The 20th count in the Ireland South constituency has seen the Green Party's Grace O'Sullivan secure the fourth seat while Deirdre Clune from Fine Gael claimed the fifth seat.

Be Bold. Two words plastered across a black and white image of Mick Wallace on a few sparsely dispersed billboards certainly made for a bold statement.

The race for seats in Ireland South has heated up as Labour candidate Shelia Nunan and Fine Gael's Andrew Doyle have both been eliminated in the 15th count.

Ciarán Cuffe’s was on the verge of a landmark win for the Green Party in the European elections in Dublin last night after topping the poll on the first count.

Ms Clune is one of three sitting MEPs contesting Ireland South, with five seats up for grabs. But she was placed seventh in a Red C poll.

"A parliament or institution is only going to be sexy if it is doing things that are relevant to people's lives. Otherwise, it's not going to be particularly attractive."

The sale of a portfolio of properties by Nama for €26 million was “illegal” and in breach of its own statutory act, the Dáil has heard.

Earlier this year New Zealand decided not to allow any new offshore oil exploration.

The Garda oversight body has come in for unprecedented criticism by the Oireachtas justice committee for the manner in which it treated two civilian analysts who contacted it regarding concerns about Garda homicide figures.

The Government will introduce a free contraception system after the referendum on the Eighth Amendment in a bid to revolutionise Ireland’s sex education and sexual health regime.

While the recommendations to repeal the Eighth Amendment and to allow unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy will be put to politicians next week, it remains unclear if they will back the plans.

Politicians accused of caring more about their Christmas break.

Senior gardaí estimate it would cost almost €7m over a period of 28 years to examine all Garda phone calls recording breath tests.

The email accounts of former minister for justice Frances Fitzgerald and her political advisers were not examined in the recent trawl for documents relevant to the Charleton Tribunal.

Former Fianna Fáil senator John Hanafin and a handful of Independent TDs have held talks about setting up a new political party before the next general election.

Former Fianna Fáil senator John Hanafin and a handful of Independent TDs have held talks about setting up a new political party before the next general election.

There should be no pay gap between men and women, according to broadcaster and leading race horse trainer Ted Walsh.

In this era of ‘new politics’, Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl talks to Juno McEnroe about the unenviable job of maintaining order in a fragmented, argumentative Dáil.

There has been a lot of talk about definitively settling the Garda commissioner crisis but the Dáil is repeatedly failing to act, writes Political Correspondent Fiachra Ó Cionnaith

There is disagreement on the make-up and numbers for a special Oireachtas committee that will now examine Ireland’s abortion laws and decide the terms for a possible referendum.

Greens: Favours a referendum and to repeal the Eighth Amendment. Members have mixed views on circumstances. 

After three years of protests, debates during elections and claims of a “failed” charging regime, TDs have voted in the Dail to abolish the current system and scrap water charges.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald is to make a fresh attempt to define sexual consent after an Oireachtas committee heard the issue was “incredibly complex”.

The Government has been accused of pulling a “highly disrespectful bureaucratic stroke” by blocking a Fianna Fáil bill on judicial appointments at the last minute.

The Government has left the door open to the future privatisation of Irish Water, the Dáil heard last night.

A Dáil motion backed by all Opposition parties for Ireland to immediately take in up to 200 unaccompanied migrant children from Calais is set to be blocked by the Government because the French site is not an official resettlement camp.

The Government will be urged to immediately take in up to 200 unaccompanied migrant children living in the notorious ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais in a cross-party opposition motion set to be put before the Dáil next week.

The hole in the ozone layer was caused by nuclear testing and “not by cans of hairspray or whatever”, claims Independent TD Danny Healy-Rae.

The Government will be urged to immediately take in up to 200 unaccompanied migrant children living in the notorious 'Jungle' in Calais in a cross-party opposition motion set to be put before the Dáil next week, writes Fiachra Ó Cionnaith of the Irish Examiner.

The Government last night announced a judge-led inquiry into allegations by two senior that Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan knew of a campaign by senior officers to “destroy” a whistleblower.

Former High Court Judge Iarfhlaith O'Neill has been appointed to oversee an inquiry into allegations of a smear campaign against whistleblowers in the Gardaí.

If you listen carefully, you can almost hear the first waves of an upcoming election campaign lapping against the shore.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has admitted “no defence can guarantee absolute safety” after last week’s terrorist attack in Nice which led to the deaths of 84 people.

THOUGH Taoiseach Enda Kenny has won the latest chapter of Ireland’s long-running abortion debate by defeating the Fatal Foetal Abnormalities Bill in the Dáil, any feeling of satisfaction he may have derived from the outcome of that pyrrhic victory has been short-lived.

The Government has escaped an embarrassing Dáil vote calling for an inquiry into Nama’s Project Eagle deal, after being saved by a Fianna Fáil amendment.

The controversial sale of Nama’s Northern Ireland loan book — known as Project Eagle — is under investigation by the State’s chief auditor, the C&AG.

John McGuinness has been nominated as chairman of the Finance Committee after being passed over for a position on Fianna Fáil’s front bench. The Kilkenny TD who was not selected as a party spokesman by leader Micheál Martin is now set to chair one of the most high-profile Oireachtas Committees.

The Garda Ombudsman is to investigate claims two senior officers misrepresented a 2008 meeting with whistle-blower Maurice McCabe to the O’Higgins commission by alleging he was motivated by malice.

Former justice minister Alan Shatter has urged Taoiseach Enda Kenny to retract Dáil comments criticising him over the Garda corruption controversy and scrap the earlier Guerin report after its findings were contradicted by the O’Higgins inquiry.

Irish Water has admitted it signed a 10-year, €16m lease extension to its corporate headquarters just days after the general election — despite growing concerns about its future.