Tuesday’s top stories: Sharp rise in sexual images generated by primary school pupils; tributes to Irish woman killed in New York bar

Sharp rise in sexual images generated by primary school pupils - Foley

Social-media algorithms aimed at keeping children online for as long as possible are spreading harmful content, causing sleep deprivation and damaging pupils’ attention spans, the Minister for Education has warned.

Norma Foley, speaking at the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation’s (INTO) annual congress in Derry on Monday evening, said the new media and online regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, has also informed her about a “sharp rise” in self-generated compromising images, of a sexual nature, among seven- to 10-year-olds.

Irish News

• State to spend €5bn housing asylum seekers over next two decades: The Government will spend €5 billion accommodating asylum seekers in State-owned properties in the coming decades, Ministers have been told – although this will be significantly cheaper than sourcing beds in the private sector.
• Tributes left at Queens bar where Irish woman Sarah McNally died in alleged knife attack: Floral tributes have been left at the Irish bar in New York City where 41-year-old Sarah McNally died after an alleged knife attack on Saturday night.
• Only one in 30 applicants for vacant and derelict property grant received payment by end of last year: Just 100 of more than 6,000 applicants for grant aid to refurbish homes under the Government’s Crói Cónaithe scheme had been paid out by the end of last year, according to new figures.
• Half of younger teachers consider emigration due to living costs - poll: Half of younger teachers say they would consider leaving Ireland to teach abroad due to factors such as the accommodation crisis and disillusionment with their jobs, according to a survey.
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World News

• Seven aid workers killed in Israeli strike in Gaza: Seven aid workers were killed in an Israeli strike in central Gaza while delivering humanitarian aid, World Central Kitchen (WCK) said on Tuesday.

The Big Read

• Ballinrobe residents battle against creeping dereliction: When Ballinrobe native and former GAA correspondent turned businessman Liam Horan returned home in 1999 to work with Lake District Enterprise, his primary hope was to expand the employment base of the Co Mayo town and its scenic hinterland. Twenty-five years later the branding of the area – with its loughs Corrib, Mask and Carra – has been somewhat smothered by the success of the Wild Atlantic Way on Mayo’s coastline. Moreover, the town’s proximity to Ashford Castle doesn’t appear – on the surface anyway – to have created an economic bounce. As a result, the local community is fighting to bring its town back from the precipice.

The best from Opinion

• Fine Gael’s choice to replace a property-owning democracy with a rent-paying one has unsettled a generation
• The Debate: Should there be a total ban on screens for small children?

Business

• Streaming era chaos summed up by new Netflix series: One of the most curious things about Netflix’s 3 Body Problem is that it is set in a fantasy world in which virtual reality (VR) headsets work. But the show also highlights the depressing reality of today’s volatile streaming market.

Sports

• Wide gap remains in golf between men and women’s prize money: No doubt who the two hottest golfers on the planet are right now, with world number ones Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler dominating their respective tours.

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Life & Style

• ‘It’s hard to park your qualifications when you move to Ireland’: Daniel Ricci, who had trained as a journalist but began working as language tutor, was married, and owned an apartment in Florianopolis, a large city in the south of Brazil. But he knew he wanted to live abroad.

Podcasts

• In the News: The cost of Javier Milei’s transformation of Argentina

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