Images of the Day, selected by Deputy Picture Editor Laura Hutton
ANCIENT QUEST: Visitors including a child up early at the ancient ceremonial and burial site, the Hill of Tara, in Co Meath, to watch the first sunrise of 2021 rising above clouds on the horizon. Photograph: Alan Betson
PLUCKY FELLA: Brody McWilliams Brown, weighing in at 7lb 10oz, born to Jennifer McWilliams, was the first baby born in the Republic in 2021, at four seconds after midnight, at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin. Jennifer was diagnosed with Covid-19 on December 22nd. She alerted the hospital prior to her arrival, and all protocols were followed to ensure a safe birth.
RESPONSE TO KILLING: A Black Lives Matter protest is held at Pearse Street Garda station in Dublin city centre in the wake of the death of George Nkencho, shot by Garda members in the Clonee area in recent days. Photograph: Alan Betson
GONE VIRAL: A man in a face covering walks past graffiti on the Lower Newtownards Road in Belfast which says: "Wear a mask, it hasn't gone away you know". Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire
TROJAN HORSE: The Irish Ferries vessel Ulysses arrives at Dublin Port from Holyhead in Wales as the new post-Brexit Irish Sea trading arrangements come into operation. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
THREE'S A CROWD: People out walking on the South Wall, Dublin, on New Year's Day. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
GOOD CATCH: Vax the dog catches a frisbee thrown by owner Laura Ivers on Sandymount Strand in Dublin. Ms Ivers says she bought Vax to keep her company during the first lockdown back in March 2019. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
HOOKS AND ARROWS: The Sun rises on New Year's Day over Hook Lighthouse, Hook Head, Co Wexford. The lighthouse normally hosts a traditional "Arrow Ceremony" on New Year's Day, an event dating back to 1687, in which up to 50 archers join a "Cathaoirleach" to fire an arrow into the sea and claim the waters of the estuary. The event was cancelled this year due to Covid-19. Photograph: Patrick Browne
SHOT IN THE ARM: Staff nurse Clodagh Hennessy, from Limerick, is among the first frontline workers to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on New Year's Day from director of nursing Margret McKiernan at Mercy University Hospital, Cork. Photograph: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision
A NEW DAWN: The sun rises over Warrenpoint Harbour in Northern Ireland (left) and Omeath in the Republic (opposite bank), separated by the Newry river. January 1st, 2021, marks the first day of the UK's future outside the European Union. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty
NEW YEAR'S DIVE: Marco Fois dives into the Tiber river, in Rome, Italy, from the 18m-tall Cavour Bridge. Photograph: Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse/AP
WHITE NEW YEAR: Koenigstein castle, built in the 12th century, above the city of Koenigstein, near Frankfurt, Germany. Snowfall in recent days has enveloped the Taunus region. Photograph: Michael Probst/AP Photo
BLOWING HOT AND COLD: Volcanic activity continues into the New Year on Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy, as snow lies on the lower slopes. Photograph: Orietta Scardino/EPA
HISTORY REPEATS: Palestinian demonstrators run as tear gas is fired by Israeli troops during a protest against Israeli settlements, in the village of Deir Jarir, north of the occupied West Bank town of Ramallah, on January 1st, 2021. Photograph: Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty
HOLY DIP: Sikh devotees take a holy dip on New Year's Day amid foggy conditions at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, India. Photograph: Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty
CRASH BANG WALLOP: New Year's fireworks erupt over the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok to mark the arrival of January 1st, 2021. Photograph: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty
