Afghanistan
Ireland is to provide 150 humanitarian visas to refugees fleeing Afghanistan.
Minister for Children and Equality Roderic O'Gorman said the State is working with other EU countries to extract people identified for the visas, who will be accompanied by their families. Once they arrive in Ireland, they will have to complete a period in hotel quarantine but will receive automatic refugee status meaning they will not go into Direct Provision.
Meanwhile, work is also underway to secure transport for a number of Irish citizens in Afghanistan who wish to come home.
On Monday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said Ireland is coordinating efforts with the EU, UK and US to repatriate Irish nationals.
Niac update
The National Immunisation Advisory Committee have advised that different types of Covid vaccines can be mixed as part of their latest guidance.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly confirmed the news on Tuesday, adding that the rollout of booster shots will begin in late September/early October.
Niac advised that the booster shots should be given around the same time as the annual flue jab, but it is not yet clear whether all cohorts will receive the additional jab or if it will just be extended to vulnerable groups.
Rising infections
Concern has been raised about rising levels of Covid-19 infections in the State.
On Tuesday, 1,496 new cases of the virus were confirmed with 248 Covid patients in hospital, 54 of whom were in ICU.
Earlier, Dr Mary Favier, who is a member of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), said the next easing of restrictions may have to be delayed if case numbers continue to rise.
The Government is expected to give an update on the remaining restrictions at the end of August, however, Dr Favier said: "If we continue to see a rise in Covid numbers over the next two or three weeks, I think we won't be in a position to ease restrictions any further and that will have to wait another two or three weeks."
Meanwhile, Dr Denis McCauley said indoor mixing without masks is contributing to case numbers, which he expects will continue to rise for the next number of weeks.
Hutch arrest
Spanish police have release footage showing the arrest of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch last Thursday.
Mr Hutch is wanted in Ireland to face changes regarding the 2016 shooting at the Regency Hotel in Dublin, during which David Byrne was killed.
The Dubliner was arrested at a restaurant in Fuengirola in the south of Spain last week following an operation involving Spain's Guardia Civil, Gardaí and Europol.
Commenting on the arrest, the Spanish force said Mr Hutch took counter surveillance precautions while travelling to the restaurant and was carrying fake documents when he was arrested.
Mayo search
A search is underway at Mwellrea Mountain, Co Mayo after a man failed to return from a hike on Monday.
The man, aged in his mid-30s and who is originally from the area but has been living in the UK for the past few years, was last heard from on Monday afternoon.
Members of Mayo Mountain Rescue and Gardaí are part of the group involved in the search, which began at 9pm on Monday night. They carried on until 2am and later resumed the search on Tuesday morning.
