Former taoiseach Brian Cowen and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin were among hundreds of mourners who gathered yesterday to pay tribute at the funeral of former minister Noel Davern, who died suddenly at the weekend.

Fianna Fáil TDs and senators are to be given a free vote on X case legislation.

IF opinion polls are even partially correct, there’ll be serious head scratching amongst political insiders. The phenomenal rise and rise of Sean Gallagher has confounded pundits and political parties. At the close of nominations, a month ago, his ratings tallied at 9% to 12% - fifth place. Nothing emerged that adds to his CV.

SENIOR Fianna Fáil TDs have defied an order by party leader Micheál Martin not to accept ministerial severance payments on top of their TD salaries.

THE accidental president.

THE elegant state rooms of Leinster House will be forever haunted by the echoes of their last goodbyes.

THE Green Party bit its lip for a very long time before it stood up to Fianna Fáil for a final time and issued the ultimatum — ignore us and we will vote you down.

FIANNA FÁIL deputies have been accused of cowardice after taking shelter in a private parliamentary party meeting rather than speaking in the Dáil to support the controversial cuts to social welfare payments.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen today paid tribute to Justice Minister Dermot Ahern and former Ceann Comhairle Rory O’Hanlon after they announced they were quitting the Dáil.

A number of Fianna Fáil TDs are reported to be considering calling for the Taoiseach Brian Cowen's resignation today.

BERTIE AHERN has expressed interest in running for president after months of speculation that he wanted the job, but many Fianna Fáil TDs are opposed to the idea.

I AGREE with Environment Minister John Gormley that there should be a national unity government, established in the immediate aftermath of a general election.

A BITTER Dáil power battle saw Tánaiste Mary Coughlan being allowed to lead an education push in America only after Labour blocked Fine Gael’s bid to ground her.

REBELLIOUS Fianna Fáil TDs were last night given a blunt warning not to try and “save their skins” by putting their constituency needs ahead of the country’s.

A PLEA for Fianna Fáil rebels to rally behind the Government was issued by Brian Cowen last night as he faced into a succession of knife-edge votes when the Dáil returns.

A group of Fianna Fáil TDs are to formally oppose plans for a new property tax at tonight's Fianna Fail parliamentary party meeting.

The Environment Minister John Gormley has announced plans to amend the Dog Breeding Bill to satisfy the concerns of rural Fianna Fáil TDs.

Fianna Fáil TDs were tonight accused of casting doubts over the Taoiseach's leadership by delaying a no confidence vote over damning assessments of his big spending budgets ahead of Ireland's economic nosedive.

THREE Fianna Fáil politicians who are clinging onto their ministerial pensions will come under further pressure today when the opposition raises the issue in the Dáil.

FIANNA Fáil TDs have made clear their opposition to coalition partners the Greens getting an extra junior minister in the forthcoming reshuffle.

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley has blamed Fianna Fáil backbenchers for delaying plans for local government reform.

IT might not have been Leaders Questions time in the Dáil but the tough grilling Taoiseach Brian Cowen faced from teenagers yesterday afternoon might have made him wish he’d stayed in Belfast.

Fianna Fáil TDs are due to be briefed today about the details of the Government's planned NAMA legislation and the level of debt in the Irish property sector.

THE resignation of two Fianna Fáil TDs from the Parliamentary Party has brought Taoiseach Brian Cowen within a vote of having to dissolve the Dáil.

A GROUP of Fianna Fáil TDs have told Finance Minister Brian Lenihan they will oppose any effort to get them to “clock in” so that their attendances in the Dáil can be monitored.

FIANNA FÁIL TDs last night put on a brave face rallying around their leader Brian Cowen who told his troops to let the fight back begin.

FIANNA FÁIL backbenchers have hit out at the junior ministers in their party for saying they would be willing to sacrifice their positions for the good of the economy.

FIANNA Fáil backbench TDs are being challenged at the eleventh hour to vote against “profoundly unjust” laws to bring to an end the automatic entitlement to medical cards for over-70s.

A STRAW poll of Fianna Fáil TDs revealed serious disquiet on the party’s backbench over the decision to means test the over-70s medical card.

YOUR report headlined ‘FF TDs support GM crops despite Government line’ (July 3) highlights how the disease of amnesia often strikes our politicians.

AS BEFITS the most ruthlessly efficient election-winning machine in the democratic world, getting to the top of Fianna Fáil is not for the faint-hearted.

DEMANDS for wider services for children with autism are likely to be raised with the Taoiseach by Fianna Fáil TDs and senators following this week’s Dáil debate on the issue.

IT was the week that Bertie Ahern said Irish politics was lying in the gutter — and the opposition shot back that the Taoiseach was just lying.

FIANNA FÁIL’s mid-west TDs could be left red-faced over the Shannon issue when the Dáil resumes later this month.

FIANNA FÁIL councillors yesterday called an emergency meeting with all elected party members in the Shannon region in an effort to lobby support for Government intervention.

SLACKING in the Dáil, accepting free perks, breaking the law — even that most cardinal of sins, criticising Fianna Fáil — none seem too bad to prevent career progress in the eyes of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

A NUMBER of Fianna Fáil TDs last night justified making political representations on behalf of prisoners.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell was plunged into fresh controversy last night when the opposition reacted furiously to his plans to introduce a huge raft of late amendments to tough criminal justice legislation.

THE chaos theory holds that a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere in the world can cause - through a whole series of connected events - carnage and catastrophe.

BERTIE AHERN reflected in an interview with this paper that a major speech he gave on 1916 in UCD had been smothered by the media.

FIANNA FÁIL’S annual think-in next week will grapple with new ‘quality of life’ issues like childcare, long commuting times and the disintegration of community spirit that contributed to its two by-election losses this year as well as the Government’s falling support levels in opinion polls.