The energy regulator has told Government TDs that it will cost €64m to extend flat-rate water charges for all households in the country for an extra two years.

Thousands of households across the country living with contaminated water supplies should be exempt from any Irish Water charges until the scandal is addressed.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar has said that there is no point lobbying politicians for medical cards.

The Dáil has voted down a motion which would have guaranteed the future of the post office network.

The Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee has agreed to go ahead with plans to hear from a Garda whistleblower in an agreement that saw off a potentially damaging split among its members.

Ireland has too many politicians, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has claimed today as he called for the abolition of the Seanad.

Government TDs will face into three referenda to be held on the same polling day, just a week after the announcement of the budget.

The main issues causing Government TDs grief have been thrashed out in recent days but some are ‘slow burners’ and will only be felt and realised by voters in the coming weeks and months.

A bitter dispute has broken out between consultants and a Government TD over who is to blame for a feared break-up of the hospital network in the south-east and a consequent loss of health services.

Government TDs will face the wrath of students if maintenance grants are cut and college fees increased in the budget, student leaders warned yesterday.

A public appetite for a warts-and-all banking inquiry is growing.

It would be foolish to proceed with plans for a property tax. The Irish people just can’t afford it, writes Michael McGrath

Campaigners have renewed calls for state intervention to stop the “disrespectful” demolition of the area surrounding the historic 1916 Rising battlefield site.

A DESPERATE scramble to salvage the Government’s bid to plant Kevin Cardiff in a plum EU post saw the release of an explosive email that threw his nomination into fresh controversy.

Government plans to give politicians radically beefed up powers of investigation have been defeated, dealing a huge blow to the coalition.

MORE than 2,000 people have signed a petition to prevent the closure of a welfare home in north Cork.

Roscommon-South Leitrim TD Luke 'Ming' Flanagan has accused his constituency’s Government TDs of being traitors if they vote with the Government tonight.

RURAL Ireland will be devastated unless the farming and food sector is supported through its worst income crisis in a generation.

Government TDs returning to the Dáil after summer recess today faced angry protests against the State’s National Asset Management Agency (Nama) scheme and allegations of a bail-out for financial institutions.

FLORENCE CRAVEN has peddled more than a few bizarre ideas on your letters page, but her suggestion that Government backbenchers should get a bigger salary than opposition backbenchers is just plain daft (Letters, September 25).

THE Garda Representative Association (GRA) has reacted angrily to news that the promised refurbishment of a rat-infested garda station has hit another snag.

Cork Airport’s new terminal will be opened within two or three weeks, it was confirmed today.

THERE is growing concern about the future of Cork Airport.

Rank-and-file gardaí today withdrew their controversial threat to target Government TDs as part of their anti-Garda reserve campaign.

The threat by rank-and-file gardaí to target Government TDs in marginal constituencies over the proposed Garda reserve is a grave error, Justice Minister Michael McDowell said tonight.

More than 30% of Dáil deputies have already signed up to a pledge that Ireland will agree to do its fair share at the crucial talks on climate change in Canada next week.

There were extraordinary scenes at today's press conference for the publication of the Oireachtas Committee on Health report into the Travers inquiry on nursing home charges.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell was today branded a bully-boy by the Opposition despite promising a Government apology to families framed by corrupt gardaí in Co Donegal.

GOVERNMENT members of the Oireachtas Health Committee will today be accused of closing ranks to protect former Health Minister Micheal Martin from being criticised in a committee report into the illegal nursing home charges scandal.

Candidates vying for seats in Kildare North and Meath enter their final days of campaigning this week.