National Maternity Hospital
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is before the Oireachtas Health Committee today, addressing ongoing concerns over the proposed co-location of the new National Maternity Hospital to St Vincent’s Hospital’s Elm Park site.
Mr Donnelly has said the new hospital will be completely free of religious influence, offering all "legally permissible" procedures which are currently carried out at Holles Street.
On Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald clashed in the Dáil when he argued the leasing agreement with St Vincent's Group effectively amounts to public ownership.
Ballymun stabbing
There is a “great sense of shock” in a community in Ballymun following the violent death of a local woman.
Lisa Thompson, who was aged in her 50s, was fatally injured at a house in Sandyhill Gardens in the north Dublin suburb on Tuesday afternoon. It is understood she had been stabbed up to 12 times.
No arrests have yet been made, with gardaí appealing for anyone with information regarding the incident to come forward.
Stormont talks
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney is in Belfast today to meet with party leaders following last week's Stormont elections.
The talks come as British foreign secretary Liz Truss said the UK “will not shy away” from taking action on the Northern Ireland Protocol after the DUP said it will not nominate a Deputy First Minister for the Executive until the post-Brexit trade agreement is scrapped.
In a phone call between Taoiseach Micheál Martin and British prime minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday, Mr Martin is understood to have warned Mr Johnson against taking any unilateral action on the protocol, which would be "destabilising in Northern Ireland and erode trust".
Energy fears
Experts have warned that a major storm, shortage of fossil fuel, or a cyberattack on IT systems connected to Ireland's power grid could cause a catastrophic electricity blackout.
A new report from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities found that although a cyberattack on grid-connected IT systems is "unlikely", such an event could prove disastrous, potentially causing a wide-scale power outage which could last days.
The report assessed 26 scenarios to identify potential risks facing electricity supply, suggesting strategies by which these situations could be avoided.
