"Why people would not follow the best public health advice and close pubs and desist from congregating in groups is beyond belief.”

Student nurses on work placements across the country should be paid for helping to fight the coronavirus outbreak, according to a Fianna Fáil TD in Kerry.

Cork County Council has elected a new mayor and welcomed four new councillors who were co-opted onto the local authority to replace members who have been elected to the Dáil.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl, the newly-elected Ceann Comhairle of the 33rd Dáil, took five attempts before finally taking his seat in Dáil Éireann in the aftermath of the 2002 general election.

He has added his voice to Jim O'Callaghan and Anne Rabitte.

Fianna Fáil's new and returning TDs and senators will debate the issue when its parliamentary party meets on Thursday at midday in Leinster House.

Jan O’Sullivan, a Labour TD for the past 23 years and her 4,667 votes, in the end, brought Leddin into the fourth and final seat ahead of Independent Frankie Daly.

The count in Wexford has completed with the election of Independent Verona Murphy on the eleventh count.

The four-seater was already one of the most open in the country before a single vote was cast as three of the four TDs elected in 2016 weren't on the ballot this time out.

The Taoiseach has ramped up his efforts to make Brexit the key election issue and said that should the public elect Fianna Fail to office they will be getting an “untried and untested team”.

The new National Children's Hospital is set to cost at least €1.7bn and is due to open in 2023.

Cllr Chrisopher O'Sullivan is the boyfriend of Cllr Holly McKeever Cairns, who will contest the same election in the same constituency.

It cost €1.3m to buy new mobile phones for top civil servants and ministerial advisers since 2017, it can be revealed.

It has emerged that Ms Chambers, who was cleared in an initial voting controversy, also voted on behalf of her party colleague Timmy Dooley in the Dáil in January.

Lisa Chambers could now receive a caution after the decision by the Committee on Members Interests - but only after the move is itself approved by the Dáil.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has been accused of trying to “hide” a €24m payment from the State to Aer Lingus and Ryanair as part of a previously undisclosed legal settlement.

A leading Fianna Fáil TD has said he would back a motion of no-confidence in the Government if it were tabled because of its handling of the housing crisis.

The Defence Forces’ training camp in the Curragh features “bad sanitary conditions” and is "not fit for anybody”, members of an Oireachtas Committee claim.

The public is facing worse services and higher rates as seven local authorities are set to lose €18.4 million in their funding, The Dáil has heard.

Brendan Smith, a Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan-Monaghan, says a special police taskforce is needed for the border region.

The Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae has declined to comment following a report he was attending a funeral in South Kerry in June 2018 while signed into the Dáil for a key address by EU leader Jean-Claude Juncker.

A Government TD has recused herself from the investigation into voting irregularities in the Dáil after admitting she did the same thing.

In 2018, across the Iarnród Éireann network there were 789 reports recorded of anti-social behaviour incidents, up from 690 in 2017.

In the first six months of this year there's been a further 20% rise in the number of recorded offences.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has insisted a full investigation into the "illegal act" of TDs voting for colleagues while they are physically absent is needed - claiming some votes could be cast while TDs are out on "a skite".

A second Fianna Fáil TD has admitted voting in another party member’s name in the Dáil.

Britain will control what happens to Rosslare Port after Brexit unless the Government immediately acts, a Fianna Fáil TD has warned.

The Government has been urged to explain exactly how it spent more than €3bn worth of carbon tax income over the past decade amid fears that this year's €6 carbon tax budget hike will fail to be spent on climate matters.

The greyhound racing industry has been accused of insulting vulnerable people on health service waiting lists by taking more than €16m a year in State funding - the equivalent of €46,000 every day.

The funding was provided under the anti-dumping initiative.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said that extending a tax relief scheme for sports people to GAA players “would raise a number of issues and challenges”.

Criminals in Co Limerick are giving “two fingers” to gardaí by registering their cars in the names of members of the force or in the names of children.

Fianna Fáil’s Brexit spokesperson, Lisa Chambers has accused the Irish government of not doing enough in its preparations for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

The HSE made the determinations on 210,600 cases, based on the fact that their applicants had not supplied the requisite information within a reasonable time period.

The Fianna Fáil TD who criticised Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's handling of the backstop situation has admitted his comment was "ill-timed and a little harsh".

Timmy Dooley's comments came hours before the Taoiseach and Mr Johnson finally spoke on the phone this afternoon, six days after the new British PM was selected.

A Fianna Fáil TD is calling for caps to be introduced on insurance claims.

Former taoiseach Brian Cowen's family have said the seriously ill ex-politician has a "long road ahead" after confirming he is slowly recovering from a bleed on the brain earlier this month.

A Fianna Fáil TD has said it is “bizarre” that politicians are denied access to the identities of members of the public who submit Freedom of Information requests on their expenses.

The director general of the HSE said he “accepts” that they do not have a big enough budget to meet the demand for home support services.

Sources at every level within the Irish Prison Service have contacted the Irish Examiner over the years to express concerns, ranging from sexual harassment to malpractice in the investigation of deaths in custody, writes Michael Clifford