Average school class size in Irish primary schools remain among the highest in Europe with almost one-quarter of all schoolchildren in classes of 30 or more in the current school year.

Minister for children James Reilly has said the Government may have “cooked the books” preparing a budget, and said policies to cut the health spend were doomed to fail.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has finally ruled out going into government with Fianna Fáil after the general election, raising the spectre of a hung Dáil.

Many of the projects listed are worthwhile but there was electioneering in the air, writes Juno McEnroe

It was a dream location for a meeting but might be the last day out so to speak before Enda and Joan prepare for their Second Coming.

The much-hated universal social charge (USC) would be abolished if Fianna Fáil is returned to power, even though the party introduced the tax itself.

Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman has said garda drivers may need to be returned to ministers and former taoisigh in a bid to stamp out recent abuse of senior political figures.

DESPITE the much-vaunted promise to cherish all the children of the nation equally, successive governments have been grossly negligent towards young people with mental health problems — the very children who deserve to be cherished above all others. 

Sinn Féin’s ard fheis in Derry was a fast-paced bellicose gathering of a party hungry for power and baring its teeth before next year’s general election.

The Government has shot down an opposition bid to tackle mortgage arrears, despite more than 1,380 families facing the prospect of losing the “roof over their heads” this week alone.

Labour delegates have defied the party leadership and insisted young unemployed people should have their full jobseeker benefits restored after controversial cuts were imposed by the coalition.

Given the skewed imbalance of a world where the rich become richer and the poor are made poorer by the day, there is an inescapable perception that decisions made at the elite Davos club in Switzerland stand little chance of becoming reality. So, it is valid to pose the question: what is the point of 40 heads of state and government, Taoiseach Enda Kenny among them, gathering for the 45th World Economic Forum?

One way or another, the decision of the European Commission to back the building of a nuclear power plant in Somerset in southwest England, just 150 miles from the Irish coast, closer than Dublin is to Cork, will rekindle debate on the burning question of whether or not Ireland should go nuclear. Despite Government assurances that the new plant will not pose any danger to this country, opposition to the project is already growing among those who fear it will pave the way for more atomic plants across Europe.

The first meeting of the new Cabinet is taking place at Aras an Uachtarain.

The Fine Gael-Labour coalition Government has vowed to make work pay as a new cabinet line-up was announced.

Starkly contrasting faces of Ireland were plain to see yesterday as a cutting-edge company which began life as a cattle breeding society announced new jobs on a rising tide of economic optimism while, simultaneously, a social justice think-tank released a stinging report showing poverty levels increasing across the country which now ranks among the worst in Europe.

Ministers who give grants to groups in their own constituencies without explaining why should be accused of "geographical top-ups" in the same way as charity officials have been criticised for misusing public money.

The Government has been accused of introducing taxes by the back door and of engaging in election tactics by promising income tax cuts.

This is award season in the wine trade as much as in the movie business.

Ireland will emerge from the clutches of its international debt masters today as it officially exits its strict bailout programme.

The Coalition was accused of hitting the elderly as well as the young with cuts in an austerity budget that failed the basic test of fairness.

The country is expecting another crippling Budget as the Government prepares to unveil a fresh raft of tax hikes and spending cuts today.

The nation is braced for a crippling austerity Budget – the seventh endured in just five years.

Landmark laws on abortion have passed fully through parliament with a final vote from the Seanad tonight.

The Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said people shouldn't be "mucking around in Garda business" when it comes to the Anglo tapes or recordings from other banks.

Considering the publicity afforded in recent years to Ireland’s appalling history of neglect and abuse of children, many people will undoubtedly be surprised to learn that various governments have failed to give statutory force to the guidelines drawn up 14 years ago to combat these depraved social evils.

The Government has admitted it must do more to help householders struggling to pay their mortgage and at risk of repossession.

For a Government that employs more than its fair share of highly paid spin doctors to manipulate public opinion, the Fine Gael-Labour coalition has a deplorable track record of getting things wrong.

The Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has refused to comment on reports that he told German chancellor Angela Merkel the Fine Gael-Labour coalition would not survive without a deal on the promissory notes.

The Government’s insistence that the decision to significantly cut the respite care grant was necessary and unavoidable rings hollow when you consider that it has, in the same budget, forked out a colossal €59.2m to the horse and greyhound racing sector.

The GPA has called on the Ulster Council to consider entering provincial minor and U21 squads in the All-Ireland series with an eye to developing the idea for the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

The €32m bill for paying politicians this year cannot be ignored in the forthcoming budget if the coalition parties want to retain the moral and political authority needed to impose devastating cuts on others.

The Government has decided to reject legislation from Fianna Fáil which calls for an automatic five-year prison sentence for assaults on emergency service personnel.

Cutting the minimum wage is back on the agenda of the IMF together with a raft of measures to cut at least €3.5bn off the budget for next year.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin will not take disciplinary action against his brother, a prominent city councillor, for failing to pay the household charge.

The Government regularly comes under fire from opposition parties and politicians, but one of Ireland’s favourite heartthrobs has launched an unlikely scathing attack.

The Government has been accused of holding a gun to voters’ heads to force them into a Yes vote in the referendum.

Government threats to withdraw public services where the Household Charge is not paid are an outrageous attack on the poor, it has been claimed.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has denied the Government is suppressing planning inquiries into irregularities in seven local authorities and pledged to publish details of the reviews.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has today warned Ministers their jobs are on the line after revealing the Government has failed on two major commitments for its first year in power.

Considering the state of the economy, people could be forgiven for viewing the Government’s commitment to create 100,000 jobs by 2016 and 100,000 more by 2020 more as an ambitious vision than an action plan.