EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know with your morning coffee…
1. #INAUGURATION: Michael D Higgins will be sworn in as Ireland’s ninth president at a ceremony in Dublin Castle at noon today. We’ll be liveblogging the whole event later this morning but in the meantime here’s the low-down on what exactly will happen at the ceremony.
2. #EURO 2012: Ireland will play Estonia in Tallinn tonight in the first leg of the crucial play-off for a spot in next year’s European Championship. Giovanni Trapattoni has already named 10 of the 11 players who will be starting. Kick-off is at 7.45pm Irish time.
3. #BANKERS: All eyes will be on Bank of Ireland today after AIB last night bowed to government pressure and agreed to pass on the ECB interest rate cut to customers, the Irish Times reports. The government welcomed the move which came less than 24 hours after the bank had said it would not be passing on the cut.
4. #PRIORY HALL: Dublin City Council is appealing a High Court decision which forced the Council to pay for the accommodation costs of the former residents of Priory Hall, RTE has reported. The residents had to vacate the Donaghmede development last month after the Council found that it was in breach of fire safety regulations.
5. #PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC: A Fine Gael councillor has called for the introduction of a ’Cork passport’, similar to the Certificate of Irish Heritage scheme introduced by the government earlier this year. The document would be available to people outside of Cork who want their Cork roots to be officially recognised and would be a source of revenue for the county.
6. #LIGHTHOUSE: Two companies have made rival bids to take over the former Light House cinema in Smithfield in Dublin, the Irish Times reports. The cinema was shut down in April after a dispute over rent for the premises.
7. #EUROZONE: Romania has said that it still wants to join the eurozone – despite the ongoing turmoil in the region. Making the announcement, the Romanian president prefaced his remarks with the words, “Don’t laugh.”
8. #OSCARS: Billy Crystal has been announced as the host of next year’s Academy Awards after Eddie Murphy pulled out as host on Wednesday. Crystal used Twitter to break the news. Murphy withdrew after the show’s producer was forced to resign for using a homophobic slur during an interview.
9. #WINNING: TheJournal.ie picked up three gongs at last night’s Eircom Spider Awards, including the overall Grand Prix prize. Whoo-hoo!
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