Ketanji Brown
The Senate is expected to confirm Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on Thursday, securing her place as the first black woman on the high court.
Three Republican senators have said they will support Judge Jackson, who would replace Justice Stephen Breyer when he retires this summer.
The vote will be a significant bipartisan accomplishment for President Joe Biden in the narrow 50-50 Senate after GOP senators worked to paint Jackson as too liberal and soft on crime.
Cost of living
Ireland’s cost-of-living crisis worsened last month as inflation surged to a 22-year high, with prices rising by 6.7 per cent in the year to March 2022.
It is the highest rate of inflation seen since November 2000, when annual inflation stood at seven per cent, and a rise from 5.6 per cent in the year to February.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO)’s latest consumer price index show the largest increase in prices in the 12 months to March were in transport, up more than 18 per cent, and housing, electricity and fuels, up over 17 per cent.
Holiday homes
The Irish Refugee Council (IRC) has urged the Government to give holiday home owners €300 to €400 per month to allow their properties to be used by Ukrainian refugees.
Chief Executive of the IRC Nick Henderson told Newstalk Breakfast that a voluntary pledge scheme would help to encourage holiday home owners to open up their properties to refugees making their way from Ukraine to Ireland.
“We are recommending a voluntary holiday home pledge scheme. If you own a holiday home and it is vacant, you could pledge it to be used by refugees for say, a minimum of six months, and in return you would receive a monthly allowance, not at market rental rate.
Chief medical officer
Dr Tony Holohan has said it is not his intention to return to the role of chief medical officer at any time in the future as he prepares to take up a secondment to Trinity College Dublin.
Dr Holohan was announced as the professor of public health strategy and leadership at Trinity on March 25th.
However, it has since emerged that the role is an “open-ended secondment” to Trinity from the Department of Health, meaning Dr Holohan's €187,000 annual salary will be paid by the department and he will keep the same terms and conditions.
Dublin Airport Easter
Dublin Airport has announced a plan to tackle delays ahead of the busy Easter break.
The five-point strategy comes after lengthy queues sparked concern from the Government and complaints from some passengers that they had missed their flights.
The queues were attributed to delays at security screening during peak times.
Conor McGregor plea
A judge has given UFC star Conor McGregor 11 weeks to decide how to plead to motoring offences and dangerous driving in a top-of-the-range sports car in Dublin.
The mixed martial artist came to garda attention while driving a high-performance Bentley Continental GT on March 22nd in west Dublin.
McGregor (33) was pulled over and arrested.
The fighter, the world's highest-paid athlete last year, was granted station bail after gardaí charged him with two counts of dangerous driving in the 2019-registered car at the N4/M50 interchange in Palmerstown and the Lucan Road.
