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Michael D Higgins: ‘I’m fine now. What I had was a form of mild stroke’
President Michael D Higgins has confirmed that he had a stroke during the health scare that led to his hospitalisation for the first week of March.
The president was taken to St James’s Hospital in Dublin on February 29th, after falling ill with what was described at the time as a “mild transient weakness”.
Speaking to The Irish Times in Manchester where he received an honorary doctorate on Tuesday, Mr Higgins said he was feeling better after “a form of mild stroke” that has left him with some slight mobility issues.
News
- Stardust families welcome belated State apology: After more than four decades battling to be heard by the State, the families of the 48 people unlawfully killed in the 1981 Stardust disaster have welcomed the State’s acknowledgment it “failed” them.
- More than 80% of asylum applicants now coming from UK via Northern Ireland, says McEntee: The Minister for Justice old the Oireachtas justice committee, which is holding a hearing on the Government’s decision to opt-in to an EU-wide migration pact, that the estimate was that more than 80 per cent of applicants were coming across the Border.
- Slieve Russell Hotel hits the market with €35m price tag: The Slieve Russell Hotel Golf & Country Club, the onetime jewel in former billionaire Sean Quinn’s business empire, has hit the market with a price tag of €35 million
- Jeffrey Donaldson due in court charged with historical sexual offences: The former DUP leader is scheduled to appear at Newry Magistrates’ Court in what is the first stage of the court process after he was arrested and charged last month.
- Check out today’s Most Read stories
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World
- US Senate passes $95bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan: The US Senate voted resoundingly by 79 to 18 votes on Tuesday to approve $95bn (€88bn) in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as a bipartisan supermajority united to send the long-stalled package to Joe Biden’s desk for signature.
The Big Read
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- Miriam Lord: Simon Harris acknowledges wrong done to Stardust families. Now he must do right by them: A State apology delivered on the floor of the Dáil by the Taoiseach is a remarkably powerful event. For weary victims – unjustly and cruelly disregarded for so long before finally receiving recognition, it’s hard to imagine how emotionally overwhelming this must feel. The moment belongs to them. It is a day the recipients will remember forever. Being there to watch one is a privilege: a moving, memorable experience.
Opinion
- Kathy Sheridan: Not-quite-Independents are emerging as the new political force
- Michael McDowell: If the worst happens, who would come to our defence? We are acutely vulnerable to threat
Business
- Charities to be exempted from planned gambling advert ban: Charities are set to be exempted from a controversial betting advert ban proposed by the Government’s new gambling legislation. Politicians are due to debate a Bill on Wednesday that aims to create a new licensing regime and authority to oversee the Republic’s betting industry.
Sports
- Seán Moran: If you think this season needs an overhaul, take a glance backwards: This century has seen extraordinary flux in both scheduling and intercounty formats. We are on year two of the current calendar arrangements. The imperative to fix the fixtures for clubs produced an abbreviated intercounty championship season with a greatly expanded club footprint. For all the laments about the loss of autumn weeks and their unopposed opportunities for promotion, the consequence that means most in Croke Park is the sudden clarity of club fixture timetables.
Martyn Turner/Picture of the Day
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- Laura Kennedy: In Australia, my heart is broken for want of a spice bag: When my editor emailed me urgently in the middle of the night (every email from home is in the middle of the night in Australia but I’m enjoying the drama) and asked, ‘can you find a spice bag in your local area?’, I heeded the call to serve. He had, after all, requested in writing. That constitutes a legal contract, probably.
Podcast Highlights
- How convicted drug dealer David Waldron quietly led a luxury lifestyle for over two decades: David Waldron, who spent decades quietly developing his drug-dealing business while keeping out criminal feuds and the media, lost his legal battle against Cab last week.
The low-profile gang leader whose lavish lifestyle was laid bare by Cab
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