Primary care centres need to become the place of first resort. They need to be open seven days a week, writes Fergus Finlay

Why would law makers discommode influential and supportive friends? asks Michael Clifford

HOW do you solve a problem like Charlie? Not easily, if the dramatisation of Charlie Haughey’s life that has been showing for the last two Sundays is anything to go by.

Lawyers for former Fianna Fáil Minister Ray McSharry have told the Public Accounts Committee it has one week to hand over the Ansbacher dossier.

A Sinn Féin TD has used Dáil privilege to name a number of politicians she says have been named in a dossier of alleged tax evasion.

ALBERT REYNOLDS was a unique taoiseach in that he was also a highly successful businessman. Unlike any of the other taoisigh who held the office since the foundation of the State, he came into politics on the back of a career as an entrepreneur.

NOTE: A correction to this article is published at the end of the text.

MICHAEL NOONAN dismissed claims by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin that Fine Gael was being dishonest in claims about renegotiating the terms of the IMF bailout deal.

The new Fianna Fáil frontbench

THE second NAMA business plan explodes many myths expounded when it was originally advocated.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan today claimed Permanent TSB’s mortgage rate hike, which increases monthly repayments by up to €70, showed the benefits of the State bank guarantee scheme.

The leader of the Labour Party, Eamon Gilmore, has called on those appointed by the Minister for Finance to the Boards of Banks not to become members of a cosy cartel.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has named the 12 public appointees who will sit on the boards of the six banks participating in the Government's guarantee scheme.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has published the list of names from which the major banks will select individuals to join their respective boards.

CATHAL RYAN, son of the late Ryanair founder Tony Ryan, has died a mere couple of months after his father.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern’s habit of signing blank cheques for Charles Haughey “undoubtedly facilitated the misuse” of taxpayer funds by the late party leader, according to the first report of the Moriarty Tribunal.

TOURISM Minister John O’Donoghue yesterday unveiled a major shake-up of the industry aimed at sharpening Ireland’s edge in attracting visitors.

ENVI, the triple-play service provider has announced the appointment of Ray McSharry as chairman of its board.

Dignitaries and old allies of former Taoiseach Charles Haughey, who died yesterday, visited his north Dublin home today to pay their respects.

Union leaders paid tribute to Charles Haughey today heralding his foresight and determination in tackling the economic crisis which hit the country in the 1980s.

Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has offered his sympathy on the passing of Charles Haughey and said Mr Haughey was a man who has engaged the people of Ireland for 40 years.

DOWN on their luck and up to their necks in senoritas, margaritas and banditos, the three amigos strode purposefully from the Ballybrit Suite.

We look at the last five men to serve as Ireland’s EU Commissioners and find some doing better than others.

PROPERTY developer Tom Gilmartin is expected to make claims that will prove deeply embarrassing to Fianna Fáil when he begins his evidence at the Mahon Tribunal in Dublin Castle this week.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern and his predecessor Albert Reynolds will appear as witnesses before the Planning Tribunal in March after it begins to hear the allegations of property developer Tom Gilmartin.

There were welcome signs yesterday that the Government has at last decided to get involved in the Convention on the Future of Europe.

THERE are three questions that face every finance minister on budget day: who gets the tax breaks, what’s going on the pint and how big is the gaffe?

THE Convention on the Future of Europe is taking shape better than most believed.

The Employer's body has launched its campaign to convince the public that a 'yes' vote in the Nice Treaty is a good idea.

WHEN a horse has a weakness the Galway Races will always expose it. Some believe the same theory applies to relationships.

Senator Shane Ross has accused the board of Eircom of being disingenuous over the sale of Eircell to Vodafone.

Chief executive of the Smurfit Corporation, Michael Smurfit, has faced hostile questions at the company AGM over a bonus of €3m paid out to him last year.

The Flood Tribunal has been told that former finance minister Ray McSharry wanted local radio licences to be given out to the highest cash bidders.