500 ambulance personnel are striking today, in a dispute with the HSE over union recognition.

The crew members, who are part of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, will picket outside ambulance bases in Dublin, Cork, and other locations between 7am and 5pm.

The National Ambulance Service says it has detailed contingency plans in place.

That includes having Defence Forces paramedics on standby, managers carrying out frontline duties, and confirmation that personnel from other unions will be working as normal.

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A fourth interim report into mother and baby homes will be considered by Cabinet ministers this morning.

The Commission of Investigation into what happened at the homes has also asked for another year to complete its work.

It's thought the delay is because of the large volume of work involved in investigating the institutions between 1922 and 1998.

Details of the fourth interim report will be published after they've been shared with families and groups involved with the homes.

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Three security alerts in Derry have ended and been confirmed as hoaxes.

The alerts began yesterday when two vehicles were hijacked by masked men.

Some people had to be moved out of their homes.

A 50-year-old man is still being questioned about the car bomb explosion in Derry on Saturday night - four others who were arrested have been released.

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The High Court is expected to hear a judicial review case today, calling for the scrapping of the Government's climate change plan.

Lawyers for a group of climate activists will argue the 2017 National Mitigation Plan is in breach of existing law.

The Climate Case Ireland group says it falls short of steps needed to meet Ireland's goals under the Paris Agreement on climate change.

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One of the country's main children's hospitals says there's been a 29% increase in the numbers of patients being discharged into homelessness.

Temple Street Hospital says 842 children who attended its Emergency Department last year were living in emergency accommodation.

A quarter of them were less than one year old.