Here is the full text of Theresa May's letter to Donald Tusk informing the European Council of the UK's intention to leave the EU.

Earlier the UK Government comfortably defeated a Liberal Democrat bid to give voters a final say on the Brexit deal in a referendum.

Supreme Court judge Mary Laffoy will head up the new Citizens’ Assembly which will examine the Eighth Amendment.

Seventy-three cases of salary overpayments to people working in Leinster House were identified in 2015 with 13 people yet to pay the money back, the latest Houses of the Oireachtas annual report has revealed.

Adverserial politics should be replaced by European model of multi-member coalitions and oppositions that contribute to policy, say Muiris MacCarthaigh and Mary C Murphy.

Following the last general election, the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission obtained independent research into public awareness and knowledge of the Oireachtas.

Tenants who refuse to pay water charges face having their deposits “robbed” by “boot boy landlords”, opposition parties have warned.

Sinn Féin will ask the President not to sign the Water Services Bill if it passes the legislative process this week.

The Bill which provides for the creation of a new Appeals Court has been approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas.

The setting up of a parliamentary banking inquiry is gathering pace, with Oireachtas sources suggesting that its work will begin before the Dáil summer recess.

Thousands of attempts to access pornographic websites by Leinster House officials and visitors underlines a wider problem with porn and attitudes to women in Irish society.

A banking inquiry that can be carried out quickly by between 10 and 20 TDs and senators, and investigate some months before and after the bank guarantee is expected to be in place early next year.

LET’S abolish the Dáil.

Almost €1m in legal fees has been paid by the taxpayer to the legal team of former judge, Brian Curtin, to cover the cost of a Dáil inquiry into his fitness to be a judge.

THE majority of TDs questioned for an Irish Examiner survey said they never sought nor had penalty points cancelled from their driving records.

Half of young people do not keep informed about the Oireachtas and a lack of knowledge about the parliament could be leading to people’s negative attitude towards it, research says.

The Dáil was branded “a joke of a parliament” after a planned €112m spend next year for TDs and senators was pushed through without any debate.

Elected representatives are not properly scrutinising the majority of new laws, leaving power in the hands of a small elite, writes Mark Daly

David Cameron today launched a full parliamentary inquiry into the rate-rigging scandal amid a wave of criticism of British banking.

Senators of all parties work just as hard, if not more so, than their Dáil counterparts, says John Whelan

EVEN in the best of times a Government whose policies or candidates are endorsed three out of four times of asking by the electorate should be content if not happy.

THE warnings given by eight of our previous attorney generals that the referendum on inquiries by the Oireachtas would possibly give unlimited powers to the Oireachtas on any matter of public importance should be heeded.

The 30th amendment to the Constitution could see the Oireachtas take on the role of a kangaroo court, allowing members to assault the name of anyone they choose, writes Dan Buckley

CIVIL servants will finally be allowed to lift the lid on controversial government policies under rules that will come into effect if the referendum on Oireachtas inquiries is passed.

OUR democracy and form of government is based on a system of checks and balances between the Government, the Oireachtas and the judiciary.

The Government has today published the wording of a referendum that could see former Taoisigh Brian Cowen and Bertie Ahern, as well as former bankers, appear as witnesses in a banking inquiry.

SEVENTEEN TDs have each claimed more than €5,000 in expenses per month since the introduction of a new allowance system.

Former Social Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin insisted tonight that she was genuinely delighted with her shift to a rebranded Tourism, Culture and Sport portfolio as part of the Cabinet rejig.

President Barack Obama today made what is expected to be his final push to overhaul the US healthcare system, revising his plans in a bid to win the support of moderate Democrats.

IRELAND spends more supporting its national politicians than comparative parliaments, yet six members of the Oireachtas are not satisfied with their salary.

VOLATILE political opinion polls mirror an electorate greatly traumatised and threatened by unprecedented economic instability and horrified by the subversive leadership of the banks that aggravated the severity of this downturn in Ireland.

IT cost a record €114 million to run the Dáil and Seanad last year — nearly €28 for every man, woman and child in the State.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern is to make a historic address to a joint meeting of the United States Congress sometime in early 2008, it emerged yesterday.

CORRUPTION and dishonesty top voters’ concerns about TDs and senators, a survey released by the Oireachtas itself revealed yesterday.

THE Mahon Tribunal has no jurisdiction to hold a public hearing on £30,000 made by the Fitzwilton Group as a political contribution to Fianna Fáil, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will address a joint session of the House of Commons and the House of Lords at Westminster today.

Voters were tonight steeling themselves for the bitterest general election yet, as party leaders began to trade blows on the first official day of campaigning.

It may not apply across a broad media front. It may not even apply right across the Irish Examiner’s front. A lowly columnist cannot be held responsible for what news editors and leader writers decide.

CIRCUIT Court Judge Brian Curtin has lost his Supreme Court challenge to an Oireachtas inquiry, which could lead to his removal from office if allegations of possession of child pornography are proved to be true.

TDs and senators should be allowed to use an e-voting system in Dáil votes to save time and effort, the Green Party said today.