoiseach has warned the United Nations.
Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Micheál Martin said the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty must remain an essential element of international peace and security, adding the urgency of its full implementation “cannot be overstated”.
He described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as carrying “dark echoes of our continent’s past”.
