Every afternoon, TheJournal.ie brings you 5 things you really need to know by 5pm.

1. # BY-ELECTION: Fine Gael has announced it will seek High Court action over the government’s votes earlier today to block the holding of by-elections in two constituencies where there are vacant seats in the Dáil.

Senator Paudie Coffey, Fine Gael’s designated candidate for the by-election, and Michael van Turnhout, Fine Gael’s Dublin South chairman, have announced plans to launch legal proceedings.

2. # BUDGET 2011: The Department of Finance has confirmed that the government will seek to implement budget adjustments of €6 billion in the upcoming budget.

€4.5bn in the adjustments will be sought through spending cuts, while the remaining €1.5bn will be raised through new taxation, finance minister Brian Lenihan said in a statement released this afternoon.

3. # NORTHERN IRELAND: Both the British and Irish governments have indicated that the Independent Monitoring Commission, set up by the two governments to monitor the scale of paramilitary activity, is to be stood down.

Commenting on the release of the report, justice minister Dermot Ahern said that Irish people had had their “fill of violence on this island”.

4. # HEALTH: Two patients at Tallaght Hospital had a delayed diagnosis because of a backlog in the radiology department of the hospital and the failure of the HSE to approve posts in a timely manner, according to a review into the hospital.

The Tallaght Hospital Review into why 57,921 adult X-rays were not examined by a radiologist has concluded there were serious delays in reporting results.

5. # CONSTRUCTION: One of the top construction companies in Ireland, Pierse Construction, has asked the Commercial Court to appoint a liquidator.

An interim examiner was appointed to Pierse Construction last month, however the company’s legal team have said that the situation has “materially disimproved” since then. However, Justice Peter Kelly sternly criticised the firm’s behaviour, however, saying that it raised concerns over possible abuse of court process.