EVERY WEEKDAY evening, TheJournal.ie brings you five things you need to know before you head out the door…

1. #BUDGET 2012: Finance Minister Michael Noonan has revealed the full details of taxation increases in next year’s Budget. He confirmed that VAT will rise by two per cent and introduced a €100 household charge – but income tax will remain unchanged. We’ve got the full text of his speech here, as well as a round-up of the main points.

2. #BUDGET 2012: Meanwhile, Health Minister James Reilly has defended cuts to health services which were announced on day one of the Budget yesterday. “Nobody is going to die because of health cuts,” Reilly insisted today.

3. #MISSING: A body found in Cork city has been confirmed as that of missing 19-year-old Caolan Mulrooney. The teenager was last seen early on Friday morning after a night out with friends.

4. #PAY ROW: Taoiseach Enda Kenny has defended the appointment of his former advisor to a government job with a salary of €127,000 – telling the Dáil that Ciaran Conlon was “chosen for a specific purpose of getting people off the dole”.

5. #HORRIFIC: Burglars killed a ten-week-old kitten in the microwave of the UK home they were raiding because they could not find anything to steal, according to reports. The residents discovered the pet when they returned home in Warwickshire.