Ireland on the move
The number of cars on the roads today has increased dramatically with the return of inter-county travel under the latest easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
Today marks the greatest easing of restrictions so far this year — with the list of relaxations in full here.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said it is a day of freedom thanks to the efforts of the Irish people, the HSE and businesses.
Shoppers return
Shoppers have described the phased reopening of non-essential retail as "like Christmas Eve".
Shoppers returned to stores such as Penneys to shop by appointment on Monday, while personal services such as hairdressers also reopened by appointment.
Worshippers also returned to churches, as religious services resumed across the country.
Murderer named
A convicted child murderer can now be named following a successful application by RTÉ to lift a court order that prevented the man and his victim from being publicly identified.
Murderer Patrick Dillon (28), of Dalgaish Park, Moyross, Limerick had his name anonymised at the Central Criminal Court last January due to an order based on a recent Court of Appeal ruling on the interpretation of Section 252 of the Children Act.
Dillon, who could not be named at the time to protect the identity of his 11-year-old nephew Brooklyn Colbert, admitted murdering the child on November 3rd, 2019.
Brooklyn’s mother, Sonia Aylmer, said Section 252 of the Childrens Act 2001, which had prevented her from naming her beloved murdered son for the past eight months, served to only compound her grief.
Homelessness
The Peter McVerry Trust has unveiled its latest social housing scheme.
The charity has built a block of eight apartments at New Street South in Dublin 8.
It comes as a new study has found that homeless people in Ireland, aged in their 20s to 40s, are as frail as 80-year-olds.
