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Dublin: 9 °C Sunday 26 May, 2013

The 9 at 9: Saturday

Good morning! Here are nine things you should know as you start your day…

Image: billsoPHOTO via Flickr/Creative Commons

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you begin your day.

1. #ARREST: A man in his 30s has been arrested in Dublin by Gardaí investigating the fatal shooting of a man in Ballyfermot, Dublin, just before 3pm yesterday. The victim, named as John Wilson, had previous convictions for drug and firearms offences and the shooting is the third to be described as a gangland killing this week.

2. #PARADE: Up to 30,000 people are expected to march in a Belfast Orange Order parade today marking the 100 year anniversary of the signing of the Ulster Covenant, with several thousands of spectators also expected, The Irish Time reports. The order has said it will abide by the Parades Commission determination that bands only play sacred music when passing St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Donegal Street after alleged sectarian incidents during the summer.

3. #SEVERANCE: Former Junior Minister Róisin Shortall will receive €33,000 in severance pay over the next 19 months after quitting her position as Minister of State earlier this week. Since Shortall is not entitled to a ministerial pension, having held her position for less than two years, she is guaranteed severance pay in respect of her year-and-a-half as junior minister under James Reilly.

4. #SALARIES: Judges in Ireland earned some €27 million in salaries last year, despite pay cuts, according to figures released last night in a series of Department of Finance reports. Figures also showed over €4.1 million was paid to former ministers last year though several surrendered all or part of their pension with a total of €178,678.73 handed back to the Exchequer in 2011.

5. #EUTHANASIA: A Wicklow-based couple are taking a landmark right-to-die action challenging suicide laws in Ireland, the Irish Independent reports. 59-year-old Marie Fleming, a long-term multiple sclerosis sufferer, wants the option to end her own life with the help of her partner. The couple are challenging our suicide laws in the High Court to try to ensure her partner Tom Curran will not face time in prison for helping her to die.

6. #SYRIA: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore has told the UN General Assembly that Ireland supports tougher sanctions against the Syrian regime, RTE reports. Gilmore also said Ireland remains committed to giving 0.7 per cent of national income in international aid for poor countries.

7. #SPAIN: At least seven people, including two children, have died after heavy rains in Spain triggered flash floods. The country’s weather agency said that up to 245 litres of water per square metre had fallen yesterday morning alone, BBC reports. Over 600 people had to be evacuated from their homes in the Andalucia region, in the south of the country.

8. #SHOOTING: A man who was let go from his job at a sign-making business in Minneapolis in the US pulled out a handgun in the office yesterday and opened fire, fatally wounding the owner and four others before turning the gun on himself, AP reports. The man’s family said in a statement yesterday that he had struggled with mental illness for years.

9. #RIP: One of Ireland’s best known performers of the showband era, Larry Cunningham, has died in hospital overnight, RTE reports. The 74-year-old singer performed with the likes of Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash over the years and was the first Irish based artist to reach the British pop charts with his song ‘Tribute to Jim Reeves’ in 1964.

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Comments (19 Comments)

  • 30000 people marching today to mark the 100 year anniversary of the signing of the Ulster Covenant…. 30000 people that need to leave the past behind and get a life in my opinion…

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  • Amazing how a politician can walk out of a job and get €33 grand in severance pay, if I walk out of my job for any reason I loose up to 6 weeks benefits

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    • she walk’s out after 18 months, but gets paid for the next 19 months,that means she will be paid for a longer period of time out of the job than she was in it. how the hell can they justify this?

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  • R.IP. Larry.

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  • Fair play to Marie and Tom taking on the outdated suicide laws. If we have a right to life, the right to die with dignity should be part of that. Tom was on The Late Late a year or two ago and was great on it. He fairly brought Tubs to a halt even with the anti voluntary/assisted suicide side heavily stacked in the audience.

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  • rip larry cunningham legend

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  • Its like a man on the dole throwing a barbecue for all his neighbours weekly!!!

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    • It’s more like a man on the dole sending a €2 text to help childline or the simon community. I’m surprised you’re so concerned about the government giving money to people that are less well off than us when there’s a story about a minister that quits her job and gets a bonus for it!

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    • I know I’ll be thumbed down for this, but fair play she has principles. She could have kept her mouth shut and stayed put for just 6 months more to be entitled for a ministerial pension, that would have been more that ?33k.

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  • Given .7% of income to poorer countries is fine, but then we made 25 billion loss last year! Work that one out!

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  • Good luck to Tom and Marie I hope they win their case although I have my doubts based on the similar case in the UK recently! This is areal pro choice issue!!

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  • Jim Fahy 29/09/12 #

    Ah come on all you Shortall critics! Ms Shortall ISS a Labour TD. Surely as such she will take this payment and hand it to St. Vincentde Paul or some other worthwhile charity. After all Labour DO represent the poorer in society! Don’t they???

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  • RE 3 & 4, a minister walks out after 18 months and get 33k in ‘severance’ pay, for the next 19 months, why should she get anything ?, she left of her own free will ,she was not sacked or made redundant, and over 4 million paid to ex- ministers , no wonder we are in a mess. did these greedy bstards not screw enough from the country while they were in office? meanwhile they talk of cuts to welfare and increased tax’s and stealth charges for us ordinary folk .

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  • I’d say the Assad is whackin’ it after political powerhouse Eamon Gilmore’s call for more pressure on the Syrian regime. He must be quivering at the thought of Ireland flexing it financial and military muscle, seen as we’re such major players on the world stage. Such big players in fact the whole of Europe is doing everything in their power to make sure we pull through this recession because their economies and their lives depend on it. Debtors took an enormous hit on their bond yields just not upset us for fear we would nuke them off the face of the earth. Countries ran to our aid offering us cheap money and investment in order to save jobs and stop the tide of emigration. Multinationals stopped using Ireland as a tax haven and instead of paying 0.5% tax on profits, they coughed up the the full amount, no questions asked.
    Yeah Eamon, you take the podium on the floor of the U.N. and you tell the world how we do things here in Ireland. “Because its Frankfurt’s way or Eamon’s way”

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  • Or shortall could have stayed in her job and kept standing up to Reilly.. Oh she stood up for what she believed in… By quitting. Irish politics sure what’s new?

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