TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern will derive some small comfort from today’s Irish Examiner opinion poll showing Fianna Fáil less damaged than expected, even though the party is continuing to slide as support for Fine Gael and Labour grows.

AS politicians vie for the hearts and minds of voters, the intriguing findings of today’s Irish Examiner opinion poll show that if the general election were held tomorrow, there would be relatively little change on the political landscape from a year ago.

IRISH people are among the most enthusiastic supporters of the EU. We are even willing to have more decisions made by Brussels than by their own government.

The number of people applying to join the Defence Forces has doubled, as the Forces' image improves, according to surveys.