It comes after Italian premier Giuseppe Conte extended restrictions on travel from the north to the entire country to try to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Farmers are more bleary-eyed than most this week, as the arrival of the year’s 2.5m calves gathered pace, and the results of a history-making general election emerged.

More than €280,000 has been spent by two Government departments on VIP services at Irish airports over the past three years.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has confirmed that the country will go to the polls for a general election on Saturday, February 8.

State papers revealed justice minister and Limerick TD Gerry Collins had become aware in November 1980 that the well-known manor and estate in Adare, Co Limerick, was due to be sold.

A proposal to use Dublin Castle as a venue for conferences and European Council meetings was deemed “totally impracticable” by Irish government officials, declassified state papers have revealed.

Punctuation pedants should not be criticised for emphasising the importance of the typographical marks we use to ensure clarity in our written language.

Is next month’s annual billionaire’s gala also known as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in the Taoiseach’s diary? If it is, should he ask himself if his journey is really necessary?

As Britain’s electorate endorsed just one Green Party candidate to sit in one of the House of Commons’ 650 seats, EU leaders promised to deliver a major economic plan to confront the climate emergency by making Europe the first carbon-neural continent within three decades.

The president of the European Council has said he expects a vote on the UK’s Brexit agreement “as soon as possible”, as world leaders commended Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s General Election success.

Long-awaited Government plans to update Ireland’s terrorism laws to include a range of offences, such as travelling abroad to join terrorist groups, are still not near to being published, it has emerged.

Macron wants to lead the EU into the 21st century. But he will succeed only if he does not go too far.

The changing of the guard at the European Commission and the European Council offers new opportunities as well as challenges for the EU.

The five judge court’s unanimous decision today in the case of Artur Daniel Celme has implications for about 45 other cases.

"The EU27 has agreed that it will accept the UK's request for a Brexit flextension until 31 January 2020," Donald Tusk tweeted.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told his TDs and senators he believes British prime minister Boris Johnson could win an election if his campaign is based on the new EU-UK Brexit deal.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said a Brexit extension, if granted, is likely to be a flexible one that would allow the UK to leave the EU prior to the end of January.

Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson met this morning to discuss a new programme motion for his Brexit deal, Labour has confirmed.

It was billed as “Super Saturday” as the UK Commons held a weekend sitting for the first time in 37 years, but things did not go the way British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had planned.

The Taoiseach has made it clear that although Ireland would be open to an extension for Britain, plan B is no-deal.

British prime minister Boris Johnson has just 24 hours to win enough MP support to drag the Brexit deal over the line — or face the prospect of the DUP tearing up the agreement just as it has been reached.

European Council president Donald Tusk has said the "punchline" in the Brexit deal drama will be whether British prime minister Boris Johnson "has done what he should" and passes the agreement through the House of Commons.

Waiting for the Brexit finale has been a bit like sitting in a dentist’s surgery for three years — scared of the worst while hoping for the best, yet willing to accept a modicum of discomfort to get it all over with.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has revealed last-minute EU-UK talks to secure a Brexit deal are "moving in the right direction" - despite saying it "remains unclear" if an agreement will be struck by tomorrow's EU summit.

More often than not, politics is the art of deliberately fogging up the view while claiming to have cleared the air.

Leo Varadkar and Boris Johnson have spoken on the phone this evening to discuss Brexit.