Suspected murder-suicide
Gardaí have begun an investigation into a suspected double homicide and suicide following the discovery of the bodies of three members of one family in Co Kerry on Tuesday night.
The body of a woman, aged in her 60s, and a man, aged in his 20s, were found inside a house at Ballyreehan, Lixnaw. The body of a second man, aged in his 60s, was discovered outside the rear of the house.
All three bodies had gunshot wounds and gardaí said a firearm was recovered from the scene.
School close contacts
School children who are close contacts of Covid-19 cases would no longer have to self-isolate if they showed no symptoms, under changes being considered by health officials.
With the testing system coming under extreme pressure as 14,000 children have been deemed close contacts of cases, public health specialists are pressing for a relaxation of rules that require them to stay home for at least 10 days.
The change would apply to asymptomatic children who are not vaccinated.
Walk-in testing suspended
The HSE has meanwhile suspended walk-in Covid testing at centres nationwide due to a surge in demand over recent days.
Officials are aiming to reduce queues at testing sites after demand rose by more than a third in the last 48 hours. The increase is being driven by under-14s coming forward for testing following the return of schools.
Niamh O'Beirne, the HSE's national lead for testing and tracing, said people will now need to book a test in advance.
National thunderstorm warning
Met Éireann has issued a rain and thunderstorm warning for the entire country over the next 24 hours.
The status yellow alert came into effect at 9am on Wednesday and will be valid until 12pm on Thursday.
The forecaster said Wednesday will be warm and humid with scattered heavy showers, with the possibility of lightning and localised flooding.
Paralympians return
Ireland’s Paralympic team arrived back into Dublin Airport on Tuesday night to a warm welcome.
Family members and supporters waited in Terminal 2 for the team and hung out green, white and orange balloons around the railings in the arrivals area.
The team won four golds, two silvers and a bronze at the Tokyo Paralympics which ended on Sunday night. They arrived back on an Aer Lingus plane at 10.30pm last night.
Among those arriving were double Paralympic champions, tandem cyclists Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal.
