Fianna Fáil have made approaches to senior Sinn Féin figures in the hope the two parties can form a coalition on Cork County Council.

It was the only time he took it lying down — beaten but far from broken.

By-election victor Ruth Coppinger took her seat in the Dáil for the Socialists yesterday.

Despite being the highest vote-getter in the local elections, Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath says he has no ambition to seek a seat in the Dáil.

"The senior people get the senior positions. It’s the nature of politics," Labour’s chief whip, Emmet Stagg, mused on RTÉ radio the night of his party leader’s resignation. "The younger generation have to serve their time."

Joan Burton is expected to declare her bid for the Labour leadership today as parliamentary party members meet and discuss the party’s dismal election results and the shock resignation of Eamon Gilmore.

THERE is a symmetry to the departure of Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, the highest-ranking alumni of the former Sinn Féin the Workers’ Party, The Workers’ Party, Democratic Left tradition, after a devastating defeat at the hands of Sinn Féin at the polls.

Whoever it is, Labour’s 11th leader must unite and rejuvenate the party for the next general election, writes Juno McEnroe.

Former accountant Joan Burton wants to make Labour the voice of Ireland, but has no room to manoeuvre, says Political Correspondent Shaun Connolly.

The battle in Blackrock is over, but the war within Fianna Fáil over ex-minister Mary Hanafin’s decision to run in the area may be only just beginning.

A senior Fianna Fáil TD has said "there is no impediment" to going into government with Sinn Féin after the next general election.

Ironically, a man called Michael Collins was one of the reasons Fine Gael got hammered in West Cork.

It’s being joked that Labour councillors are such an endangered species in Cork that the two remaining should be given sanctuary at Fota Wildlife Park.

Labour TDs and senators have begun taking sides in the leadership contest after the shock resignation of Eamon Gilmore.

As senior Labour ministers took to the airwaves on Saturday to defend their party’s record and leader, conversations started taking place between its young turks on what to do about Eamon Gilmore.

The promised wind of change was never delivered, writes Political Correspondent Shaun Connolly.

The battle for the job of pulling the Labour Party back from the brink will begin today when nominations open for a leader to replace Eamon Gilmore who conceded his party needs "a new voice".

The returning officer had barely announced the election of Ireland South’s Liadh Ní Riada when Sinn Féin and the Ó Riada clan, one of the most acclaimed traditional music families in the country, burst into song.

The Anti-Austerity Alliance Cork City councillor and grandmother Lil O’Donnell said a combination of anger at the shocking revelations in the Anglo tapes and the introduction of the water tax, compelled her to run for election.

Sinn Féin has emphatically ruled out a mayoral pact in Cork City unless there are sweeping changes to how the chain of office is allocated.

So the sky has fallen and the political landscape is pock-marked with Sinn Féin-shaped craters and smothered in independent shadows. How will the Coalition cope and what can they do to survive the next two years? A few suggestions are worth considering.

Independents have to put egos aside and come together,writes Special Correspondent Michael Clifford.

As Fine Gael, Labour, and Fianna Fáil, have discovered, the Irish electorate is not loyal, writes Gary Murphy.

AS someone who has admired Eamon Gilmore on a personal basis, and who regards him as a deeply honourable and committed politician, I believe he did the right thing yesterday afternoon.

If you accept the rationale behind Eamon Gilmore’s honourable resignation then it is irrational and blindly partisan to suggest that Taoiseach Enda Kenny should not face a robust review of his leadership of the Government and of Fine Gael.

The newly elected TD for Dublin West has claimed her victory in the by-election, combined with a strong showing by left-wing candidates in the European and local elections, will cause damage to the Government.

Not even the rise of Sinn Féin, which took the last seat in South and West Kerry and out-polled Labour in the Killarney area, could dwarf the gigantic performance of the Healy-Rae organisation.

Sinn Féin has every right to celebrate the local election results in Limerick.

Sinn Féin pulled off the previously unthinkable electoral feat of winning a seat in each of the five electoral areas in Co Tipperary, increasing their council representation from one to five.

Sinn Féin were the big winners in Waterford, claiming six seats on the amalgamated Waterford City and County Council, while Labour were the major casualties, with four high-profile sitting councillors losing out.

After eight punishing rounds, more than a few ring-side pep talks, and what effectively amounts to a technical knockout, Olympic boxing hero and Fine Gael candidate Kenny Egan scraped over the line to gain a seat on South Dublin County Council.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told angry voters that there is no "pot of gold" for the Government to spend.

Fianna Fáil is confident of winning a seat in each of the 43 constituencies in the next general election after becoming the biggest party in local government and steadily recovering from its collapse in 2011.

A Sinn Féin surge in Dublin City has left a bruised Labour party with just a fraction of its seats and the loss of some of its high-profile councillors.

As I write this, the results of the EU and local government elections are not yet complete. However, one thing is very clear — Sinn Féin has a had a historic result, North and South.

The people have spoken, and in a very loud voice. But what is not clear is where the results of the weekend elections leave our politics.

The Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin have secured the lion’s share of seatson the North’s new-look councils.

Sinn Féin have pledged they will not be bought in any future government, after a landslide victory in local and European elections which saw the party take control of city councils.

Independent candidates from none of the established parties were among the biggest winners in the local elections, attracting the greatest share of the vote last night.

This is what you get when you falsely promise a democratic revolution. Three years ago, Enda Kenny looked the electorate in the eye, struck that ham actor pose of his, and promised that he would usher in a "democratic revolution". He and his government did no such thing. Last Friday, the electorate declared that they won’t get fooled again.

During their long, drawn- out agony of the weekend counting of ballots, the only solace that some in Labour might have taken is that a Haughey and a Hanafin made a return to politics.

A stark warning will be delivered to Labour leader Eamon Gilmore in the coming days from a group of backbench TDs calling for a major shake-up of the party’s cabinet positions and a re-examination of its communications machine.

Fine Gael’s 23-year dominance on Cork County Council is at an end, with the race on to see if Fianna Fáil will do a deal with Independents and/or Sinn Féin to gain the balance of power.

Four counts in Cork County Hall saw huge gains for Sinn Féin, a revival for Fianna Fáil, the obliteration of the Labour Party, and a palpable appetite for new candidates.