Restored in part to its magnificent splendour, a number of public rooms in Killarney House, Co Kerry, were officially opened yesterday after a €10m makeover to the property and grounds.

Record numbers are visiting the country’s leading tourist attractions such as the Guinness Storehouse and the Cliffs of Moher.

Auction brought in an estimated €1.8 million for Irish art on Monday evening, writes Des O’Sullivan.

New information from the Office of Public Works shows the costliest incident across a two-year period involving its property was the theft of a car parking ticket machine.

A new book shows how the Rosc exhibitions were hugely influential, writes Alan O’Riordan

Ireland has lost yet another great writer. A little more than a month since the death of William Trevor at the age of 88, it was announced yesterday that Anthony Cronin had died, also aged 88.

I don’t think there’s a single article that has ever been written about a male politician in the same vein, writes Alison O’Connor.

* Grated courgette cake

Two Suitcases is a community film project for teens living with illness. It’s a liberating experience for them, reports Helen O’Callaghan

Research into newspapers owned by billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien shows he received less critical coverage in his own titles when he was embroiled in controversies.

With news that the Cork Film Festival is shy €200,000 in funding despite the €2.5m it pulls in for the local economy, Clodagh Finn wonders if arts is unwisely being pushed to one side by the incoming government

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has accepted responsibility for a series of “mistakes” which have blighted Fine Gael’s stuttering general election campaign.

Labour leader Joan Burton has declined to say whether Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s TV leaders’ debate admission he was responsible for a key “cronyism” appointment in 2014 will damage the coalition’s re-election bid.

Enda Kenny said he takes responsibility for the appointment of John McNulty — but says he had no role in appointing him to the Irish Museum of Modern Art board.

Taking a city break, here or abroad gives us time to stand, stare and listen, sometimes at no expense at all. 

El Lissitzky: The Artist and the State brings an extraordinary body of work by the Russian avant garde artist to Ireland, and in particular to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) for the first time.

AN irreplaceable part of Ireland’s patrimony is to be auctioned off in London, though last Saturday President Michael D Higgins presided at the 20th anniversary celebration of the Heritage Council, writes Gerard Howlin.

LAST year, when the excitement around the appointment of Seanad hopeful and Donegal petrol station owner John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art died down, the Government knew that it could ill-afford another self-inflicted, embarrassing, and stinking-to-high-heaven controversy.

Gerda Frömel drowned aged 44, but a new exhibition serves as a reminder of why she was one of Ireland’s most lauded sculptors, writes Alan O’Riordan

Tánaiste Joan Burton is standing over a Labour minister’s decision to appoint a special adviser who left Limerick’s City of Culture project amidst controversy.

THE design exhibition Fresh Talent is taking place at the National Craft Gallery in Kilkenny, bringing together recent graduates from third-level design colleges with designers who have been working for a few years.

Every political party that has had the opportunity to appoint its supporters to the board of state companies has done so. 

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has become embroiled in a Father Ted-style ‘lovely girls’ controversy over the way he was lobbied to make a State appointment.

The Government behaved in an "underhand" way during the Cronygate controversy, Fine Gael’s chief whip has admitted.

Enda Kenny has said that he wants his ministers to meet constituents more often and for Fine Gael to be a more open party with the public in the new year.

Will Irish artist Duncan Campbell win the Turner Prize tonight? He talks with Alan O’Riordan

Arts Minister Heather Humphreys has said that she still stands over the appointment of John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

The country’s first shipping container home is to be completed and then likely to be donated to a Cork charity in time for Christmas.

An iconic Roy Keane photo is just one of 100 pieces assembled by Dorothy Cross from various collections for a major exhibition at IMMA, writes Alan O’Riordan

A former junior minister is to head the Government’s road safety campaigns. Liz O’Donnell, a former Progressive Democrat TD, has been given a five-year tenure as chair of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) following Gay Byrne’s retirement.

The saga of the Taoiseach, the turbulent TD, his assistant/fiancee and her diamond ring is made for TV – except maybe it would be too far-fetched for a producer to consider, says Michael Clifford

Fine Gael backbencher Sean Conlan believes there may have been a dirty tricks campaign against him, after an email sent to the Taoiseach about him was leaked to the media.

It started off as the by-election the Coalition could not lose and ended-up as the bye-bye election for the Government’s majority in the Seanad.

Fine Gael’s Seanad by-election candidate John McNulty was set to immediately resign if he pulls off a shock today.

ENDA KENNY needs me. He needs me if John McNulty loses the Seanad by-election tomorrow and he needs me even more if John Mc Nulty wins.

Too much energy has been wasted on the bushfire which flared since the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) board appointments debacle.

The Taoiseach has ramped up his efforts to prevent the election of his party’s candidate to the Seanad amid fears such a result would prolong the pressure on the coalition over its handling of the issue.

When Arts Minister Heather Humphreys said she couldn’t say who told her to appoint John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art as it was a "Fine Gael matter", she revealed the very line of thinking that has landed her Government in the trouble it’s in.

ON the anniversary of the people’s decision to save the Seanad, the second chamber has burst back into public consciousness with the bizarre nomination of John McNulty to contest a by-election on behalf of Fine Gael caused by the election of stalwart party grandee Deirdre Clune to the European Parliament.

A second person appointed by Arts Minister Heather Humphreys to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Imma) has links with Fine Gael.

I spotted former taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the launch of the book on the late Brian Lenihan in Dublin during the week.