The 9 at 9: Saturday

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news you need to know to start the day. 

1. #IMPASSE Talks aimed at resolving the public sector pay dispute have failed to reach an agreement and unions raised the prospect of a further day of national strike action.

2. #CITYWEST A man cleared of a sexual assault on a teenage girl at Citywest in Dublin will be deported to war-torn Sudan after agreement was reached with the Sudanese government, The Journal has learned. 

3. #RIP Actor Thomas ‘Tom’ Hopkins, who played Fair City’s Christy Phelan, has died.

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4. #PROPERTY TAX Homeowners are being reminded by Revenue to check their Local Property Tax (LPT) arrangements as the date determining liability for next year’s charge approaches this Sunday.

5. #PLAYER OF THE YEAR Ryan O’Donoghue and Gearóid Hegarty have claimed the 2026 GAA player of the year awards for their inter-county displays.

6. #COST OF LIVING France is preparing for a third consecutive weekend of protests over living costs and education, deploying 70,000 police and gendarmes and pushing the Paris march to the capital’s edge as youth-led demonstrations spread across Europe.

7. #NEWBRIDGE The funeral of Irish traditional musician Dónal Lunny is to take place this morning.

8, #HEATING UP Irish standalone saunas operators say they are facing a choice between raising their prices or absorbing shrinking margins after the government hiked their VAT rate from 9% to 13.5%. 

9. #IRISH UNITY Both Sinn Féin and the SDLP have welcomed plans to create a new government body to engage with “hard evidence” on different constitutional frameworks around Irish unity.