Breakfast Briefing

Four leading advocacy organisations representing students with additional needs and their carers, Down Syndrome Ireland, Inclusion Ireland, AsIAm and Family Carers Ireland, have welcomed the announcement by Fórsa that they will advise SNAs to co-operate with the phased resumption of in-school services to children, pending a number of safety measures being undertaken.

They say the announcement is a positive signal, and the onus is now on the Government to re-double their efforts to reopen schools for students with special educational needs.

Adam Harris, the Founder-Director of AsIAm,  joined Shane Beatty:

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People living in the Greater Dublin area are being urged to conserve water as the recent cold spell has led to a surge in demand.

Irish Water is working to repair bursts throughout the network following a spike in use in the past few days.

While these essential repairs are underway people are being advised to check for leaks and to only use what they need.

Head of Operations at Irish Water, Tom Cuddy joined Shane Beatty on Breakfast Briefing:

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NPHET believes the country is "beginning to turn a corner" in tackling the current wave of Covid-19 - but that hospitals will remain under threat in the weeks ahead.

A further 8 deaths linked to the virus were confirmed last night with 4,929 new cases.

One in 76 people across the country has tested positive for the disease in the past two weeks.

Overnight there were 1,620 patients in hospital with the virus and 144 in intensive care.

Newstalk reporter Stephen Murphy joined Shane Beatty on Breakfast Briefing:

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Democrats begin their plans to remove Donald Trump from office - with the Vice-President being asked to make him quit.

If Mike Pence refuses to act, the House will vote to impeach the President for inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol Building.

That ballot won't happen until Wednesday, just a week before Joe Biden is sworn in to office.

POLITICO senior writer Carla Marinucci joined Shane Beatty on Breakfast Briefing:

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It's been a very cold week with snow and ice and from now until Sunday, there will be some further very cold weather, with tonight a bitterly cold night with air temperatures of -5C to -7C and ground temperatures down to below -10C.

While major roads will be gritted, minor roads and surfaces could freeze over.

Forecaster Alan O'Reilly from Carlow Weather joined Shane Beatty:

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