The Agenda

There are roughly 4,500 empty beds free for either Ukrainian nationals or asylum seekers at present, but they cannot be offered to more than 500 male applicants sleeping on the streets, an Oireachtas committee has heard.The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) heard that there are about 53,000 beds available in the system at the moment.Just under 36,000 are designated for international protection, with the remainder set aside for refugees from the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Of those, some 4,500 are vacant.However, many of them are unavailable for use — either due to the need for refurbishment or their placement as spare units within family complexes — officials from the Department of Justice told the PAC on Thursday.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by John Lannon, CEO of Doras, to get his thoughts on this.

The Bettystown–Laytown area has been hit by a rising crime wave, and a new Garda station for the area needs to be built urgently.The claim was made by Senator Alison Comyn in the Seanad, and she is demanding that the Justice Minister, Jim O'Callaghan, intervene to resolve the issue.She said she had received a plethora of emails in recent days from concerned residents worried that crime is spiralling out of control in East Meath.One email was entitled ‘Scared In Our Own Home’ and the author revealed: “Within the last month there have been at least three attempted break-ins on the roads—of cars and homes—the most recent one last night.Senator Comyn joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

Abuse received by politicians is predominantly aimed at women, Louth councillors have been told. Councillors were told during a presentation by the Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) that all political parties are facing issues getting people to run in the next local and general elections. A spokesperson for AILG said parties are particularly struggling to recruit female candidates as online abuse is "predominantly leaning towards females". Mayor of Drogheda, Cllr Michelle Hall said she had been subjected to "a lot of online abuse" which she said was "very difficult to deal with". Mayor Hall said receiving online abuse was a "normal occurrence" and criticised social media companies saying they had "refused to work" with her in an effort to take abusive posts off their platforms.Mayor Hall joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

Talks were underway at Drogheda United on Thursday to try broker a boardroom solution following a fractious 24 hours.Joanna Byrne remains as co-chair of the club despite claiming she was asked to resign on Monday due to her calling on the FAI to boycott the Nations League games against Israel later this year.Ms Byrne was speaking in her role as full-time serving Sinn Féin TD for Co Louth. She was to the fore in recommending the takeover by the club of US firm Trivela in 2023 but, now that the relationship has become fractured, the parties are left with three options.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Sinn Fein TD for Louth and party colleague, Ruairi Ó Murchú, who gave us his thoughts on all of this.

In light of the publication today of North Kerry CAMHS Lookback Review Report (Maskey 2) ADHD Ireland calls on both the HSE and the Department of Health to ensure barriers around funding, recruitment and Clinical Governance are resolved so that long term solutions are implemented to deliver world class outcomes for all our young people.

Louth FF TD, Erin McGreehan, has been informed that €154.1 million has been committed to flood relief and coastal protection projects in Louth. However, she stressed the urgent need for interim flood defence measures while the major projects in areas like Ardee, Drogheda, and Carlingford are progressing.

For the first time since 2019, the EU’s main recruitment pathway for permanent careers in the EU institutions – the AD5 Generalist Administrator competition – has been launched, Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and at the Department of Defence, Thomas Byrne, has confirmed. . Thomas also Comments on Drogheda United and Joanna Byrne

was delighted when officials overtunred decission

Meath man who kept horses in what the judge describes as harrowing conditions pleads guilty