Robert Troy resigns
Minister of State Robert Troy has resigned following questions around his property interests.
The Fianna Fáil TD said in a statement on Wednesday night that he has not tried to conceal anything, adding “my biggest offence is my lack of due diligence”.
It comes amid calls for the Dáil Committee on Parliamentary Privileges and Oversight to investigate matters related to his property interests.
Mr Troy has been at the centre of a controversy in recent weeks after he failed to declare all his property dealings to the Dáil register of members’ interests.
The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste’s support of junior minister Robert Troy during the controversy surrounding his property interests raises “serious questions” about their judgment, Mary Lou McDonald has said.
The Sinn Féin leader said the resignation of Mr Troy as trade promotion minister was “inevitable”.
Covid booster
People aged 50 and over have been invited to come forward for their next Covid-19 vaccine booster.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) said boosters can be booked online at vaccination clinics.
The HSE said those who are more than 16 weeks pregnant are also invited to book their next booster at a vaccination centre or from participating GPs and pharmacies.
It said the HSE and Children’s Health Ireland will shortly be inviting, through their parents, children aged five to 11 who are immunocompromised and now due to have their first booster.
Taxi driver accused of raping woman in Dublin
A Dublin taxi driver has been accused of raping a young woman passenger in the back of his car.
The man, in his late 40s, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Judge Patricia Cronin at Dublin District Court on Wednesday.
Following directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions, gardaí charged him with raping the passenger, in her early 20s, in the early hours of August 9th.
He was remanded in custody with consent to €2,500 bail with a range of strict conditions.
Teenage girl attacked in park during Rose of Tralee festival
Gardaí are investigating the alleged assault of teenage girl that occurred during the Rose of Tralee festival in Co Kerry.
The alleged assault of the teenage occurred on Wednesday night in Tralee Town Park.
Gardaí say Investigations are ongoing into this matter. No further information is available at this time.
One in five sex workers sexually exploited by gardaí, report finds
Garda Headquarters has defended how officers interacts with sex workers, after a report published on Thursday claims some gardaí have sexually exploited, discriminated, and inflicted trauma on people working in the sex trade through “aggressive tactics”.
The findings in a report funded by the Department of Justice, and jointly conducted by the University of Limerick a GOSHH, Gender, Orientation, Sexual Health, HHIV, recommends a series of changes to the 2017 Criminal Law Act, including “the full decriminalisation of sex work”.
The report claims the Act, which criminalised the purchase of sexual services and doubled the penalties for two or more sex workers selling sexual services from the same premises, has “drastically affected the lives of street sex workers in urban areas”.
Entitled I Must Be Some Person: Accounts from Street Sex Workers in Ireland, the report, which is based on interviews with a sample of 25 street sex workers based in Limerick (10) and Dublin (15) found that “one in five” street sex workers interviewed “had experience of being sexually exploited by the gardaí”.
