GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know to start the day.
Maternity mental health
1. Two maternity hospitals are not currently providing specialist mental health services for pregnant women and new mothers due to staffing constraints.
Five other hospitals currently only operate four days a week, meaning that more than half of the regional sites outside large cities providing maternal mental health services are not operating at full capacity.
Free at last
2. Robert Pether, an Australian engineer who was jailed in Iraq for five years, is on his way back to Ireland to reunite with his family.
His wife, Desree Pether, posted a brief message on Instagram saying: “Fingers and toes crossed for the rest of his trip home. But it’s done. He’s FINALLY FREE.”
Pope’s surgery
3. Pope Leo XIV announced on Sunday that he would have an operation “in the coming days” for a lump on his lung, saying it had been located “at a very early stage”.
“During recent medical checks, a nodule on my lung was found. It has been detected at a very early stage and is very localised,” the 71-year-old said in a weekly address in St Peter’s Square.
Flydubai attack
4. A Melbourne man whose Islamic community centre has been linked by prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates to the co-pilot who allegedly attacked the captain of a Flydubai jet has hit out at “false accusations”.
The Omani co-pilot, now in custody in the UAE, had drawn inspiration from Al-Qaeda’s 11 September 2001 suicide attacks, and carried out his attempt “with the aim of causing the greatest possible loss of life”, according to the Emirati prosecutor’s findings published by state media last week.
Teachers’ industrial action
5. Over 23,000 Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) members in the post-primary, further and Higher Education sectors are commencing industrial action today amid the wider public pay dispute.
From today, TUI members will not respond to work emails or calls outside their contracted working hours.
George Gibney
6. Former swimming coach George Gibney is due to be sentenced this morning for sexually abusing four girls in the 1970s and 1980s.
The 78-year-old was convicted of 39 out of 40 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape in July following a two-week trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Road death
7. A pedestrian has died after being struck by a car in Co Roscommon on Sunday at around 7.20pm.
Gardaí and emergency services attended the scene of the incident on the N60 at St Patrick’s Street, Castlerea.
The female pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene.
‘Fast tech’
8. Irish consumers are fuelling a “fast tech” trend of low-cost, small electronic items, leading to a mountain of discarded e-waste, new data has revealed.
In the 12 months to July 2026, almost half of Irish people (44%) discarded a fast-tech item – usually bought on impulse or as a novelty – unused, after a single use or within a month.
Smoking
9. Are cigarettes cool again?
It’s a question that’s been popping up recently as numerous pop stars and Hollywood actors have been photographed with cigarettes hanging from their mouths. For years considered a social taboo, cigarettes seem to be making a comeback and becoming more socially acceptable.