Law reform to allow former TDs be investigated after controversy

Senator Colm Burke, who was second with first preferences in the constituency byelection, told the Irish Examiner the scandal over Mr Murphy’s Dáil absence “hurt” his chances at winning a seat.

After the Irish Examiner revealed his intention to resign his Dáil seat to take up a plum €150,000 job in Europe, Dara Murphy did the needful.

The outgoing Cork North Central TD insisted that he has been “compliant” with Leinster House rules

It is all eyes on Fianna Fáil in Cork North-Central where the party is scrambling to continue its presence in the wake of Billy Kelleher’s departure to Europe.

Ireland must do all it can to prevent being caught in Europe’s political slow lane as the leading contenders line up to run the EU and European Cental Bank, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

The German chancellor’s attempt to end the deadlock over the selection of the EU’s top jobs has been rejected, even by Leo Varadkar, says Political Editor Daniel McConnell.

Recent elections produced good results for pro-EU parties, but one of the areas in need of attention is the selection process for president of the Commission, writes billionaire lobbyist George Soros

French President Emmanuel Macron’s progressive-versus-populist narrative helped to re-mobilise France’s — and perhaps Europe’s — pro-European electorate, says Zaki Laïdi.

Early analysis of election results is usually a risky business but even at this stage, as the last do-or-die seats are still in contention, it seems a few headline lessons cannot be ignored.

The monopoly of power has been broken. Europe has found itself at a crossroads as the far right and Greens make substantial gains in European elections, writes Lorne Cook.

Voters across Europe are about to head to the polls to elect 751 members to the European Parliament from across 28 separate member states, representing more than 512m people.

This week, as part of our May Sustainability Month coverage, we reported on a person determined to leave the world a better place than he found it.

Fine Gael’s seven MEP candidates have said they were to the fore in seeking the suspension of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban from their European party grouping.

The Irish border issue will not be fully resolved before a crunch meeting of EU leaders this month, the Tánaiste has told the Dáil.

Simon Coveney is viewed by some within the Fine Gael party as being the best candidate to run the country following the end of Enda Kenny’s tenure as Taoiseach, but the dilemma facing the party is that Leo Varadkar is viewed by others as being more likely to attract votes for Fine Gael, writes Daniel McConnell, Political Editor

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told his parliamentary party that he will address the issue of the Fine Gael leadership next week at a meeting in Leinster House.

Speculation on the future leadership of Fine Gael has resurfaced after Enda Kenny said he would speak to his party “soon” on the matter.

The incumbent seemed a certainty for re-election, until the ruling party of his own country, Poland, turned against him, writes Slawomir Sierakowski.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has given a strong signal that he intends delaying his departure from office until May at least.

Enda Kenny could remain on as Taoiseach until mid-April after a potential successor to him failed to rule out a Fine Gael leadership contest finishing by Easter.

Despite hopes tonight’s statement by Enda Kenny to Fine Gael colleagues will clarify when the race to replace him officially begins, the reality is his remarks may mark only the start of the complications.

Irish banks risk being left behind in a wave of financial services innovation as their outdated IT systems stunt their ability to embrace technology.

The EU’s bad reaction to Brexit may backfire on Ireland.

The European Commission has no plans in place to accommodate Ireland’s special relationship with Britain in the wake of Brexit.

Acting Tánaiste Joan Burton has warned the Panama papers scandal is “a wake-up call” for Ireland, adding companies here must be forced to pay minimum tax rates in order to prevent the crisis from re-occurring.

Decision due on Irish EU translations

The European Parliament’s environmental committee has voted against new car pollution rules they say are too lenient in the light of the Volkswagen scandal which exposed loopholes in existing emissions tests.

Battle lines were drawn in the case for keeping the UK in the European Union as Ireland vowed that workers would not be discriminated against in any EU country.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been accused of ‘telling a tall tale’ and called on to make a statement to the Dáil over his claim he was told to call in the army to protect ATMs.

A massive programme to unlock funding from private investors, crowd funding and insurance companies for business and infrastructure in the EU has received a mixed response.

Pat Daly (Letters, July 13) is another who trots out “Greek debt” as a catch-all slogan without actually understanding where this debt came from and that it is made up of two unrelated elements.

Eurozone leaders were considering giving Greece three days to pass a slew of legislation through its parliament making profound changes to how the country operates before they would even consider giving them a third bailout.

“A Grexit would be traumatic enough that it would help scare the rest of Europe into giving up more sovereignty to a stronger banking and fiscal union. The argument was that letting Greece burn would make it easier to build a stronger Europe with a more credible firewall.”

And now for something completely different, we take a look at some of the lighter stories from the happenings of the European Union.