# the morning lead
Last year
2023
‘A long way from normal’: Families say visits to prison still restricted post-pandemic
Some children only get to see their parent in-person once a month and experts are concerned that video calls are replacing visits.
Investigation by Noteworthy finds the number of children visiting prison is 75% of what it was in 2019
Less than a third of prisoners received in-person visits on weeks where data was provided in 2023
Mother-of-two: “I want my kids to know who their father is”
'I don't plan on raising it again': Varadkar rules out speaking to von der Leyen about Israel comments at EPP summit
Swimming restrictions hit over half of all Irish bathing waters this summer
Sea swimming has never been more popular but risks of pollution are also rising.
Noteworthy analysed over 1,600 restrictions from the last decade and they almost tripled over that time
Restrictions include swimming bans and warnings of pollution risk
Expert: “More needs to be done to keep the water in our rivers, lakes and beaches clean”
