Leaving Cert to be cancelled in favour of predictive grades
The Leaving Certificate is set to be cancelled in favour of predictive grades.
A memo is set to go before Cabinet ministers on Friday.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil earlier that an update would be issued by the end of this week.
COVID-19: 29 further deaths in Ireland
There have been 29 more coronavirus-related deaths in Ireland.
Latest figures show 137 new cases have also been confirmed here.
It brings the death toll up to 1,403, while there are 22,385 confirmed cases.
Varadkar rules out VAT suspension for hospitality sector
The Taoiseach has ruled out a temporary suspension of VAT for the hospitality sector.
It comes after the Minister of State for Tourism, Brendan Griffin called for the VAT rate for restaurants, bars and hotels to be set at 0% as they recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, Leo Varadkar said the plan would go against EU rules.
Number of apartment completions jumps by over 75%
New figures show there was a 75.2% increase in apartments completed in the first quarter of this year.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) says there were 4,986 new dwelling completions in the first quarter - compared with 4,254 in the same period last year.
That is an increase of 17.2%.
Irish study raises concerns about accuracy of Bluetooth for contact tracing apps
A new study by researchers in Dublin has highlighted concerns about the accuracy of Bluetooth technology for contact tracing apps.
It found it is likely to be 'challenging' to use the wireless technology to reliably detect when people using such apps are within two metres of one another.
Contact tracing apps - which use wireless Bluetooth technology to record people's close contacts - are being developed by governments around the world as part of their response to the COVID-19 crisis.
