Amendments to the proposed legislation on abortion have been described as barbaric by a Labour TD.

The Labour leader Brendan Howlin has hit out at the Government, saying they are wasting the recovering economy.

The Labour Party leader has dismissed talk of dissatisfaction within the party.

Tributes have been paid to Former Ceann Comhairle Seamus Pattison, has died aged 81 following a long illness.

A showdown over job losses and connectivity routes to Heathrow, as well as the development of Cork and Shannon airports looms in the proposed €1.4bn Aer Lingus takeover, as Labour TDs increased the pressure for a tougher deal.

Grass-roots members have overwhelmingly rejected plans to sell the State’s “jewel in the crown”, Aer Lingus, unless IAG agrees to an independent valuation of the firm alongside further regional connectivity and jobs guarantees.

Same-sex couples could benefit after Labour vowed to introduce two weeks’ paid paternity leave for fathers this year.

Landlords could be forced to effectively freeze rents for “three or four years” and be stopped from increasing rates above consumer price index rises under new plans to tackle the housing crisis.

Pat Magner was getting stuck into the dinner when the protesters started banging on the restaurant window. Around him, diners at the Labour conference lowered knife and fork, momentarily arrested by shock.

IRA rape victim Mairia Cahill has insisted that she will not be silenced and reiterated that the responsibility for the cover up of her abuse lies with Sinn Féin.

On the night of her election as Labour leader on July 4 last year, Joan Burton told party members — bruised as they were by the local election results — that it was time now to govern with the head and the heart.

Like a listless ocean liner drifting inevitably towards the iceberg, fear permeated the Labour Party conference, with just the occasional beam of hope flashing through the doom as if it were a tantalising flicker of salvation from a distant lighthouse.

Tánaiste Joan Burton put childcare at the heart of Labour’s re-election platform as she rallied the party for a tough general election battle.

The Siptu president, Jack O’Connor, will today call on Labour to radically alter party policies going into the general election, including making water free again for homes and abolishing the universal social charge.

Labour delegates have defied the party leadership and insisted young unemployed people should have their full jobseeker benefits restored after controversial cuts were imposed by the coalition.

The Irish Examiner’s Juno McEnroe, Shaun Connolly and Fiachra O’Cionnaith will be live tweeting from today’s Labour Party conference in Killarney.

Eamon Gilmore says the country has been “to hell and back” — but unfortunately for him and his Government, many people have yet to make the return journey and still feel trapped in Satan’s departure lounge.

The Taoiseach said a “cost containment measure” will be included in legislation setting up Universal Health Insurance, after claims that the policy could result in a cost per family of up to €4,000 a year.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has insisted his leadership will not be “on the line” if Labour slumps below 10% in the looming Europe and local elections.

The social protection minister has said the introduction of a third rate of income tax for low and middle earners who have “borne the brunt of the economic pain” should be part of any future discussions on the reorganisation of the tax system.

Pressure is growing on Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte to compromise on the electricity pylons issue after fears were expressed that dozens of Labour council seats in next May’s local election could be lost if the overland pylons go ahead.

Labour elected Siptu official Lorraine Mulligan as its new chairperson over the weekend after a close competition for the position on the party’s executive board.

Hospitals and health agencies which breach pay caps for managers and give out top-up payments could face punitive cuts to their overall budgets, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has warned.

Labour faces pressure to overhaul the property tax for the less well-off after delegates at the party’s conference voted to remove the charge from those on the dole and those struggling with mortgages.

AN American author once said timing was the longest distance between two places and this certainly rings true for the weekend’s Labour Party Conference in Killarney.

LABOUR leader Eamon Gilmore warned the party would have to govern through a “forest of placards”.

A small group of Labour grassroots members frustrated by Government cuts have launched a campaign to promote alternatives to austerity.

A Labour TD has branded protestors who broke through garda barriers outside the Labour Party annual conference at the weekend as "thugs".

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has today condemned the protesters who clashed with gardaí at the Labour Party's annual conference in Galway yesterday.

The Labour Party has rejected a motion that would have called on the Government to re-open the Vatican embassy.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore argued the Government acts only in the public interest - just hours after a violent protest disrupted his party's national conference.

Hundreds of angry protesters stormed Garda barricades at a Labour Party conference today.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said today that ending taxpayer subsidies to private fee-paying schools would not save the taxpayer €90m a year.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform says the findings of the Mahon Tribunal show a need for a root-and-branch reworking of ethics legislation.

A number of protests are to take place outside the Labour Party's centenary conference in Galway today.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said today that Ministers have to talk to elected representatives in the Dáil, such as Michael Lowry, regardless of whether they like them or not.

A Labour Party Junior Minister has today said the Government has made a "reasonably good start" in restoring Ireland's reputation globally.

Hundreds of grass-roots Labour members are set to gather in Galway today for the party’s 66th annual conference, its first major gathering since entering the coalition with Fine Gael 13 months ago.

The Labour Party has not been successful in "getting the message across" since it entered Government, Junior Health Minister Roisin Shortall said today.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore wants to rework the constitution to make it fit for a more modern Ireland if his party leads the next Government.

Deputy leader of the Labour Party Joan Burton has warned there will be a high price to pay for recovery in the economy - even with her party in Government.

The Labour Party is today demanding a new national forum on primary education to explore what to do about the issues of ethos and religious belief.

Jobs, the economy and the banking crisis will take centre stage at the Labour party national conference in Galway today.

Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore says he still believes his party can lead the next Government.