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GOOD MORNING

The 9 at 9 Nine things your should know this morning…

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

1. #GOODBYE: Ireland will be the first bailed-out Eurozone country to “wave goodbye” to the International Monetary Fund and return to the markets, the Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said. Speaking ahead of the second day of the Global Irish Economic Forum, Kenny told RTÉ that the Government plans to sell Irish debt as early as next year.

2. #COURTS: According to the Irish News, Armagh Crown Court heard yesterday that Scottish van-driver Robert Black, who is currently on trial for the murder of nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy, is serving a life sentence for killing three other young girls in the 1980s. Meanwhile, the Irish Daily Mirror reports that the mother of missing Mary Boyle has appealed to Gardaí to investigate whether Black could have been involved in the 1977 disappearance of her then six-year-old daughter from Donegal.

3. #VIOLENCE: The root causes of violence and antisocial behaviour could be developed in children in the first three years of life, experts at the first Irish Forum for Infant Mental Health revealed yesterday. A seminal study has shown that nurses can predict criminal tendencies 18 years in advance just by watching children play.

4. #PROPERTY: Luxury Irish homes have lost up to 75 per cent of their value (more than the average) since the property crash, with the one-time ultra-rich putting their “trophy homes” up for sale for a fraction of their peak prices. Bloomberg reports that one of Dublin’s most prestigious homes on Shrewsbury Road is on the market for one quarter of the price paid when it was bought six years ago.

5. #REFERENDA: According to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll, the Government has massive support (88 per cent) for proposed changes to the Constitution which will allow for a reduction in judicial pay.  On the proposal to give Oireachtas committees more power to establish inquiries into matters of public interest, 65 per cent said they would vote yes.

6. #CANNABIS: The Netherlands is preparing to change some of its drug laws in order to place high-strength cannabis in the same category as hard drugs, the BBC reports. Last week, the Dutch government said it is also planning to make its famous cannabis/coffee shops accessible only to Dutch citizens, but a date for enforcement is not clear.

7. #DEFEAT: Ireland’s run in the 2011 Rugby World Cup has come to an end after Wales defeated the boys in green by 22 to 10. To see what happened (…if you actually want to), TheScore.ie has a blow-by-blow recap of the game.

8. #SAVED: Despite ongoing pay disputes between Fox and the voice cast of The Simpsons, we haven’t heard the last of Homer and Bart just yet. The television network announced last night that it has renewed the long-running series for another two seasons – its 24th and 25th.

9. #THIRD TIME’S A CHARM: Former Beatle Paul McCartney is to wed 51-year-old American Nancy Shevell at a registry office in London tomorrow. After his disharmonious marriage to second wife Heather Mills, it is understood that McCartney’s children have given their blessing to this one. Shevell is heir to a €280m haulage empire, according to the Irish Sun.

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