The Agenda

A recall notice has been issued for thousands of passports following a “technical error” which has resulted in incorrect details being printed on them, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has confirmed.The recall applies to passports issued between December 23 and January 6 after it emerged that they were sent out to recipients with the letters ‘IRL’ absent from within.In a statement, the DFA has apologised and warned those who recently received new passports that they may face difficulties while attempting to travel.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Social Affairs Correspondent at the Irish Times, Kitty Holland, who told us more about this

Louth County Council have told councillors the Local Area Plan (LAP) for Drogheda will "not progress any further at this time". Louth County Council said it had intended, in conjunction with Meath County Council, to commence a Joint Local Area Plan for Drogheda in 2021, as part of both counties' Development Plans. However, Thomas McEvoy, Director of Services with Louth County Council said a judicial review of the Meath County Development Plan relating to lands in the Southern Envrions of Drogheda created uncertainty in progressing the joint Local Area Plan. He said Louth County Council chose to progress with the development of the Dundalk LAP as a result. That plan came into effect in 2025. Louth County Council said it had intended, in conjunction with Meath County Council, to commence a Joint Local Area Plan for Drogheda in 2021, as part of both counties' Development Plans. We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Independent Councillor in Drogheda, Kevin Callan, who says that Drogheda Borough Council needs to be restored first, the campaign have issued communication that they reject the restoration of the borough councilWe were also joined by Anthony Murphy, PRO of Drogheda City Status Group, who took to social media over the weekend to express his anger over the plan being dropped, and Bobby McCormack, Chair of IDEA and CEO of Development Perspectives & Drogheda native, who says that he is also disappointed by the plan ebing dropped.

Drogheda could be joining the ‘Leave a Light On’ campaign in a bid to improve safety and boost the night-time economy in the town centre.The initiative, which is already underway in Cork and Limerick, encourages businesses to brighten up the streets by leaving a light on after closing time. This additional lighting is aimed at creating a safer, more welcoming and vibrant environment during dark winter nights.Louth County Council revealed this week that a proposal to introduce the scheme to Drogheda is currently being reviewed.Mayor Michelle Hall highlighted the benefits of improved lighting at the January meeting of Drogheda Borough District, where asked the council to “ensure all street lights in the town centre are working and repaired in a timely manner”.Michelle joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

Aontú wants Paschal Donohoe brought before the Oireachtas Finance Committee, over his decision to give €10 million euro more to the World Bank than it asked for.He gave the €10 million extra to the World Bank in April last year, before he resigned as Finance Minister in November to take up a role at the World Bank.The party's leader, Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín says giving extra money before taking up a job with the same organisation raises major questions.Deputy Toibin joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

Louth County Council are moving away from long term leases, due to the extensive work needed once houses are handed back.Dundalk councillors heard at their December meeting of a change in approach by the council’s housing section to long term leasing.Cllr. Marianne Butler asked how many houses the council will be retrofitting under the EERP, the energy efficiency retrofit programme, and if there was a location for these houses.She welcomed a property in Dundalk having been repaired and allocated under the Repair and Lease Scheme, but asked if a tenant going into a property under this initiative would expect to be given a thirty year lease.Councillor Butler joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

An average of nearly 300 people a day have added their names to the opt-out register for organ donation since legislation was introduced six months ago, making every adult a donor unless they expressly withdraw their consent.A total of 58,482 had opted out of the scheme by 31 December, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has revealed, equating to more than 2,000 people every week since the law was effected on 17 June.The Human Tissue Act 2024 was aimed at increasing organ donation rates by presuming that all adults living in Ireland for at least a year consent to donating their organs unless they have formally registered an objection.However, the rate at which people are opting out has slowed since the legislation came into force. An initial surge saw almost 40,000 people add their names to the register in the first 10 days at a rate of nearly 155 every hour.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by freelance journalist Darragh McDonagh who told us more about this. We were also joined by Fianna Fail TD Cormac Devlin, who has previously spoken to us on The Agenda about organ donation after bringing it up in The Dail.

The Mercosur trade agreement which was passed by a vote of EU member states’ representatives last week, ‘is bad for health and bad for Irish farming’, Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú told a demonstration in Dundalk on Saturday.Over 100 farmers on tractors converged on Market Square on Saturday morning for a rally in support of a larger event in Athlone, which attracted thousands of protesters.The Dundalk TD told the Dundalk protesters that Irish people were ‘way beyond disappointed’ with the EU representatives’ vote on Friday and accused the government of doing ‘far too little, far too late’.Deputy Ó Murchú urged farmers to ‘keep the government’s feet to the flames’ and said it was ‘not good enough’ that nearly 100,000 tonnes of South American beef could come into Europe under the Mercosur deal.Deputy Ó Murchú joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

Earlier in the programme we spoke to Independent Ireland MEP, Ciaran Mullooly, about the Mecosur deal vote taking place today.The Irish Government will vote against the controversial Mercosur trade deal, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste confirmed yesterday.In a statement, Tánaiste Simon Harris said that following negotiations with the EU on the deal, Ireland does not find the additional measures “sufficient to satisfy our citizens”.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Louth farmer and IFA member Edward O’Malley, who gave us his thoughts on the Mercosur deal and about how it will affect himself and other local farmers if it passes. We aslso heard about a tractor run taking place tomorrow in Dundalk in support of the large anti-Mercosur protest in Athlone on Saturday.We were also joined by Wicklow Wexford Sinn Fein TD, Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin, who says that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have “failed the people of Ireland”.

Hundreds of SuperValu price cuts are aimed at winning back market share for the company, but unlikely to trigger a wider price war, a retail expert has said.The supermarket chain has reduced the price of 500 grocery staples by up to 10pc.It comes as a majority of consumers said they were “disappointed” with official attempts to ease the cost-of-living crisis.Consumers’ Association chairman Michael Kilcoyne called on other firms, such as Dunnes, Tesco, Aldi and Lidl, to react with similar price reductions.We were joined this morning on The Agenda by Personal Finance Editor at The Irish Independent, Charlie Weston, who is going to tell us more about this.