Cost of living latest
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe is in Brussels today to address an EU leaders’ summit, which will discuss the energy price crisis and spiralling inflation rates.
At home, Sinn Féin has claimed that Ministers have their heads in the sand over the economic pressures facing people.
The party’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty reiterated calls for targeted measures to help those in need now, saying people are “pulling their hair out” at a Government which has “made a virtue of the fact that they’re not going to do anything for at least another four months”.
It comes after Taoiseach Micheál Martin again resisted calls to act before the autumn Budget, insisting that the Government must “protect” growth in Ireland’s economy while remaining “very alert” to inflationary pressures.
Hotel car park shooting
A man has been shot and seriously injured in a shooting in a hotel car park in Kilmainham, Dublin.
A large number of gardaí are currently at the scene which has been sealed off for technical examination.
The incident occurred in the Hilton hotel car park, which is located across the road from Kilmainham Jail.
It's understood the victim has previously been targeted in a shooting and survived. The victim has been rushed to hospital, but it's not yet clear how badly injured he is.
Vacant property 'blind spot'
Housing policy analyst Dr Lorcan Sirr has described the Government’s vacant property policy as “a blind spot” and pointed out that only three local authorities in the country have full time officers dealing with vacant properties.
There were more rental properties available than previously thought, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, when commenting on the figures included in Census 2022.
Dr Sirr said there was “a cultural tolerance” towards vacant houses given the prevalence of vacant homes that could be rehabilitated alongside new homes for which planning permissions had been granted.
While the number of vacant properties in 2022 (166,000) was down from 182,000 in 2016, this was a reduction of only nine per cent, he said, which should have been far lower if the pace of the rate of reduction from 2011 to 2016 had continued.
Search for relatives of Tipperary couple
The search for relatives of the couple whose bodies were found in their home in Co Tipperary has been extended to Australia.
The elderly couple found dead on Monday have been named locally as Nicholas and Hilary Smith.
The couple were originally from England and were in their 70s and 80s. The remains of the pair may have lain undiscovered in their home for more than a year.
It is believed they may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
