EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you should know with your morning cup of coffee.

1. #ABORTION: The Oireachtas Health Committee will begin its three day of hearings on proposed abortion law today. Unlike previous hearings, there will be few representatives from advocacy or religious groups giving evidence with contributions coming mainly from experts in medical, legal and psychiatric fields. Read our crash course on today’s hearings here and follow our liveblog throughout the day for updates.

2. #SPECIAL NEEDS: A review by the National Council for Special Education, due to be presented to Education Minister Ruairí Quinn today, has recommended a reform of the system for special education allocation, RTÉ reports. The council also expressed concern about the waiting time for diagnosis, putting children without access to private care at a disadvantage.

3. #ROBBERY: Two men have been arrested by gardaí in connection with an armed robbery at a supermarket in Rathfarnham, Co Dublin. The men threatened staff with a baseball bat and a gun and escaped with a sum of money which was later recovered by gardaí.

4. #BOMBINGS: The Justice for the Forgotten group are holding a a wreath-laying ceremony in Dublin today, to mark the anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in 1974. In a series of car bombs, 34 people were killed, and the group has called for files on inquiries into the bombings to be opened to the public.

5. #GARDAÍ: Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan has said that he anticipates the number of gardaí will drop below 13,000 this year and that he would welcome recruitment. In 2011, payroll and pensions accounted for 86 per cent of garda expenditure, though an extra €28 million spent in connection with the visits of Queen Elizabeth II and President Obama.

6. #CHILDREN: Almost 800,000 calls were made to Childline last year but 34 per cent of calls to the service still go unanswered due to the strain on its resources. Childline, which receives no government funding, said today that children’s voices are not being heard and this needs to be addressed with 45,000 making contact because of abuse and welfare and calls about bullying on the rise.

7. #HOMOPHOBIA: Almost two-thirds of Europe’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community are still afraid to show their sexuality in public and most feel discriminated against, according to an EU report. Just over a quarter of the respondents also said that they had been physically or verbally assaulted over the last five years.

8. #SYRIA: US President Barak Obama has met with the Turkish Prime Minister to try to reach a resolution in the conflict with Syria. Both Obama and Recep Tayyip Erdogen insisted that Assad must step down in order to end the violence that activists say has already taken some 94,000 lives.

9. #EVEREST: An 80-year-old Japanese man has started his ascent of Mount Everest in a bid to become the oldest man to reach the top, AFP reports. Back in 1970, the man became the first person to ski down Everest and now he hopes to take the world record from a 71-yeard-old who reached the summit in 2007.

Over on DailyEdge.ie: One Direction in Ireland jerseys, Cheryl reaches out to Kim K, and the “George Clooney of baking” is single… it’s The Dredge.