EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING,TheJournal.ie brings you up to speed with the five things you should know as you head out the door.

1. #WAGES: The average weekly wage for workers in Ireland stood at €696.59 in the first three months of this year, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office – up slightly from the weekly average of €691.74 in the last quarter of 2012. We’re not sure where the people earning these very comfortable wages are hiding, but it seems they’re not spending their cash on clothing, books or furniture, with a 0.5 per cent decrease in annual retails sales simultaneously reported today.

2. #SHATTER: The under-fire Justice Minister found an unlikely defender of his honour in Tipperary TD Michael Lowry, who said the Minister’s integrity is not in question following days of controversy and condemned the use of Dáil time to debate a motion of no confidence in him. Meanwhile, the Taoiseach Enda Kenny has again insisted he has “absolute confidence” in Shatter, as the Dáil prepares to debate the matter.

3. #AUSTERITY: Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has said she no longer believes in austerity – joining a number of Europe-based politicians in signing a letter published in the Guardian today calling for an end to the austerity measures being implemented across EU Member States. The letter sates: “Austerity could only ever bring us so far. We must now move to the next stage”.

4. #ATTACK: New information obtained by gardaí investigating the stabbing of a solicitor in north Dublin two years ago has led to a fresh arrest. A man in his 30s was detained in Dublin city centre this morning over the vicious assault on a 44-year-old woman in her home at Donaghmede Park in 2011. The victim suffered serious injuries in the stabbing but has since recovered.

5. #SMOKING: Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Friday, the Minister for Health James Reilly has announced that Ireland is to become the second country in the world to introduce plain packets of cigarettes, after Australia. Reilly said he was “confident that this legislation will be justified and supported purely by the fact that it will save lives”.

Meanwhile, study carried out by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction shows that the Irish smoke as much cannabis as the Dutch.