There is an onus on the party to eke out its true definition, as a right-of-centre party, and put a real end to civil war politics, writes Daniel McConnell.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are set to add numbers to the Seanad election race from candidates who lost their Dáil seats.

Kyne lost his Dáil seat in Galway West in the general election.

Questions are being raised after the government last week gave €20m to Connacht Rugby for a new stadium, because they weren't sure the IRFU would fund the project.

Election fever has gripped political parties ahead of an expected announcement by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that the country is to go to the polls.

The Greens have ruled out supporting the Government amid increasing election speculation while ministers have openly confirmed there is now a growing chance of a February poll.

Fine Gael is preparing to dump Verona Murphy as a general election candidate following her “disastrous” campaign in Wexford.

The State is in the final stages of purchasing Aerfort Na Minna in Connemara in order to secure long-term connectivity to the Aran Islands.

Demoted Fianna Fáil TDs Timmy Dooley and Niall Collins look set to remain stripped of their frontbench jobs after scathing criticism of their parts in the Dáil voting scandal.

Senior Fine Gael figures have launched stinging attacks on Fianna Fáil TDs who voted on behalf of their colleagues in the Dáil, deeming their actions “cavalier” and “arrogant”.

Gardaí say a man fell to the ground after “colliding with a vehicle” near the site of the Connemara Gateway Hotel.

Politicians from all parties in Galway West have expressed opposition to a gold and silver mining bid in protected Connemara habitats.

Phil Hogan, as minister for the environment and local government, just about destroyed local democracy in the run-up to his Local Government Act of 2014 and I took no notice.

Funding worth €250,000 has been announced for an initiative which will allow third level students to spend three months in the Gaeltacht.

The Government has been accused of using the Brexit crisis and cost fears as an excuse to stall vital law changes after it emerged 146 opposition bills have been delayed despite being backed by the Dáil and Seanad.

Comhar na nOileán Teo is to benefit from €70,000 worth of Governmental funding.

New laws guaranteeing that women who seek abortions will have safe access to hospitals is unlikely to be in place by the summer break.

The country’s top official for public expenditure has been sharply criticised for snubbing a request to appear before the Oireachtas Health Committee which is investigating cost overruns at the National Children’s Hospital.

Those of us who grew up when the rivers of Ireland were full of fish understood the term, “as slippery as an eel”.

Josepha Madigan has not taken any Irish classes since becoming Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht almost a year ago.

Joe McHugh has been confirmed as the new Minister for Education.

After a dramatic week the Government will face another challenge to secure a vote to appoint a successor to former minister Denis Naughten.

Consumer confidence has slumped to a 21-month low amid rising concerns over Brexit, increased household costs such as rent and heat, and limited expectations of gains in next week’s Budget.

It would take two and a half hours to walk along the length of the illegal netting seized by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) last year.

‘I didn’t look at the legalities... they came to me for practical help’

The Government’s proposed 12-week access abortion law that it wants to introduce if the Eighth Amendment is removed could be changed to take account of new medical breakthroughs in years to come, an expert has said.

Struggling mortgage holders must be offered debt write-downs instead of so-called foreign vulture funds, Paschal Donohoe has been told.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has voiced concerns about the welfare of the unborn over proposals to legalise abortions in all cases up to 12 weeks of gestation.

Gardaí and the Health and Safety Authority are awaiting the results of an autopsy which was carried out on the body of a 64-year old woman who was found dead in a hotel room in Co Galway.

Bank chiefs are facing the threat of tougher levies or even fines if they fail to set out how and when customers ripped off by the tracker mortgage scandal will be properly repaid and compensated.

Deeply disappointed Fine Gael TDs have questioned Leo Varadkar’s junior ministerial reshuffle as he faces a backlash over the lack of female appointments.

LATEST: Leo Varadkar has been accused of "undervaluing women's voices" after appointing less females than Enda Kenny to junior ministry roles.

Elaine Loughlin looks at those who will be disappointed with new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s picks.

Boston Scientific has today launched its new RoadRunner endoscopy design facility in Galway where it employs 3.000 people.

They were all singing for their supper, but now the meals are coming who will be left hungry? Fiachra Ó Cionnaith assesses the likely winners and losers in incoming Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s new cabinet.

Incoming taoiseach Leo Varadkar may ultimately appoint his leadership rival Simon Coveney as tánaiste as part of a peace offering to ease party divisions.

Shock and Awe, Blitzkrieg, total annihilation. That was the clear strategy from the Leo ‘X Factor’ Varadkar camp on the first day of the campaign to replace Enda Kenny as Taoiseach, writes Political Editor Daniel McConnell.

The abandonment of rural Ireland dominated the weekly meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party last night.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney has opened an early lead on his main rival Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar in the race to succeed Enda Kenny as Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s controversial St Patrick’s Day meeting with US president Donald Trump will take place during an expanded trade mission, writes political correspondent Fiachra Ó Cionnaith.

Schools that fulfil criteria as Gaeltacht schools will get extra staff and other resources to support their work of keeping the Irish language alive.

Údarás na Gaeltachta is holding crisis meetings with the directors of a plastics company that was launched by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and then jobs minister Richard Bruton in December 2014.

Emily Dickinson, TS Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, and Paul Durcan were the poets examined in a higher-level Leaving Certificate English paper lasting over three hours.

British exploration firm Europa Oil and Gas is hopeful of landing a development partner for licences it holds off the Irish coast before the end of the year.