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GOOD MORNING

The 9 at 9 Nine things you need to know by 9am: The verdict on the leaders’ debate; Anglo accuses Drumm of deception and misconduct, and how a couple on a Valentine’s break narrowly escape being crushed by a train.

Every morning, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you really need to know by 9am.

1. #LEADERS’ DEBATE: The papers may be undecided about who actually won last night’s leaders’ debate, but it’s clear who all the focus was on. Under a headline entitled “So what was all the fuss about, Enda?”, the Mail seems to have made its peace with Enda Kenny, saying he delivered an “adept performance” and “stands on the threshold of becoming taoiseach”, while the Mirror says he “won” and describes him as “cool, calm and statesmanlike” and the Star says he “held his own”. However, the Sun says his performance was ‘wooden’. The Irish Times says there was “no clear winner” while he Independent also hedges its bets, saying  Kenny wasn’t the strongest performer on the night. Meanwhile, some Valentine’s Day overtures were in the air, as Green Party leader John Gormley publicly congratulated Enda on his performance, and his colleague Paul Gogarty tweeted that an FG/Green coalition could be “possible”.

2. #GE11: On the hustings today, Fianna Fail is discussing political reform in Dublin; Sinn Fein is launching its proposals on the Irish language at the FG HQ, while the Green party leader John Gormley is in Cork this morning.

3. #DRUMM: Anglo has filed papers in a Boston court alleging deception and misconduct against David Drumm. RTÉ reports that the bank claims David Drumm knew for at least two years about the ‘warehousing’ of loans in the Irish Nationwide Building Society, and was in the practice of altering loan documents retrospectively. The so-called warehousing is the subject of a number of garda and corporate enquiries. Drumm  was giving evidence about his financial affairs during a bankruptcy hearing in Boston yesterday.

4. #MORTGAGES: AIB is likely to become the next lender to raise its variable mortgage interest rates. Meanwhile, ten houses were ordered to be repossessed in the High Court yesterday, as it emerged they’d been abandoned by the owners – sometimes after one only or two payments, the Irish Daily Mail reports.

5. #LUCKY ESCAPE: The Star publishes the story of a couple whose car was hit by an intercity train on a level crossing in while they were on a Valentine’s break in Galway – and they survived without a scratch. Iarnród Eireann and the Railway Accident Investigation unit are investigating the collision, report Patrick O’Connell and Michael O’Toole.

6. #TRIAL: During his first day in the witness stand, the convicted killer, dentist Colin Howell, has claimed his former lover Hazel Stewart was in on the plan to kill their spouses 20 years ago, and claims they resumed their affair six weeks after the killings, the Irish News reports.

7. #FUNERALS: Cork  air crash survivors Donal Walsh and Laurence Wilson attended the funeral of Brendan McAleese yesterday, the Irish Times reports.

8. #JIM CORR: ACC Bank is seeking a judgment of €1.4 million against Jim Corr arising from a loan given to him and others in 2004 to buy 100 acres of land, the Irish Independent reports.

9. #HEALTH: Preventer inhalers do not need to be used every day to treat mild asthma, according to a study published in the Lancet, and can cause reduced growth in children. The study showed that taking corticosteroids twice a day – the widely recommended advice – was still the most effective treatment; however, those taking the medication grew by 1.1cm (0.5in) less than children not taking the drug during the trial.