IN the first direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979, Irish voters got a chance to elect 15 MEPs. Some candidates were excellent. Others, not so much.

The Government is facing the threat of collapse as the Independent Alliance says it is “dismayed” at contradictory versions of events in the Maurice McCabe crisis.

Many are against waiting for a public inquiry to make answers public, writes Claire O’Sullivan

Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy has said the Garda Commissioner’s husband, Jim McGowan, had a role in handling text messages on the phones of Garda whistleblowers.

THE arrangements agreed yesterday between Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his supply-and-demand colleague Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin have restored a degree of stability at Leinster House. 

Walter Scott’s admonishment — “O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!” — perfectly describes just one layer of the now runaway McCabe scandal.

Here's your lunchtime bulletin.