EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the five stories you need to know as you head out the door.

1. #HOUSING: Fewer than 8,500 houses were built in Ireland last year, with nearly 2,000 fewer houses constructed in the country than 2011, according to new figures from the Construction Industry Federation. The CIF is predicting another reduction in house construction in 2013, with figures for last year showing that a total of 8,488 homes were built in Ireland – 1,992 fewer than in 2011.

2. #CYBERBULLYING: Education Minister Ruairí Quinn today launched two initiatives aimed at tackling cyberbullying, saying that new technologies brought with them both opportunities and dangers. The projects being launched, including the Watch your Space public awareness cyber-bullying campaign and the Garda Primary Schools Programme module Connect with Respect, have been in the pipeline for some time but “some of it is reacting to tragedies and fatalities in various parts of the country”.

3. #GARDAÍ: Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan said today that he hopes reported threats by gardaí of mass work-to-rule (the so-called ‘blue flu’) will not transpire amid tensions over cuts to resources. “We are a professional policing service, we are the guardians of peace, our job is to ensure that we maintain that peace. Any form of industrial action would mitigate against providing that type of service. It’s not on,” he said.

4. #IED: A school in Dublin had to be evacuated this morning after a viable homemade explosive device was found on the grounds. Students were evacuated following the discovery of the IED in a remote area of the school grounds on Aughavannagh Road in Crumlin, and the area was declared safe at 11.25am.

5. #UK: Former British Cabinet Minister Chris Huhne faces prison after he admitted today to perverting the course of justice over a speeding case ten years ago – when he is said to have persuaded his then-wife, economist Vicky Pryce, to take speeding penalty points in order for him to avoid prosecution. The Liberal Democrat MP says he will resign his constituency seat in Eastleigh after changing his plea to guilty at the last minute.