Your Thursday lunchtime catch-up

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

TOP STORIES

The funeral is being held in south Dublin of the five members of the Connors family, who perished in the Carrickmines fire. Hundreds of mourners have gathered at the church of the Ascension of the Lord in Balally, to remember Thomas, Sylvia, Jim, Christy and baby Mary.

Tomorrow’s planned rail strike looks set to go ahead after a union spokesperson said they have been left "totally frustrated" by negotiations. Talks reconvene at the Workplace Relations Commission at 11.30am, after they were adjourned shortly at 3.15am this morning.

One hundred and forty new jobs are on the way to Dublin. Global healthcare company, Grifols, is creating the roles as part of a $100m investment in Ireland.

Senior cabinet ministers have rounded on Sinn Féin, insisting it has questions to answer following revelations the provisional IRA still exists and telling party leader Gerry Adams the “point of ambiguity” over his past “is long gone”. Meanwhile Gerry Adams has denied he has any questions to answer over revelations contained in two detailed reports highlighting the provisional IRA’s continuing existence, despite admitting the supposedly non-existent army council still addresses “legacy issues from time to time”.

A report into the death of baby Mark Molloy at Portlaoise Hospital in January 2012 has found two main care delivery issues in his death. The HSE said the staff failed to recognise and act on the signs of foetal distress.

WORLD

A teacher has been killed and two students seriously injured after a masked man attacked a school in southern Sweden. The man was shot by police during the attack on the Kronan school in Trollhattan, near Goteborg, Sweden’s second-largest city. The attack took place in the school’s cafe area.

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon has offered a grim assessment of prospects for defusing the latest wave of violence between Israel and the Palestinians. Britain’s ambassador to the world body Matthew Rycroft said UN Security Council members were "struck by the pessimistic tone" Mr Ban took during the closed video briefing.