It's the former German defence minister's first official visit to the country since taking over the EU's top job.

Last night Leo Varadkar told Fine Gael members at the party's annual conference, that parties on the left and Sinn Féin were voting against new housing projects.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has confirmed that the Limerick/Cork motorway will pass along the route originally envisaged — putting an end to fears the project could be further delayed.

IF IRELAND intends to be the best small country in the world in which to do business, something will have to be done about the country’s prehistoric broadband infrastructure.

Up to 1,000 potential film industry jobs in Limerick are on hold over the stalling of talks involving a major studio, it was claimed last night.

Groups makes radical call as HSE vows to punish care home abuse

Elderly women with serious intellectual disabilities have been kicked, slapped, dragged across the floor and treated as "non-persons" by health workers in a special HSE facility meant to ensure their care.

Sinn Féin is hoping it can build its support in the West of Ireland by holding its annual ard fheis in the Taoiseach’s home town of Castlebar this weekend.

Austerity bites, as Enda Kenny found out yesterday.

Three UCD students face expulsion for throwing eggs at the Taoiseach during an official visit on November 29 last year.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has led tributes to well-known Irish climber Ian McKeever killed by a lightning bolt while scaling Africa’s highest mountain.

Hundreds of farmers protested against budget cuts outside the constituency office of Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Castlebar, Co Mayo, yesterday morning.

Home-help workers are to march in the Taoiseach's hometown of Castlebar, in County Mayo this afternoon appealing to the government to reverse a decision to cut the allocation of home-help hours.

An anti-abortion rally is being held in the Taoiseach's constituency of Castlebar in Co Mayo this lunchtime.

A CLIMBER is appealing to Taoiseach Enda Kenny to directly intervene after the authorities thwarted his attempts to become the fastest man to scale Africa’s highest mountain.

An Irish climber is appealing to Taoiseach Enda Kenny to directly intervene after authorities thwarted his attempts to become the fastest man to scale Africa’s highest mountain.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny continues to be lauded in the echo chambers of the media elite for his anti-Vatican tirade.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has been likened to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in a Mass newsletter, following his attack on the Pope.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny said there would be a shake-up of the social welfare system over the coming months, but basic rates of the dole would remain untouched.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny will meet US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner in Washington today as he attempts to rebuild Ireland’s reputation abroad.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny put himself on a collision course with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last night when he said he could not support a common corporate tax base in exchange for a lower interest rate.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny and eight of his ministers will travel abroad to represent Ireland on St Patrick’s Day.

TAOISEACH-in-waiting Enda Kenny will spend today working with his new coalition partner to plot the 13 TDs who will be nominated for seats at Cabinet.

TAOISEACH-apparent Enda Kenny is facing the mammoth task of agreeing a new economic deal for the country with his future government partners, and then negotiating it with his soon-to-be fellow prime ministers in the EU, all within three weeks.

The hometown theatre of Taoiseach-in-waiting Enda Kenny is celebrating the election victory of Enda Kenny.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen told Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin to concentrate his efforts on other constituencies because his presence was not needed to secure seats in Laois-Offaly.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has insisted the cost of the “Ministerial Mercs” is a minor issue in comparison with the budgetary crisis.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen clearly enjoyed the craic provided by The Chieftains yesterday when he opened the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is keen to establish Ireland as a hub of innovation and is investing €5 billion to that end.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has conveyed his sympathies following the deaths of eight men in a horrific road accident in Donegal.

THE state’s jobs agency, Fás, has admitted it is unlikely to recoup taxpayers’ money from a company which falsified the results of a computer training course.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has again been warned that the Irish livestock sector will be devastated if the European Union goes ahead with a bilateral deal on agriculture with the Mercusor trading group of Latin American countries, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has said he did not wish to see the ministerial pension debate extend beyond serving members of the Oireachtas.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has invited President Barack Obama to visit Ireland.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is to be the guest of honour at this year’s Cork Chamber annual dinner.

SCHOOLS in Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s home county which have been waiting from eight to 12 years for building works to begin are proof of a need to overhaul the bureaucratic process, a teachers’ union has claimed.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has predicted Tipperary is set for a “major jobs boost” after an 11,000 square metre shopping centre was opened in the county, potentially creating 500 new positions.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen last night called for more urgency in battling climate change as he arrived in New York for a United Nations gathering on the dangers of greenhouse gases.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen insisted that the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) was not being set up to bail out the banks or the developers. Irrespective of the real aim, it would seem that the proposals have come to the rescue of the banks.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen returns from Brussels able to breathe a sigh of relief that guarantees about the Lisbon treaty’s impact on Ireland have been secured.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has been urged to launch a political and diplomatic offensive to address the crisis engulfing the dairy sector.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has announced a series of measures to revitalise the Irish-American relationship just as Ireland returns to headlines in the US for all the wrong reasons.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen paid warm tribute to the work of Irish peacekeepers yesterday, as he became the first Taoiseach to pay a Christmas visit to members of the defence forces abroad.

IF it had been a cinema, the lights would have dimmed, the low notes of a double-bass would have dominated a foreboding soundtrack and the whispers of an uneasy cast would have been broken only by a blood-curdling scream.

The Labour Leader is visiting Laois and Offaly today.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange today but the smiles from those present will mask growing concern about the economy both in the US and at home.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen begins a four-day visit to the US today during which he will visit the New York Stock Exchange and meet prominent Irish Americans on Wall Street.