Fine Gael has yet to decide on the fate of TD Olivia Mitchell, ministers have indicated.

The tribunal commended current minister and Labour TD Pat Rabbitte for giving back a £2,000 donation he received from lobbyist Frank Dunlop in 1992.

The Mahon tribunal has made a number of recommendations around standards and ethics, in its final report published today.

Royal Wedding ensured a fairytale outcome for punters at Fontwell as he landed the Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer Handicap Chase today.

THREE weeks from today it will be all over bar the counting. The country will have voted and unless our pollsters are as divorced from reality as Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s Government seemed to be a Fine Gael/Labour coalition will assume power.

EVERY general election is billed as the most crucial in the history of the nation.

WHILE fighting for his political life, Minister of State Batt O’Keeffe said he received IR£10,000 from Cork-based property developer Owen O’Callaghan to help him contest the November 1992 general election.

PROPERTY developer Owen O’Callaghan picked up the tab when Fine Gael councillor Therese Ridge and lobbyist Frank Dunlop flew to Cork as part of her canvass for the 1993 Seanad election, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

CORK-BASED property developer Owen O’Callaghan is to be asked by the Mahon Tribunal if he gave in excess of £100,000 to candidates who were fighting just one general election.

FORMER Monarch Properties executive Phil Reilly told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday, he asked his bosses to make political donations to six Dáil candidates because he wanted “the best people” in Leinster House.

PLANNING tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon yesterday criticised a former Fianna Fáil councillor for giving the impression he got no payments from developers.

Indelible ink or fingerprint scanners could be used in polling booths at the next General Election to stop voter fraud, Environment Minister Dick Roche said today.

An RTE interviewer brought about the downfall of former Taoiseach Charles Haughey “by accident”, a book revealed today.

FERGUS FINLAY, possibly the most influential backroom strategist in the history of the Labour Party, yesterday announced his departure from politics.

JOHN BRUTON’S departure from Ireland this week as EU ambassador to the USA signals an opportunity for the EU to forge new links with the US and hopefully to start a process of resolving some of their differences.

LIAM COSGRAVE only gave the Flood Tribunal full details of payments he received from Frank Dunlop during his political career earlier this week — more than three years after the information was first requested.

FORMER Fine Gael TD and senator Liam Cosgrave took almost two years to make a full reply to the Flood Tribunal about allegations he received up to £19,000 from lobbyist Frank Dunlop and only made an effort when issued with a witness summons.

John Major’s ex-lover Edwina Currie struck early today in what could be a day of verbal clashes as the pair speak publicly for the first time since their affair was revealed.