Ms Murphy was dropped by the party earlier this week as a general election candidate

Latest: Senator Colm Burke was eliminated in the ninth count of the Cork North-Central by-election.

There is no doubt about it — it was an omnishambles.

It is not about learning from mistakes. It is not about cultural change. It is about public humiliation, writes Gerard Howlin

IF YOU live in Cork, Limerick, or Galway and think the Dublin Bus strike doesn’t affect you; fear not, it will, writes Gerard Howlin. 

Your letters, your view

THE best political biographies do more than record their subjects’ lives.

The first eight candidates to run for Renua Ireland in the upcoming general election have been confirmed.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has lashed out at colleagues “sniping from the bushes”, a reference to claims from Eamon Ó Cuív about the party facing demise.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has insisted his head will not be “on the chopping block” if his party fails to win the upcoming Carlow-Kilkenny by-election.

High-profile mortgage debt campaigner David Hall has shared a pot of almost €800,000 in pay and rent from his private ambulance firm over the past two years.

Guns ‘n’ Poses were the order of the day for Enda Kenny on the campaign trail.

Fine Gael election candidate Eamonn Coghlan last night told a bizarre anecdote that left television viewers baffled.

Ireland’s newest political party has already suffered the oldest curse of Irish politics — the split.

The teachers of the country got some bad press over their rowdy behaviour — and their red cards — to Ruairi Quinn this week.

Labour has dropped four points in the latest opinion poll.

Opposition parties have today said that there is a strong anti-Government sentiment on the eve of the Meath East by-election..

The year which saw two governments fall is best summed up by the phrase coined that August: Grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre, and unprecedented. Ryle Dwyer reports

PIPPA MIDDLETON and Michael Noonan may not have quite the same look about them, but they sure make a similar impact on the big state occasions — stealing the show.

TÁNAISTE Eamon Gilmore has claimed he does not expect to lose any more TDs following next week’s budget even as another Labour backbencher fired a shot across the party’s bows.

OUTRAGED Labour TDs have pledged “blood on the walls” if the Coalition Government tries to push through cuts in child benefit and welfare rates.

SO THIS Government dies as it has lived — to the sound of ravenous dogs feeding off what’s left of Ireland’s economic carcass.

“WE’RE halfway there” – that was the message the Government desperately sought to spin after confirming that next month’s budget will impose a savage €6 billion of cutbacks and tax hikes.

GEORGE LEE might be forgiven had he indulged himself in a bit of “whatifery” on Monday evening as news of Richard Bruton’s sacking as deputy leader and finance spokesman of Fine Gael emerged. For example, what if Lee had remained in the Dáil rather than packing in political life last February for a quick return to the relative comforts of RTÉ?

MONEY was not a factor in George Lee leaving politics, the former Fine Gael TD insisted, claiming he was earning more in the Dáil than in RTÉ and would soon be on a ministerial wage if he had not quit.

THE minute George Lee announced he was to seek a nomination to run for Fine Gael in the Dublin South by-election, questions began to be asked about his impartiality in the past when reporting for RTÉ, with Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley even comparing it to a referee taking off his jersey and showing his true colours.

The Green Party has selected its candidate for the forthcoming Dublin Central by-election.

Gordon Brown has marked his first anniversary in No 10 with the humiliation of seeing Labour beaten into fifth place in the Henley-on-Thames by-election.

Fianna Fáil’s decentralisation plans are probably the longest-running saga in Irish politics.

I AM confused by the Government decision to scrap plans to install a toll on the M2 motorway which will run alongside the present N2 route in Co Meath and will be the main Monaghan road to Dublin.

The Labour Party has selected local councillor Paddy MacNamara as the party’s candidate in the forthcoming Kildare North by-election.