More than three years on, Labour has found itself with no other choice but to stick it out with Fine Gael because it dreads to imagine the alternative, writes Political Editor Mary Regan.

THERE are groups all over the country busy making preparations for a traditional Irish wake – these are town councillors whose councils will disappear next month under what has been described by Environment Minister Phil Hogan as the most fundamental and radical reform of local Government structures since the 19th century.

A study of first-time TDs has found that despite huge initial enthusiasm for their role, the 84 new deputies that entered the Dáil in 2011 believe their talents aren’t being used and are frustrated by their inability to exercise influence on policy.

Cork city and county councils should explore opportunities for joint staffing through sharing services, according to a major government-ordered review on staffing levels.

One of the most influential figures in British politics is set to deliver a prestigious lecture in Cork next month.

A man believed to be the leader of the Gulf drug cartel, which controls some of the most valuable and violently contested smuggling routes along the US border, was arrested by Mexican marines and paraded before the public.

Dr Laurence Davis of the Department of Government in UCC is well known for his unquestioning anti-Israel stance and it never fails to amaze me how one person could be so totally one sided and blind in his approach to this very complex question.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese has called a meeting next Tuesday of the Council of State to consider the Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill on the reform of the banking sector.

THE woman who tried to arrest Tony Blair earlier this year disrupted a local authority meeting last night with a protest over the IMF bailout.

A TAOISEACH should be automatically re-elected to the Dáil at the end of his or her term, Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin has suggested.

TO those who know him best, Damien McSweeney has become known as Mr Multi-Tasker. Last week, the affable Cork man received a call that will test his skills to the full.

YOU have a failed ideology, you have the most hopeless policy that I ever heard pursued by any nitwit.”

Beauty, they say, is in they eye of the beholder. It’s also very much in the eye of the voter, who choose young female candidates over every other age and sex group.

THE nature of county councils is stopping women from entering local politics, a major conference was told over the weekend.