Every morning, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cuppa.
1. #BLOODBATH BUDGET: Brian Lenihan will have his calculator out over breakfast this morning, as he prepares to announce the size of the adjustment that will be made in the December 7 budget for 2011. The adjustment is expected to be the largest in the history of the state, clocking in at between €5.5 billion and €6 billion. The announcement comes a day after students and police clashed in violent protests on the streets of Dublin. The Independent reports that the government is confident it still has the numbers to pass the Budget, despite the resignation earlier this week of Donegal North TD, Jim McDaid.
2. #MCDAID: Jim McDaid may be out, but he’s not down. He will get more than €250,000 from the public purse over the next 12 months, and will be entitled to a pension of €75,000 a year after that, the Irish Times reports.
3. #BY-ELECTION: Meanwhile, the government prepares to move the writ for the Donegal by-election in the Dail today, with the vote likely to be held between November 22 and 29. There is speculation that a general election may now also be likely.
4. #SCHOOLS: With just weeks to go to the end of 2010, the Dept of Education has only spent half the money allocated for school buildings this year. That’s the second year in a row that the dept has failed to spend its budget, RTE reports.
5. #BROTHELS: A judge yesterday issued bench warrants for the arrest of two women charged with running brothels in separate bedrooms from the Manor West Hotel in Tralee.
6. #PRENDEVILLE: Neil Prendeville could face questioning by gardaí within days after Aer Lingus staff made statements about the incident in which he exposed himself on a plane. Celebrity PR guru Max Clifford told the Examiner the apology he made yesterday was “totally bizarre”, and pointed out that plenty of people mix alcohol with painkillers to no such, er, ill effect. Meanwhile, the Independent demands to know why Aer Lingus did not call gardaí to arrest the Cork 96fm presenter on landing.
7. #STUDENT GUNMAN: An armed schoolboy who was drunk and on LSD broke into a school in Wexford with a handgun and an iron bar and threatened to kill the vice-principal, a court has heard.
8. #NEAR MISS: Qantas airlines has grounded all of its A380 super jumbo jets after one of its planes bound for Sydney shed debris and was forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore this morning shortly after take-off. Photos of the plane show signs of damage to the fuselage.
9. #STRANGE STATE: California votes against legalizing marijuana ….while San Francisco votes to ban the McDonald’s Happy Meal. Then again, this is the state in which you don’t even need a pulse to be elected.
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