Your Morning Headlines ‐ 17/11/2014
Good morning. Here are your headlines for the start of the day.
1. Student Slingshot
Around 150 of Ireland’s best students are to come together in Dublin Castle on Tuesday to meet with business professionals as part of Student Slingshot.
Student Slingshot is billed as a student‐run entrepreneurial event that brings together students from across the country with academics and business leaders for a day of round tables, panel discussions and presentations from CEO’s and student leaders.
The selected students entered the program through a rigorous application process. Run by students themselves, the initiative was officially launched by Enterprise Ireland’s Julia Sinnamon, calling student and graduate entrepreneurship as “the heart of Enterprise Ireland’s strategy.”
2. Irish Water Protest Response
Socialist TD Ruth Coppinger has commented that Taniaste Joan Burton should not have “expected a red carpet” when she came to Jobstown on Saturday.
This follows a protest wherein the Tanaiste was trapped in her car for two hours by a water charge protest. Coppinger also said that the Tanaiste should have expected anger from working‐class areas after years of austerity.
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar condemned the protest on Saturday, saying the behavior of the protesters was unacceptable. The Government is due to reveal a revised water charge plan on Wednesday.
Writer ‐ Leandro Pondoc
3. Rent Increases
A report from Daft.ie revealed that rent in the country has risen by more than 11 per cent in the last 12 months.
The report says that the national average rent now stands at €933, up from €842 from last year.While Dublin’s annual rate has slowed for the first time in five years, prices still rose by 14 per cent in the last three months.
Other city centres saw average rent rose over the year with an annual rise of 5% for Waterford, Cork 8%, Limerick 6%, and Galway 7%. Meanwhile, the number of properties for rent plummeted, fewer than 5,400, the lowest number since May 2007.
Writer ‐ Leandro Pondoc
4. Roscommon Collision
A 19‐year old man was killed last night in a collision in Roscommon.
The collision was said to occur at 8pm last night when the car the 19‐year old was a passenger in crashed into a wall near Four Mile House at Roscommon. Three other men, all in their 20’s, have been taken to multiple hospitals.
Gardai are appealing for witnesses of the collision to contact the Roscommon Gardai Station to provide information on the incident.
Writer ‐ Leandro Pondoc
5. Bird Flu
An outbreak of bird flu has been reported at a duck breeding farm in northern England but authorities report that the risk to public health is “very low.”
A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirmed that a restriction zone around the farm has been set and culling of the ducks has begun.
A highly infectious strain of bird flu had been discovered in the Netherlands on Sunday, prompting the ban of transport of poultry in the country.
Writer ‐ Leandro Pondoc
