Third-level nursing
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has urged the Government to increase the number of publicly funded higher education places for nurses and midwives in order to meet staffing shortfalls.
The call comes following the findings of a Government-commissioned report which said the intake of such students will need to double over the next 20 years.
The INMO said the increases must be prioritised in order to ensure the State has a sufficient number of nurses and midwives to meet the needs of a growing population.
"The INMO has long warned that Ireland’s health service will be under even more severe pressure unless the amount of undergraduate nursing places is increased," the group's general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said.
Man held in Tallaght
A 24-year-old charged with the murder of his two sisters and brother in Tallaght last weekend has been further remanded in custody.
Lisa Cash (18) and her eight-year-old twin brother and sister, Christy and Chelsea Cawley, died after they were attacked and stabbed at their family home in Rossfield Avenue, in the Brookfield area, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Gardaí from Tallaght Garda station, supported by armed detectives and members of an armed support unit, responded to the incident. During a stand-off, officers used non-lethal devices to bring about an arrest.
On Monday evening, gardaí charged Andy Cash, also from Rossfield Avenue, with the three murders. He was remanded in custody following a late special sitting of the District Court.
President's remarks
President Michael D Higgins has praised Queen Elizabeth’s “exceptional” ability to combine a sense of formality with “a great capacity for connection with the people”.
It comes as leaders across the political, business and cultural spheres on the island of Ireland continue to express their sympathies and condolences to the late British monarch, who died on Thursday at the age of 96.
Political leaders noted how the queen’s historic 2011 visit to Ireland, the first by a British monarch since Irish independence, set a new tone for Anglo-Irish relations in the following years.
“There was that capacity to bridge the formal and the informal,” Mr Higgins said on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme.
Tallaght funeral
The funeral is taking place for three siblings who were killed in a violent attack at their home in Tallaght, Dublin.
Lisa Cash (18) and her eight-year-old twin siblings, Christy and Chelsea Cawley, will be laid to rest at Bohernabreena Cemetery following their funeral mass at St Aidan’s Church in Brookfield at 10am.
A large crowd of mourners gathered on Thursday evening as their remains were brought to the church by horse-drawn carriage.
The siblings died after an incident at their home on Rossfield Avenue in Tallaght in the early hours of Sunday.
King Charles
Britain's King Charles will address a nation in mourning on Friday following the death of his mother and the country's figurehead, Queen Elizabeth, at the age of 96.
Charles, who raced to be by the side of the queen before she passed away at her Scottish home on Thursday, was due to travel back to London with his wife Camilla, now Queen Consort, before meeting the British prime minister and making a televised statement.
The death of the queen, Britain's longest-reigning monarch and a towering presence on the world stage for seven decades, has drawn condolences from around the world.
In London, thousands gathered outside Buckingham Palace where the news was met with a stunned silence as the flag was lowered to half-mast. Many described a sense of shock at the death of the only monarch most Britons have ever known.
Rainfall warning
A status yellow rainfall warning has been issued for all counties in the Republic for Sunday.
Met Éireann confirmed the alert will cover the 26 counties from 2am on Sunday until midnight on Monday.
The forecaster warned that "high amounts of rainfall may cause some disruption and spot flooding".
It added the rain will likely be worst in mountainous areas.
Energy cap
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that a cap on energy prices cannot be entirely ruled out.
The Government was not ruling out any action, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
Mr Varadkar pointed out that the UK energy price cap would ultimately be paid for by the taxpayer while EU proposals would take money from the energy companies to support householders. Ireland would examine the options and strike a balance.
The Fine Gael leader was speaking from Kilkenny, where the party is holding a pre-Budget think-in. Mr Varadkar said the gathering was about setting the negotiating mandates for Fine Gael ministers prior to the Budget.
