EACH WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the five stories you need to know before you hit the road.

1. #NOT NOW: As pressure grows along with the number of stories of vulnerable people having discretionary medical cards taken from them, the Government will tackle the issue, said Finance Minister Michael Noonan – but not until after the elections.

2. #HOMELESS: The social housing crisis and homelessness is another burning question for the Government. This afternoon, Housing Minister of State Jan O’Sullivan announced the creation of a new agency to co-ordinate efforts to sort out the dire situation. It came as a group of people occupied a local authority HQ to protest about spiralling homelessness.

3. #JOYLESS RIDERS: This video has emerged to show a terrifying scene that played out in Ballymount, Dublin as a car attempted to knock down street lampposts at a modified car meet. Gardai are investigating.

4. #NOT OUT, NO WAY: Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore told TheJournal.ie in a wide-ranging interview that he is looking even beyond this weekend’s local and Euro elections and intends to run again in 2016. And look what he said when we asked him about this anti-water charges leaflet of his from the 1990s…

5. #GET KIDS MOVING: A report card is in on Irish children’s physical activity. They scored a D minus – but apparently that’s not too bad in international terms.

See all of today’s news on TheJournal.ie here>