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The 9 at 9 Nine things you need to know by 9am: New bid to tackle hospital waiting lists, still no progress in the US debt crisis, and bad news if you think you’ve just won a Jaguar…

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you really need to know as you start your day.

1. #WAITING LISTS: The health minister James Reilly has announced an ambitious new plan to tackle hospital waiting lists. Under the new plan, all hospital waiting lists should be cut to under 12 months by the end of the year – and says hospitals will risk sacrificing their funding if they don’t pick up the pace.

2. #HEALTH INSURANCE: Aviva has announced it will increase the cost of its most popular plan by over 9 per cent in September. The Irish Times says the hike will bring the annual cost for the Level 2 Hospital plan to over €1,000 a year.

3. #TEACHERS: Education minister Ruairí Quinn has waded into another row with the country’s teachers. The Irish Daily Mail (print only) reports how Quinn told one student he couldn’t understand how older teachers can remain “fresh and alive” – and called for older ones to step aside to create extra job openings.

4. #RONAN KERR: The woman arrested this week in connection with the investigation to the death of police constable Ronan Kerr has been released. Her release means all six people arrested in connection with the murder have now been released without charge.

5. #TRAVEL TAX: Airline passengers will still have to pay the €3 air travel tax until at least next year, with the government still not happy about the airlines’ promises to increase their passenger numbers.

6. #DEADLOCK: In the US, Republicans have postponed a vote on a draft budget plan amid concerns they did not have the numbers to ensure its passage through the House of Representatives. The country has about four days to pass a budget or risk breaching its debt ceiling. In case you missed it, here’s our bluffer’s guide to the debt ceiling, and to how a US budget crisis could affect Ireland.

7. #LIBYA: The military head of Libya’s rebel council – and a former second-in-command to Muammar Gaddafi – has been killed. There are some suspicions that Abdel Fatah Younes may have been shot by his own side, who feared he could be a high-level double-agent.

8. #POPULATION: It’s getting crowded, isn’t it? Ireland’s natural population is growing faster than that of any other EU country, a new survey has found. The Eurostat poll found that the ratio of births to deaths is higher here than anywhere else in the bloc. Separately, new estimates show that the population of Planet Earth is to surge past seven billion this year.

9. #IT COULD BE YOU: Or, more probably, it wasn’t. The National Lottery has apologised after its website accidentally promised a €150,000 Jaguar XK convertible to every prizewinner in Wednesday’s draw. The car was only being offered as a special prize for the jackpot winner – but the website led people to think that any winner, including those who won a mere €2 scratchcard, had also scooped the luxury motor. There were over 45,000 prizewinners on Wednesday – but only one of them, a €4.5m jackpot winner from Carlow, gets the car.

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16 Comments
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    Mute Abby Garcia
    Favourite Abby Garcia
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    Jul 29th 2011, 9:01 AM

    Those poor 45000 people thinking they’d won a Jag, hate that!

    13
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    Mute Briege Boyle
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    Jul 29th 2011, 11:13 AM

    Sure they would never be able to drive it, with the price of petrol.

    9
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    Mute Debbie O' Connor Morley
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    Jul 29th 2011, 9:20 AM

    Aviva price increases are disgusting. We have had our plan with them for oveer 10 years..where is their loyalty to their customers.

    10
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    Mute Otis P. Hazelrigg
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    Jul 29th 2011, 9:20 AM

    I think the lottery should provide the jags! It would only cost them 6.75 billion! And I hear some of the players are considering legal action!!! Lol!!!

    8
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    Mute Mary Bibby
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    Jul 29th 2011, 9:42 AM

    #9 what you never have you never miss

    7
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    Mute Clare Ryan
    Favourite Clare Ryan
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    Jul 29th 2011, 9:21 AM

    O god the disappointment can ya imagine thinking ‘at last I’ve won something’, for some people it might have been a lifeline in this bloody recession….

    6
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    Mute Felicity Scott
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    Jul 29th 2011, 11:20 AM

    The best teachers I ever had were all older. The best teacher my daughter has ever had was older. Of course, the fact that they are more experienced and dedicated to teaching means they have to be paid more. Sacrificing the quality of education in this country means nothing when you can pay a little chit fresh out of college who hates children and can’t actually SPELL about 20K per annum less than their more experienced colleagues, nu? Not say all new teachers are crap BTW. But I have encountered more than a few who are…

    5
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    Mute Noel Fitzgerald
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    Jul 29th 2011, 6:52 PM

    Felicity, when i was in school, i never met a teacher that acted like they actually liked children. Most of them acted like it was just a job and they resented the fact that they had to deal with children. I’m sure there are a few teachers out there that actually like children and are enthusiastic about teaching them but if my old school was anything to go by, i think they are few and far between.

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    Mute Jay
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    Jul 29th 2011, 2:14 PM

    Experienced teachers are like gold dust. If Ruairi Quinn is consistent he should make room for younger person

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    Mute Jim Mc Menamin
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    Jul 29th 2011, 10:14 PM

    Wheres all the republicians elected voice in the matter of Brendan Lillis and the aquital of members of the gardi silence is golden maybe.

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Jul 30th 2011, 10:15 AM

    Jim – this piece was published at 8:30 on Friday morning. The verdict in the trial of the four Gardaí wasn’t handed down until Friday lunchtime.

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    Mute Jason Spratt
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    Jul 29th 2011, 10:52 PM

    8. Ireland also had the second highest rate of net emigration so the actual increase was only 12,700. If I’m reading the stats right.

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    Mute Allan Cavanagh
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    Jul 29th 2011, 11:57 AM

    I read this at a quarter to ten Gavan.

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    Mute Gavan Reilly
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    Jul 29th 2011, 11:58 AM

    We do all-day breakfasts around these parts.

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    Mute Allan Cavanagh
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    Jul 29th 2011, 12:14 PM

    Mmmm. Breakfast.

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    Mute Jim Mc Menamin
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    Jul 29th 2011, 10:10 PM

    Wheres the storey on the hide your face gardi,they got off.Away on their bikes,who organised this,friends of the general,he did all that.So as off today the gardi can enter your house and beat thefuck out of you and lock any witnessess away.And they want to give these people guns.This vertic will allow the thugs in the gardi to do whatever they want.

    1
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