Senior Garda officer suspended from duty amid GSOC inquiry
A senior Garda officer, who is the subject a Garda Ombudsman inquiry, has been suspended from duty.
The officer is reportedly facing allegations of serious misconduct.
This evening, a Garda spokesperson confirmed the suspension.
“A Garda officer, who is currently subject of an investigation, has been suspended from duty,” she said.
Ireland recorded an unexpected €100m budget surplus last year
Ireland last year recorded a budget surplus for only the second time since the economic crash.
The Taoiseach revealed the surplus of €100m following this morning’s meeting of Cabinet ministers.
Leo Varadkar said the excess funds are the result of a €250m under-spend and a “very big increase” of between €1bn and €2bn in corporate tax income.
He said the under-spend was largely related to service costs for the national debt.
Over 3,000 records may have been compromised in Luas website cyber attack
The Luas operator Transdev says an incident which brought down the tram system's website was "a professional attack".
A message on Thursday morning claimed the company had been warned about 'serious security holes' some time ago, but failed to respond.
It also claimed it was being held to ransom for one bitcoin - worth around €3,400.
The website has since been taken offline as investigations continue.
Month of March set aside for Dáil debates on 'no deal' Brexit plans
The government will not bring forward any ‘no deal’ Brexit legislation before March.
Cabinet minister met for three hours this morning to discuss how Ireland will respond if the UK crashed out of the EU without a deal.
Ministers discussed around 45 new laws which they believe will be needed in a ‘no deal’ situation and it was agreed that these should be condensed into four pieces of primary legislation before they are put before the Dáil.
The Dáil schedule for the month of March will be set aside if needed to allow for time to debate the legislation before the Brexit deadline of March 29th.
Chinese spacecraft makes historic landing on far side of moon
China has become the first country to land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon.
State media reported that the unmanned Chang'e-4 probe touched down this morning at 10:26am Beijing time (2:26am Irish time).
It made a 'soft landing' in the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, on the side of the moon that never faces Earth.
China's People's Daily newspaper said the probe "sent back the first-ever photograph of the moon's far side, opening a new chapter in lunar exploration."
