The death of former agriculture minister and long-serving Fianna Fáil ex-TD Joe Walsh has prompted tributes from all sides of the political divide.

WE should be cautious of agreeing with UK Prime Minister and Conservative leader David Cameron on anything. When it comes to energy policy, we should steer well clear of him.

The EU’s milk quota regime has entered its final year, offering a once in a generation opportunity to the sector, writes Simon Coveney.

A Red C poll published yesterday reveals a worrying lack of public awareness here of changes in how decisions that affect us all are being made at EU level.

The European Parliament is recommending a ban on all fishing activities in areas with vulnerable marine ecosystems identified by the European Commission.

Pilots’ unions have lost their battle to persuade MEPs to vote against new European regulations for pilots’ flying hours which they consider “unsafe and discredited”.

MY next-door neighbour has Pomeranians.

EU Agricultural Ministers have agreed to proposals on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Croatia may become the 28th member state of the EU in July 2013.

ANY proposal to review the EU sugar quota regime is a matter for the EU Commission in the first instance, according to Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith.

LET me get this straight. Even though EU rescue fund and IMF officials have landed on our still barely sovereign soil, Ireland does not actually need or want a bailout from them.

IRELAND and Scotland have insisted that the EU stops using their fish quotas in swap deals with Norway, and instead introduce a communal EU fish pool for future trading.

Fine Gael's Richard Bruton has defended his party's position following its reversal of a threat to block the Taoiseach from attending an important EU summit by refusing to sanction a pairing arrangement for Dáil votes.

THE Irish Grain and Feed Association (IGFA) yesterday called for early action by the European Commission to tackle escalating prices of animal feed.

GOVERNMENT ministers were urged yesterday to resist any attempt to link farm safety to cross compliance, and to reassure farmers this will not happen.

GARDAÍ seized a total of 300,000 BZP tablets in 2009, at a time when the overall illegal drug market contracted sharply.

A FOUNDER of the Irish Co-operative Movement will be honoured at his birthplace in Churchtown, Co Cork, on Saturday.

Europe’s governments were today ordered by a court to follow the UK’s lead and take Iran’s main opposition group off a blacklist of suspected terror organisations.

THE HSE has failed to implement an EU Council decision in March urging member states to ban a legal ecstasy pill.

THE new chairman of the Federation of Irish Fishermen is flying to Brussels next week in the hope of persuading the EU Council of Ministers to adopt emergency measures to safeguard the future of Irish trawlers.

THE late Billy Nagle, a native of Buttevant, Co Cork, who died last week, was a champion of the co-operative movement and a leading figure in Irish agri-business.

VITAL Irish economic interests are in imminent danger at the world trade talks, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association warned yesterday.

DOES the left hand know what the right hand is doing?

Irish MEPs are highlighting the potential benefits that a proposed new EU-US Open Skies agreement could have for Ireland.

Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan tonight defended her allocation of an EU sugar industry restructuring fund to processor Greencore amid accusations from farmers she was backing big business over farming families.

MORE THAN three-quarters of the public believe the Government should search CIA aircraft transiting through Shannon, a new national poll has found.

THE blame for the demise of the Irish sugar industry rested with Greencore, the Irish Farmers Association claimed last night.

Thousands of women will be trafficked into Germany to work as prostitutes during this summer’s football World Cup, it was claimed today.

IRISH victims of the human form of mad cow disease may be entitled to claim millions of euro in compensation from EU institutions.

The British presidency of the European Union has recommended that €200m be allocated to peace and reconciliation funds for the North, it was claimed today.

A GROUP of 24 Irish fishermen are taking the European Commission to court this week over the refusal by Brussels to grant increased tonnage to trawler owners who carried out safety improvements to their vessels.

BUILDERS, bookmakers and garages are among a range of businesses to be targeted under tough new money laundering proposals drawn up by the European Commission.

Last year there were 2,688 reports to the Revenue Commissioners of possible money laundering transactions.

EU leaders are expected to approve the appointment of Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso as the new president of the European Commission tonight.

Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen has revealed that the European Commission may be close to providing significant extra funding for the peace process in the North.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is due to travel to Brussels today to lead fresh negotiations on the proposed EU constitution.

EARLIER this year, the Tánaiste, Mary Harney stated: “Ireland cannot and will not be involved in any experiments involving human embryos.“

EUROPE has learned a valuable lesson about consulting with its citizens from Ireland's experience of ratifying the Nice Treaty, Tánaiste Mary Harney said yesterday.