Ireland

Five things you need to know today

FG leader contest after US visit; maternity hospital bill doubles; Melbourne crash

Mai Quaid, national president Active Retirement Ireland with Cpl Anthony Kelly, at the launch of The Elders of Ireland Chorus at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill

Tue Feb 21 2017 - 07:27

1. Kenny to trigger Fine Gael leadership contest after US visit
Taoiseach Enda Kenny will arrange for the election of a new Fine Gael leader soon after he returns from Washington DC next month but will not specifically layout a timeframe for his departure this week.
Mr Kenny will not definitively tell his parliamentary party tomorrow when the process of electing a new leader will begin, but will instead say the issue will be dealt with after St Patrick's Day.
A close friend of Mr Kenny's said it is likely he will trigger the 20-day contest to elect a new Fine Gael leader after his March 16th visit to meet US president Donald Trump at the White House.

2. Bill for National Maternity Hospital move doubles to €300m
The expected bill for moving the National Maternity Hospital has jumped by €150 million due to the cost of locating it in St Vincent's hospital, rather than a greenfield site.
The long-delayed project in Dublin is now expected to cost €296 million, rather than the €150 million originally allocated, according to projections by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
The doubling of the cost of the project will further increase pressure on capital spending at the HSE, which is facing the prospect of a €1 billion bill for building the new national children's hospital at St James's. HSE director general Tony O'Brien has said the health service also needs €9 billion to renew outdated equipment.

3. Five killed as plane crashes into Melbourne shopping centre
A plane that crashed into a shopping centre near Essendon airport in Melbourne, killing five people, had a "catastrophic engine failure" shortly after takeoff, police have said.
An Australian pilot and four US tourists heading to King Island, Tasmania to play golf were on the twin-engine aircraft, which left the airport about 9am local time on Tuesday (10pm Irish time on Monday).
The state premier, Daniel Andrews, said it was the worst civil aviation disaster in Victoria for 30 years. None of the staff at the shopping centre - which was not yet open to the public - had been killed.

4. Two-thirds of litter fines going unpaid in Dublin city
Dublin city litter louts are frustrating prosecutions using a range of measures, including returning fines with the words "I do not have an international treaty with you" on them.
Anti-litter campaigner Cieran Perry, a member of Dublin City Council, said rubbish was being dumped illegally on city streets to an alarming extent while fewer than a third of fines issued to pop-up shops, households and individuals in the centre of the city had been paid in recent years.
Arising from a large number of questions put to council management since he was elected in 2009, Mr Perry said he had concluded that most litter louts did not get prosecuted – and of those who did, most did not pay.

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5. AIB chairman warns Noonan of pay-cap risks post-Brexit
The chairman of AIB has warned the Minister for Finance that the bank may face staffing problems because it remains shackled by Government-imposed pay caps even as Ireland prepares for an influx of banking activities as a result of Brexit.
Minutes of a meeting between AIB chairman Richard Pym, chief executive officer Bernard Byrne, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and senior Department of Finance staff on November 30th said the chairman highlighted the "arrival of UK banks (arising from Brexit) as a threat on the staffing front (as they are not constrained by remuneration)".

And finally: What is the right age to start your child in primary school?
School-readiness is linked to future academic achievement, employment and behaviour, and there is a strong argument that age four is too young, write Sheila Wayman

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