Regency Hotel shooting
A former Sinn Féin councillor has been charged at the Special Criminal Court with the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016.
Mr Byrne was shot dead at the hotel in Dublin 9 on February 2016 after five men, three disguised as armed gardaí, stormed the building.
Mr Jonathan Dowdall (43), a former north inner city councillor, with an address at Navan Road, Cabra, Dublin 9, appeared at the brief hearing this morning when the registrar read the single charge to him.
Eoghan Murphy resignation
Eoghan Murphy has resigned his seat as TD for Dublin Bay South.
The former Fine Gael TD, who has served in the Dáil since 2011 as a TD, Minister of State and as a Cabinet Minister, wrote to the Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil this morning to confirm his resignation.
His resignation will mean a by-election will be held in the constituency.
Prior to entering Leinster House, he was elected a Dublin city councillor in 2009 for the Pembroke-Rathmines constituency. Having served as minister for housing in the last Dáil, he was controversially snubbed from any ministerial role this time around.
Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca advice
Ireland’s vaccination programme received a double boost on Monday night when the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) gave the go-ahead for the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine and relaxed its restrictions on the AstraZeneca jab.
The decision will enable a quicker rollout – meaning the HSE could begin administering the single-dose J&J shot this week.
Allowing the use of the J&J vaccine for the over-50s, along with the change in the AstraZeneca guidelines to a similar regime, will enable a speedy rollout.
Ireland donating oxygen concentrators to India
Ireland is to donate 700 oxygen concentrators to India as part of efforts to assist with the devastating Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
India reported more than 350,000 confirmed cases in 24 hours on Monday, with hospitals in crisis, turning away patients due to a lack of oxygen and bed capacity.
It was the fifth day in a row that cases had hit a record peak, prompting pledges of aid from the US, the European Union and the UK.
Mandatory quarantine list
The Government is set to approve the addition of India and Iran to the mandatory hotel quarantine list.
Under proposals being considered by the Department of Health, travellers arriving into the State from these countries will be forced to spend at least 12 days in a designated hotel.
Mr Donnelly does not need Cabinet approval to take the step, but it is thought he will nonetheless inform Cabinet colleagues of his intention to expand the list again this morning.
