THE French president left the Taoiseach in no doubt about what was important when he paid him a pre-match visit at the Elysee Palace.

Proposals to revolutionise Europe’s energy market, cutting the price of electricity and gas and creating an EU-wide network, have been unveiled by the European Commission.

IRELAND’S reputation for corruption in the public sector has not improved in the past year according to Transparency International.

IRELAND has one of the worst survival rates in the European Union for cancer sufferers and should be spending far more on research, according to a leading expert in the field.

BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown last night pledged his government was doing everything in its power to maintain economic stability amid signs that the immediate crisis over the troubled Northern Rock bank appeared to be easing.

A 16-YEAR-OLD Dublin student has scooped one of the three top prizes in the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in mathematics.

THE Government is due to be roundly condemned by the European Parliament for its failures to provide clean water and modern waste management and for deciding to locate the new M3 motorway so close to Tara.

SMOKING should be totally banned indoors and in private cars because passive smoking kills, according to a report to the European Parliament.

A LOOMING international crisis triggered by over-risky lending by financial institutions will be central to discussions at the two-day meeting of EU finance ministers beginning today.

THE Government plans to decommission a third of the whitefish fleet sector in Ireland, at a cost of about €66 million, according to an application lodged with the European Commission.