EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know as you kick off your day.
1. #BUDGET 2013: Well, today’s the day. At 2:30pm, Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin will stand before the Dáil and reveal where they plan to cut €2.25 billion in government spending, and increase taxes by €1.25 billion, in order to bring us closer to a balanced budget. We’ll be bringing you full coverage of the speeches, the fallout, and what they mean all day here on TheJournal.ie.
2. #SHOOTING: Two scenes close to the fatal shooting of crime boss Eamon Kelly remains sealed off this morning, ahead of forensic examinations on the scenes. The state pathologist is expected to carry out a post-mortem on 65-year-old Kelly this morning, after he was shot dead yesterday afternoon in Killester.
3. #BANK DEBT: On the eve of the Budget, there was disappointing news from Brussels: a meeting of EU finance ministers broke up without any agreement on the setting up of an EU-wide bank supervisor – which is a necessary step in any hopes of Ireland getting some money back from Europe over the costs of bailing out its banks. France and Germany are split on how much power the supervisor should have – while the Daily Telegraph says Britain could still veto the plan entirely.
4. #COURTS: The six men arrested on Monday morning across the south-east, on suspicion of involvement in organised crime, are to appear in court this morning. The six men – aged between their late 20s and early 40s – had been detained in counties in stations in Wexford, Kilkenny and Waterford and will appear before Waterford District Court this morning.
5. #CORRUPTION: Ireland’s businesses are seen as more corrupt than those of Uruguay and the Bahamas, according to a new international study. Transparency International’s index of corruption perceptions deals with the public reputation of firms around the world – and has given Ireland its lowest score ever.
6. #GENEROSITY: The Irish Cancer Society will have slightly less fear of today’s Budget – after a gracious anonymous donor gave the charity a €2.5 million donation. Gordon Deegan writes in many of the papers that the donation is by far the highest single donation it’s ever received.
7. #TYPHOON: At least 238 people have died after a typhoon ravaged the Philippines, with several hundreds more missing and many areas inaccessible to rescue workers. Typhoon Bopha tore through the southern parts of the archipelago, with winds peaking at 210 kilometres per hour.
8. #TESCO: Sales in Tesco’s Irish supermarkets are down compared to last year – but Ireland is still a standout performer in the supermarket chain’s global operations. New figures out this morning show like-for-like sales in the three months to November were down by 1.2 per cent in the UK, and 1.5 per cent worldwide – but by only 0.3 per cent in Ireland.
9. #REST IN PEACE: The world’s oldest person has died, at the ripe old age of 116. Besse Cooper “had a long, good life”, according to her son Sidney. The Georgia woman attributed her long life to minding her own business, “and I don’t eat junk food”.
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