A senior Garda refused to grant an Anti-Austerity Alliance councillor a permit for house-to-house and street collections in Dublin because she believed the money would be used for illegal acts, a court has heard.

The majority of TDs cost the taxpayer more than half a million euro each in pay and expenses in under four years, while TDs who are also ministers have received, on average, €631,000.

The Coalition is expected to announce a raft of junior ministerial appointments today including new positions in social protection and environment.

It has emerged that a number of Fine Gael TDs are to "lobby hard" in the coming weeks for the Finance Minister Michael Noonan to alter the structure of the new property tax.

Three politicians who admitted using Oireachtas expenses for work outside of their constituencies estimate they spent around €2,000 altogether campaigning beyond their electoral area.

Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins has said that he cannot accept that TDs in Dublin should not campaign on national issues.

A number of politicians may be forced to pay back expenses they claimed for campaigning outside of their constituencies, after the Oireachtas said allowances for such work were never envisaged under the rules.

Feta cheese, Swiss funds, and Greek business. A different type of Eurovision contest was under way yesterday with the yes and no sides throwing all sorts of ingredients into the EU treaty debate while singing from different hymn sheets.

MICHEÁL MARTIN was first out of the blocks after the Fianna Fáil leadership became vacant — announcing his candidacy for the position and then watching as a steady stream of TDs declared support for him.

THE late Seamus Brennan cautioned the Green party government negotiators that they were now playing All-Ireland senior hurling. Internal Fianna Fáil politics is much more brutal — it’s a genuine blood sport.

Sinn Féin and two Independents have formed a new technical group in the Dáil.

POLITICIANS who aspire to the high moral ground as the elected leaders of society frequently end up to their backsides in quicksand — especially in these turbulent times when public patience with the behaviour of the political classes has run out.

I COULD find no mention in the budget of the promised reform of TDs’ expenses.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern provoked anger in Fianna Fáil ranks last night with a reshuffle upset that saw a rebel deputy promoted as Sean Haughey was again overlooked.

THE Government should give more attention to helping business, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams told business leaders in Dublin yesterday.

TAKE it from the horse’s mouth: solving Dublin’s problems is no easy task.