Tuesday’s Top Stories: Varadkar condemns Israel’s attack on Gaza; workers in Ireland to see incomes rise 9%

‘Cries of the innocent will haunt us if we stay silent’: Varadkar condemns Israel’s attack on Gaza during US visit

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the deaths of so many children in Gaza will haunt the world if it remains silent in the face of Israel’s continuing collective punishment for the October 7th Hamas attack.

In the first major speech of his week-long visit to the United States, Mr Varadkar told an audience in Massachusetts on Monday evening nobody could avert their eyes when thousands of children were being killed.

Speaking at an event in the John F Kennedy Library in Boston, Mr Varadkar made what was seen as one of his most forceful condemnations of Israel’s continued onslaught on Gaza, honing in on the toll on children, thousands of whom have died, and many thousands more of whom have been injured.

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• Garda HQ tries to distance Drew Harris from controversial bicycle investigation: Garda Headquarters has moved to distance Garda Commissioner Drew Harris from the controversial handling of a case in which a garda in the midlands was suspended for more than three years after taking a bicycle from a station to give to an elderly man.
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