EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you five things you really should know before heading out the door…

1. #ELECTIONS: Tallies indicate that Michael D Higgins will be elected the ninth president of Ireland. In the past few minutes, former frontrunner Seán Gallagher conceded the election. We’re continuing to bring you minute-by-minute updates on TheJournal.ie‘s liveblog. In Dublin West, Patrick Nulty of the Labour party has achieved most first-preference votes on the first count, which was also announced in the past hour.

2. #CRIME: There were over 500 more burglaries and related offences recorded in Ireland in the past three months, compared with the same period last year. However, Justice Minister said new CSO figures on crime painted a more “positive picture” as the total number of offences recorded in 12 of the 14 crime groups fell.

3. #GUILTY: Dutchman Vincent Tabak has been found guilty of the murder of architect Joanna Yeates at Bristol Crown Court this afternoon. The 33-year-old was convicted with a majority verdict and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

4. #SNAPSHOT: The CSO has released the tenth issue of the Statistical Yearbook of Ireland, providing a comprehensive insight into the lives of Irish people today. Births, deaths, marriages, jobs, the environment and the number of Gaeilgeoirí are all included and we’ve compiled some of the most interesting facts.

5. #OCCUPY: Protesters at the Occupy London site have insisted that their tents outside St Paul’s Cathedral were, in fact, occupied. The group has hit back at claims by The Telegraph that just one in 10 tents were being used. They say the thermal imaging camera used by the newspaper does not pick up the presence of protesters inside certain tents. To back up their claims, they released another video today which they say proves the original footage wrong.