Now that the championship has kicked off, or thrown in, in earnest you can almost hear people thinking about the All-Ireland final. Winners. Losers. And most of all, tickets.

So Michael D Higgins returns to the Áras with a strong mandate but a tarnished reputation. He will have to double down over the next seven years to ensure his legacy is not that of the Learjet president.

Update 9.30am The cost of Michael D Higgins’ presidential term is set to be examined by an Oireachtas committee next week - despite being warned doing so may be "unconstitutional".

Your lunchtime bulletin.

Almost 20,000 punters and one president packed out Ballybrit for the big race of the week — the Galway Plate.

Gerry Adams has rejected claims that he is set to step down as party leader this autumn.

Mary Davis first burst into the public consciousness in 2003 as the Irish woman who spearheaded the Special Olympics moving out of the US for the first time.

History could have been so different. Rather than anchoring RTÉ’s soccer coverage during the glory days of Italia ’90, Bill O’Herlihy could have been preparing for a run at the presidency.

Martin McGuinness has said he knew there would be attempts to undermine his campaign for the presidency.

BREAK-OUT presidential contender Sean Gallagher was last night dismissed as a “celebrity” candidate, as the race for the Áras continued to be dominated by personal attacks.

STRUGGLING Fine Gael presidential candidate Gay Mitchell has insisted that Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the party are behind him as he fights for the Áras.

IT’S been interesting to hear the merits of democracy bandied about during the reality show that the race for the Áras has become.

Senator David Norris has won the support of Waterford City Council in his bid to secure a nomination for the presidential election, bringing to three the number of local authorities backing him.

Dana Rosemary Scallon and David Norris will be back in front of county councils today, seeking the two remaining local authority backers they both need to enter the Presidential election.

SENATOR and children’s rights activist Jillian van Turnhout received abusive and racist phone messages and emails after deciding not to back David Norris’s bid for the Áras.

WELLY-THROWING competitions, tractors and acres of fields filled with happy family and farming folk.

Fianna Fáil is leaving the door open to supporting the re-entry of Senator David Norris into the race for the Áras but the party says he has not yet contacted them.

Prospective presidential candidates have until September 28 to secure a nomination, it was revealed today.

The voice of the GAA has said he will announce late next week whether he will throw his hat into the ring in the race for the presidency.

IT is almost impossible to believe that any previous leader of Fianna Fáil would have publicly offered the party’s support to a potential candidate for the presidency without establishing that the individual was fully committed to the idea.

THE accidental president.

BROADCASTER Gay Byrne revealed last night that he has been inundated with offers of funds for a campaign if he were to enter the race for the Áras.

PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Mary Davis has denied her campaign is bankrolled by businessman Denis O’Brien but has not ruled out the possibility that he is making a donation.

Four are vying for the Fine Gael nod. But what’s between them? asks Michael Clifford

The race for the Arás is underway with David Norris officially kicking off his presidential campaign today.

PRESIDENTIAL hopeful David Norris has hired a communications expert who helped get Kathy Sinnot elected to the Dáil and Sean Kelly elected an MEP to help him win the race to the Áras.

The first salvos have been fired in the race for Áras an Uachtaráin.

Labour Party politician Michael D Higgins today confirmed his intention to run for president, and said his campaign would focus on the “disastrous actions of one generation, such as the current Government’s reaction to the banking crisis”, being shifted on to a younger generation.

FORMER taoiseach Bertie Ahern admitted the abolition of property taxes under his government contributed to the housing bubble.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese has announced that she is cutting her expenditure allowances by €40,000 (12.5%) due to the growing strain on the Government’s financial resources.

President Mary McAleese is to slash her household budget by almost €40,000, it was confirmed today.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese has struck the right note in representing the solidarity of the Irish people with the survivors of institutional abuse by giving them a truly warm welcome at Áras an Uachtaráin.

The Minster for the Environment tonight signed an order confirming October 22 as the date for the Presidential election.