The numbers of community gardaí have been axed by almost 40% in the last seven years and continue to fall in many divisions.

The Government is to convene an emergency housing summit next week in the wake of the deaths of two homeless people and amid stinging criticism of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

The Government is to convene an emergency housing summit next week in the wake of the deaths of two homeless people and amid stinging criticism of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Further geophysical surveys will begin this month at the site of the former Mother and Baby Home in Tuam in County Galway.

Fine Gael's Housing Minister Simon Coveney said today that Fianna Fáil has "learned lessons from the past".

Newly appointed Housing Minister Simon Coveney has denied he has been given a “poisoned chalice” and in fact requested the portfolio.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that he would consider the possibility of holding a second referendum to give more powers to Oireachtas inquiries in future.

The Government is allowing parts of the country to “fall behind” the major urban centres of Dublin and Cork in terms of job creation.

More than 80% of credit union applications, seeking the removal of lending restrictions reviewed by the Central Bank, have to date been approved as the sector battles for greater freedom to lift lending levels from a 15-year low.

Fresh doubts have been expressed over IAG’s pursuit of Aer Lingus after one of the Cabinet’s most senior ministers said the current offer is not sufficient for the Government to part with its stake.

Some 180 recruits are about to be taken into the Army just as the overall funding for Department of Defence will be cut by €1m, next year.

Fianna Fáil TD Michael McGrath has deactivated his Facebook account after an image circulated on the internet which appeared to show him 'liking' a page called 'MILF of the Day'.

THE unveiling of budget plans for the next three years has been pushed out until after the presidential election and Dublin West by-election in a move the opposition claimed is “politically motivated”.

THE cost of compensating victims of abuse in religious institutions would have been far higher than the present estimate of €650 million if the cases had been allowed to go to court, a TD said yesterday.

MEMBERS of Cork’s leading anti-incineration group were barred from going into Leinster House for lunch yesterday after protesting outside Dáil Éireann on Kildare Street in Dublin.

THE Government is set to write off a bad debt of almost €46 million from a loan issued to a defunct mining company in the mid-1980s.

THE awarding of €1 million worth of business by a health board to a consultancy firm, without the contracts going to tender, is to be probed by a public finance watchdog.