Images of the Day, selected by Deputy Picture Editor Laura Hutton
BLACK SANTA: Canon David Gillespie, Vicar of St Ann's Church on Dawson Street, Dublin, at the launch of the 2020 Black Santa Sit-out. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the annual event. Over that time the annual appeal has raised over €700,000 for charities including the Salvation Army, Simon Community and Peter McVerry Trust. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING: A side view of the WB Yeats passenger ferry arriving at Dublin Port after a sailing from Holyhead, Wales. Photograph: Tom Honan
ALTERNATIVE HISTORIES: Sisters Maisie (11) and Katie Smith (9), of Stoneybatter, Dublin 7, check out Startha Éagsúla/Alternative Histories, an impressive array of miniature architectural models, on display at the Irish Architectural Archive, Merrion Square, Dublin, until February. The international exhibition features 94 miniature models, including 14 models from Irish architectural practices. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
ELECTION HOARDING? Alan Kinsella, who has spent almost 40 years collecting election posters, referendum leaflets and political memorabilia, displays some of his collection at his home in Dublin. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
REST IN PEACE: The funeral cortege of late former State Pathologist, Prof John Harbison, passes through Howth Village on the way to the funeral Mass as members of the public pay their respects. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin
ANIMAL REBELLION: Protesters block agricultural products from entering a Kepak facility at Clonee, Co Meath, during an Animal Rebellion Ireland protest to highlight links between animal farming and pandemics, and to call for change in how food is produced. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
FAMILY FORTUNE: Glenn Coburn and Josey Loughran with their son, Caden James Coburn, in Wallace Park, Lisburn, looking forward to spending their first Christmas at home as a family. Caden, born on September 9th last year at 24 weeks, weighing 1lb 10oz, spent 162 days in a neonatal unit, 119 of them in intensive care, at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire
AWAY IN A MANGER: Sisters Katie (2) and Sarah Walsh (5) watch Nativity figures the crib as they enjoy Christmas lights around Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin. Photograph: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland
TERMINAL VELOCITY: Coast guard staff hand out bottles of water to lorry drivers parked on the M20 in Kent on Monday after the Port of Dover was closed when the French government announced it would not accept passengers arriving from the UK due to a more infectious strain of Covid-19. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA Wire
LIFE SENTENCE: Stephan Balliet (28), has been sentenced to life imprisonment at the district court in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, for shooting dead a woman and a man at a kebab shop after he failed to access a synagogue in a far-right attack in Halle an der Saale, eastern Germany, last year. Photograph: Ronny Hartmann/AFP/Getty
HOT STUFF: A street artist traces an arc with fire on Koh Lipe island, Thailand. Photograph: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty
SYMPHONY IN BLUE: An orchestra appears on a screen during the launch of Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel's work entitled Symphony at Madrid Royal Opera House, Madrid, Spain. The virtual touring project features Dudamel and 101 musicians from 22 countries. Photograph: Zipi/EPA
BEASTS IN WAITING: Quadruplet white lion cubs at play at Nantong Forest Wildlife Zoo in Nantong, in eastern China's Jiangsu province. Photograph: AFP/Getty
LITTLE HELPERS: Children in Santa Claus outfits visit a church in Hanoi, Vietnam. Christmas is not an official holiday in Vietnam, but there is a significant minority Christian population in the country. Photograph: Luong Thai Linh/EPA
