One year on from becoming Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar’s popularity has increased, but several major issues threaten his reign, writes Political Correspondent Elaine Loughlin.

The Taoiseach’s Department says it has no records, emails, or any documents arising from a controversial meeting between the head of the Strategic Communications Unit (SCU) and Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will defy a Dáil vote to disband the controversial strategic communications unit (SCU), insisting its existence is not the business of TDs.

Varadkar’s Communications Unit warns change may feel like ‘death’

Any of us who get through this life without being, at one stage or another, susceptible to a charge of hypocrisy is indeed one of a sainted minority.

Leo Varadkar has accused the opposition of spinning “fake news” over the strategic communications unit (SCU), as the Dáil attacked the PR section and its “misuse” of public money.

Leo Varadkar’s new spin unit is operating at the heart of government, answering parliamentary questions, co-ordinating events in the Taoiseach’s constituency, and even helping set up the rural affairs department.

“A Friday morning 10am lecture?” tweeted one waggish colleague. “Dose.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is living in “some Russian creation” or “Trumpland” if he believes his strategic communications unit (SCU) can buy the news without any consequences whatsoever.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar could be hauled before a powerful Dáil committee to answer questions over the Strategic Communications Unit (SCU) controversy as soon as next week under plans to be finalised this morning.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was “blindsided” by several of his ministers yesterday in the Cabinet after they called for the strategic communications unit (SCU) to be kept.

Leo Varadkar has conceded the €5m strategic communications unit (SCU) may be gone next year as he accused the opposition of hurling “venomous” slurs at him and his staff over the unit.

The Taoiseach has faced renewed calls to disband his controversial communications unit amid angry exchanges in the Dail.

Your morning bulletin...

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has all but confirmed the demise of his much-feted Strategic Communications Unit (SCU), saying it is “distracting” from the work of Government.

Sinn Féin plans to table a motion in the Dáil calling for the government's Strategic Communications Unit (SCU) to be disbanded.

Likening anything short of racist mass murder to racist mass murder is offensive and stupid, writes Terry Prone

Independent Alliance ministers have reacted with anger at what they see as their deliberate exclusion from the controversial newspaper ‘advertorials’ by Fine Gael.

Just what is going on?

The Government’s most senior civil servant and the head of the strategic communications unit (SCU) must face Dáil committee questions over claims the decision to pay for Ireland 2040 “advertorial” in newspapers has blurred the line between news and spin.

Perhaps in their efforts to unveil an overarching, big-picture plan of what Ireland will be like in 20 years time, Government simply overlooked the finer points of the here and now, writes Elaine Loughlin.

The Taoiseach has been accused of being arrogant and dismissive by the Fianna Fáil leader, who has said he will not be giving him a blank cheque to lead.

A special care unit for teenage girls in Cork has some considerable way to go to ensure the centre can be considered a safe and positive environment.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) said today that it is unsatisfactory that a child under the care of the Ballydowd Special Care Unit in Lucan, Co Dublin was separated from other children, in unsuitable accommodation, for six months.

The Government’s response to serious concerns over the safety of troubled teenage girls at an HSE- run secure facility in Cork has been branded “totally inadequate”.

A teenager who absconded from a special care unit (SCU) in Cork for three weeks was at “huge risk” upon her return but was inexplicably placed in isolation for long periods, a HIQA report into a high-security unit for girls in Cork has found.

GIRLS going missing in the middle of the night, stolen keys, out-of-control behaviour, self-harming, and staff who could not cope with teenagers in their care.

THE state is paying private residential childcare companies in the region of €14,000 a week to look after individual children, while beds remain empty in homes run by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

TWO care homes for children run by the HSE continue to operate despite numerous warnings from independent inspectors that neither is fit for purpose.

Former Ireland South MEP Kathy Sinnott has spoken of her “total heartbreak” at the tragic death of her son, Kevin, who it is believed may have drowned as a result of suffering cramp.