President Michael D Higgins has insisted he will not engage in dirty tricks in order to be re-elected.

Tributes have been paid to former chief justice Thomas Finlay, one of Ireland's best known legal figures, who has died at the age of 95.

I don't believe Frances Fitzgerald was, or could have been, part of the conspiracy against Maurice McCabe, writes Fergus Finlay.

Former Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Liam Cosgrave has died at the age of 97.

TK Whitaker, dubbed the “architect of modern Ireland”, wanted to be remembered simply as a civil servant who did his best, mourners at his funeral Mass heard.

A French court has overturned a ban on burkinis issued in Cannes - the first in a series of bans on the swimwear this summer that set off a heated controversy at home and a wave of outrage abroad.

The UN human rights office has condemned local bans in France on burkini swimwear as "a grave and illegal breach of fundamental freedoms" and a "stupid reaction" to recent extremist attacks.

France's top administrative court has overturned a ban on burkinis in a Mediterranean beach resort, effectively meaning that towns can no longer issue bans on the swimsuits that have divided the country and brought world attention to its fraught relationship with Muslims.

A court in France will decide today whether to overturn the ban on women wearing a burkini.

France’s highest administrative authority is studying whether local bans on full-body burkini swimsuits are legal, amid growing concerns in the country and abroad about police forcing Muslim women to disrobe.

Sabina Higgins’s presence at the National Student Midwives’ Debate, on May 4, where she said that our abortion laws were ‘an outrage against women’, was one of 16 events attended by her in a solo capacity this year.

European Central Bank head Mario Draghi has said the monetary authority will do "whatever is needed" to push up inflation from its dangerously low levels.

Security is tight at a migrant camp in Calais, where people have clashed with officials who have been bulldozing part of the site.

Here’s your chance to insist that politics needs to change and that a published programme for government is a must, writes Fergus Finlay

A UN committee will today hear that a great deal more work needs to be done on behalf of Irish children, writes Emily Logan

President Michael D Higgins is expected to decide today if he should refer a new asylum law to the Supreme Court amid concern aspects of it are in conflict with the Constitution’s definition of the family.

The Spanish government has vowed to take immediate legal action against the regional parliament of Catalonia if it approves a proposal to formally start a bid for independence.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny will deliver a graveside oration at the state funeral of Thomas Kent in the Co Cork village of Castlelyons on Friday.

A legal challenge to Greece’s critical bailout referendum has been rejected, clearing the way for the vote to go ahead tomorrow.

POOR Amendment 35. Before we move on in the new post-marriage referendum Ireland, spare a thought for the ‘Presidential Age’ one.

CAN we talk about the other referendum? 

While the behaviour of some politicians attracts derision, President Michael D Higgins deserves respect, writes Shaun Connolly.

Some are using the feeling of anger in Ireland to drag the standards of decency and legitimate protest down. It must stop, writes Michael Clifford 

I have never believed in a hierarchy of respect and nobody, whether president or pauper, should ever be subjected to personal abuse.

Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy has called on the protesters who shouted personal insults at President Michael D Higgins to apologise.

The Government’s revised water charges scheme has been signed into law by the President, meaning bills will arrive in homes by April.

President Michael D Higgins has signed into law the Water Services Bill 2014.

Sinn Féin will ask President Michael D Higgins not to sign the water services bill into law if it is passed by the Seanad today, as part of rarely-used head of State powers.

Sinn Féin will ask the President not to sign the Water Services Bill if it passes the legislative process this week.

The Department of Health yesterday confirmed that the controversial Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act will come into effect on New Year’s day.

The Minister for Health has yet to sign the order giving effect to the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act, it has emerged.

Fresh faultlines in Fine Gael’s bitter battle over abortion have emerged as TDs clashed on whether hospitals have the right to boycott X-case legislation.

The President’s decision to sign the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill into law may in time be seen as a miscalculation. He could have referred the bill to the Supreme Court and secured a definitive verdict.

Anti-abortion campaigners have vowed to continue to oppose X-Case legislation after President Michael D Higgins decided to sign it into law rather than refer it to the Supreme Court.

Pro-life campaigners will now concentrate their efforts on repealing Ireland's new laws on abortion.

President Michael D Higgins has passed new laws allowing abortion in Ireland under certain circumstances.

President Michael D Higgins has until Wednesday to decide if new abortion legislation should be tested in the Supreme Court.

President Michael D Higgins will today seek advice from the Council of State on whether he should refer new abortion legislation to the Supreme Court.

President Michael D Higgins will convene the Council of State today to advise him on whether he should refer the abortion legislation to the Supreme Court.

President Higgins has called on the Council of State to deliberate on the constitutionality of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill and the process, invoked in only the most exceptional circumstances, begins today.

The Abortion Bill may have to pass one final hurdle after President Higgins last night announced it will be debated by the Council of State.