The Agenda

Today marks four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leading to the most devastating conventional conflict in Europe since World War II.From day one of the invasion, fierce Ukrainian resistance has kept Russia from achieving its goal of dismembering the Ukrainian state.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by a Ukrainian woman named Santa, who fled Ukraine 4 years ago when the war broke out and she says "Ireland is now by home".Santa told us about the day she fled Ukraine with her son, and told us about how things have been in Ireland for them both since.

Following the government's late evening announcement that there will be no SNA cuts in September, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Education and Youth and Meath-East TD, Darren O’Rourke TD, has said it is a reprieve for schools, families and SNAs, but warned that the fundamental issues at the heart of the policy remain unaddressed.Speaking in advance of Tuesday’s Dáil debate on Sinn Féin’s Dáil motion, Deputy O’Rourke said that while the reversal is necessary, it does not fix the broken system that put children with additional needs in jeopardy in the first place.He said the government’s actions over the past fortnight had caused enormous upset, and showed a total lack of respect for SNAs, schools, students and their families. He also questioned whether the €19m extra funding the government pledged tonight is new money or a reallocation from the existing education budget.Deputy O’Rourke joined us on The Agena this morning to talk to us some more about this.

A 16-year-old girl who died in a hit-and-run in Navan, Co Meath has been named as Mia Lily Keogh O’Keefe.The young girl was killed after being struck down while out walking with her dog on Saturday evening after 8pm on the Slane Road in the town.The driver fled the scene but a man in his 20s has since been arrested by investigating gardaí.In an update this morning, a garda spokesperson has confirmed that the man has been released without charge and a file will be prepared for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Crime Editor at The Irish Sun, Stephen Breen, to find out more about this horrific incident and about the GoFundMe which has been set up for Mia’s family.

A 12 year old Drogheda United fan ended up in the Emergency Department of Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda on Friday night, after he was struck by a flare fired from the Away fans end at Oriel Park during the Louth derby.The boy sustained burns to his face and hand but was not hospitalised. During the game flares were fired at the newly laid artificial playing surface leaving over 30 burn marks, which may see the Boynesiders sanctioned in the coming days. Before the match, flares had been fired when rival fans clashed outside Clarke train station on the Carrick Road.Drogheda United and Dundalk also issued a joint statement yesterday condemning crowd trouble at Friday night's Louth derby, which resulted in major damage to the pitch at Oriel ParkThis morning on The Agend we spoke to Minister for Sport, Patrick O'Donovan, who condemned these "gougers" with the flares who destroyed the game for everyone.Minister O'Donovan also has called for any investment into artificial pitches to be pulled.

The HPAT for medical students is a “performance of cruelty” and should be scrapped, a consultant psychiatrist and associate clinical professor has argued. The Health Professions Admission Test is an examination used to help universities select students who apply to study medicine. It lasts for 2.5 hours and tests applicants on logical reasoning, problem solving, interpersonal understanding and non-verbal reasoning. Dr Matthew Sadlier says he does not believe that some of the skills assessed in the HPAT are needed in a medical career, noting that some doctors have no need of interpersonal understanding - or ‘bedside manner’ - as they never deal with patients.Dr Sadlier also doubts very much that a person’s bedside can be accurately assessed in an HPAT exam, and he joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

A 12 year old Drogheda United fan ended up in the Emergency Department of Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda on Friday night, after he was struck by a flare fired from the Away fans end at Oriel Park during the Louth derby.The boy sustained burns to his face and hand but was not hospitalised.During the game flares were fired at the newly laid artificial playing surface leaving over 30 burn marks, which may see the Boynesiders sanctioned in the coming days. Before the match, flares had been fired when rival fans clashed outside Clarke train station on the Carrick Road.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by LMFM's Pat O’Shaughnessy, who is a friend of the family of the young boy who was hit by the flare, and he told us more about what happened and about how the boy is doing.We spoke to by CEO of Dundalk FC, Joe McGuinness.We were also joined by eye-witness Patrick O’Connor, who says himself and his children were in the middle of it as the flares were being thrown, and we spoke to Barry Kenny from Irish Rail, who told us all about the damage that was caused at the train station by the flares.We also heard from Sin Fein TD for Louth, Ruairi O Murchu, who is questioning the level of security at these matches and how to stop this happening again in the future

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.