Every morning, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know by 9am.

1. #BUDGET11: Last night’s vote on the first of the Budget’s financial provisions passed comfortably, but the social welfare bill is to be debated in the Oireachtas today.

2. #BUDGET11: Three people were arrested by gardaí after yesterday’s protests outside Leinster House, but all have been released and charged with public order offences. A man who resembled Jackie Healy Rae was reportedly accosted by protestors outside the Dail last night. Meanwhile “serial protestor” Joe McNamara been given bail by the High Court, after the District Court had earlier refused him.

3. #SNOWWATCH Road conditions are still hazardous this morning, but Met Eireann says we can expect a slight thaw.

4. #BUDGET11 The budget has hit virtually everyone – families, middle income earners, the low paid, those on social welfare, the President, the Taoiseach – everyone, that is, except the TDs needed to get it through the Dail, the Examiner reports. Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay describes this Budget as the first time an Irish government legislated to make families hungry.

5. #BUDGET11: The rest of the world is also delivering its verdict on what’s widely being called Ireland’s “austerity budget” today. The financial freesheet City AM calls it “the harshest budget ever proposed”. The Wall Street Journal congratulates us for taking “the first crucial step on an expected four-year road to financial recovery”. BBC News calls it an “austerity masterclass” and “a lesson in how best to deliver bad news”. The Telegraph claims – oddly – that the budget “puts the squeeze on public sector workers”.  The Guardian is running a poll asking: “Are the Irish right to protest?”. To date, roughly two thirds of voters have said yes, while on third said “people need to take the medicine after years of excess”. Meanwhile the New York Times called it “one of the strictest budgets in the nation’s history”, while a CNBC correspondent called for Europe to “let Ireland go bankrupt”.

6. #FREE MONEY?: Investigations are continuing into the “technical glitch” at Bank of Ireland yesterday, which first froze people’s accounts, and the reportedly gave out free money. The bank admits a small number of customers withdrew money they didn’t have. A spokesman told RTE’s Morning Ireland: “They’ve created an unauthorised overdraft for themselves, but we’ll be following that up with them.”

7. #COWEN: Taoiseach Brian Cowen is continuing to insist he will lead FF into the next election, the Irish Times reports.

8. #USA: The wife of former US presidential candidate, Elizabeth Edwards, has died aged 61, after posting a final message on her Facebook page. “The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And yes, there are certainly times when we aren’t able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It’s called being human. But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful.”

9. #DRUMM: The former Anglo Irish chief executive David Drumm has been giving evidence at his bankruptcy proceedings in the US, during which he was asked to explain why he lists his wife, Mrs Drumm as a creditor. He claims she loaned him $210,347. He also had to endure questioning about the value of her jewellery and presents bought for their children.