1. Pay offer to cause tension in schools
Tensions within secondary schools could rise further today as school management bodies seek to ensure teachers not planning to strike on Thursday sign declarations that they are available for work while their colleagues engage in industrial action.
This would mean non-union teachers and members of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) who sign up will get paid regardless of whether schools open while members of the ASTI strike as part of a dispute with the Government over pay for new entrants.
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2. At least 58 killed in attack on Pakistani police academy
A team of up to six gunmen killed at least 58 people using firearms and suicide bombs at a hostel housing hundreds of police cadets in the Pakistani city of Quetta.
Terrorists from a Pakistani Taliban-linked group burst into the academy, targeting sleeping quarters that are home to some 700 recruits, sending terrified young men fleeing, said authorities and witnesses.
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3. UCD refused extra €2.5m for Confucius Centre
The Government rejected a plea from University College Dublin for an extra €2.5 million needed to build a Chinese government-backed building on its campus, despite fears that delays could cause a diplomatic incident with Beijing.
The planned three-story “temple-style” Confucius Centre is being built for UCD’s Confucius Institute, which was opened in 2006 by then Chinese vice-premier Zeng Peiyan during an official visit.
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4. Coalition eyes countermotion to block abortion Bill
Fine Gael and Independent Ministers were working last night to agree a countermotion to block a Private Members’ Bill seeking an abortion referendum, which will be debated in the Dáil today.
The Bill, proposed by the Anti-Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit group, proposes a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which, as article 40.3.3, underpins Ireland’s strict ban on abortion.
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5. Caesarean rates soar as age of first-time mothers rises
An increase in the average age of first-time mothers is one of the main factors behind soaring Caesarean section rates in Ireland, according to new research.
The proportion of births delivered by Caesarean section has grown four-fold in the past 30 years – from 7 per cent in 1984 to 13 per cent in 1993 and 30 per cent in 2014.
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And finally. . . Why one in three earners pays no income tax
It is a figure that might surprise, but some 920,700 people will be exempt from paying income tax in 2017. And no, these figures do not refer to those on State pensions or the long-term unemployed. . .