GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know to start the day.
Public sector strike
1. A widespread public sector strike is taking place today as workers protest for a new pay deal between their unions and the government.
Many public services will be unavailable or interrupted today.
All non-urgent healthcare services are cancelled, schools are shut, and administrative work at government departments and local authorities will not be done.
You can follow all today’s developments live here.
Waterford arson
2. Gardaí believe the arson attack that killed four family members, including two children, in Waterford City, was carried out by local drug gangs as an act of intimidation.
Philip and Kim English died in the fire alongside their sons, 12-year-old Callum and 9-year-old Jayden.
Two other children – a teenage girl and a young boy – are being treated for injuries at CHI Crumlin in Dublin.
Pope Leo
3. Pope Leo XIV spent a calm night in hospital in Rome after having a cancerous tumour removed from his right lung in a 90-minute operation, the Vatican said this morning.
“The pope passed a calm night,” the Vatican said, without providing any more details on the 71-year-old, who underwent surgery at the Gemelli hospital on Tuesday.
‘Our new and beautiful Greenland’
4. Donald Trump has said that “massive” oil, gas and mineral exploration is set to get underway in Greenland, following the signing of a new defence agreement between the Arctic island, the United States and Denmark last month.
Trump referred to the semi-autonomous island as “our new and beautiful Greenland” when making the announcement in a post on his Truth Social website on Wednesday morning.
FactCheck
5. Unions say that public service workers’ pay has fallen behind inflation, and they want increases that restore and protect the purchasing power of their members.
The government has invited unions to talks, but unions have rejected the offer because, they say, there were no new proposals addressing their concerns.
Fórsa General Secretary Kevin Callinan told RTÉ radio at the weekend that workers were “struggling to make ends meet” and that their recent pay increases have fallen behind inflation.
However, public expenditure minister Jack Chambers has claimed that incomes for public service workers in recent years have outstripped inflation.
Porridge recall
6. Batches of Ready Brek and Tesco porridge have been recalled because they may contain flour beetles.
The affected batches are Ready Brek Original (750g), Ready Brek Original (450g) and Tesco Super Smooth Porridge.
Dodgy dealings
7. US President Donald Trump’s administration has asked his ambassador to Greece to resign, the White House said Tuesday, amid allegations that she sought money from a Trump supporter and accepted lavish hospitality from wealthy Greek businessmen.
“We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign,” Trump’s new press secretary Katie Zacharia told reporters at her first White House briefing.
Tupac murder
8. Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the former Los Angeles gang leader who boasted for years of his involvement in the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, only to deny it when he came to trial, was sentenced to a minimum 40 years in prison on Tuesday.
The sentence, which will likely see him die in custody, comes three decades after the gunning down of one of the most influential hip hop artists of the late 20th century, and after years of criticism over investigations that went nowhere.
Davis (63) formerly ran a branch of the feared Crips, one of a patchwork of rival gangs that controlled parts of Los Angeles in the 1990s.
Weather warnings
9. Heavy and persistent rain is on the way and Met Éireann has warned of possible localised flooding as Status Yellow warnings are in place for several counties.
The national forecaster did not provide the morning forecast on RTÉ News today, and has said that there will be disruptions to updates on met.ie as the largest public sector strike in 17 years takes place nationwide.