Minister for Health Simon Harris said he will use use emergency powers to shut down any pubs that keep trading if they do not shut voluntarily.

State papers revealed justice minister and Limerick TD Gerry Collins had become aware in November 1980 that the well-known manor and estate in Adare, Co Limerick, was due to be sold.

"Lyric already has close ties with practitioners in UL as part of the huge cultural contribution the station makes to Limerick and the Mid-West.”

The internal Dáil report into the voting irregularities included testimony from the two TDs at the heart of the scandal - Timmy Dooley and Niall Collins- and this is what they had to say.

A Fianna Fáil TD has said it is “bizarre” that politicians are denied access to the identities of members of the public who submit Freedom of Information requests on their expenses.

With a plebiscite to determine if there will be directly elected mayors in Cork, Limerick and Waterford due to take place next month, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that similar vote may take place in Dublin in 2021.

Having sold 33.8 acres of Limerick residential development land at Castletroy for up to €8.5 million, or €375,000 an acre, agents Savills now have a similar sized 21-acre lot on the other side of the city, price-guided at €200,000 per acre at Mungret.

Around 700 jobs at Aughinish Alumina in Limerick are safe for now after the US senate voted to support the White House in ending sanctions against the plant’s Russian owner.

Journalist Gemma O’Doherty has failed to secure the required number of county councils to contest the presidential race.

Radical proposals to fix the broken housing system include creating a Housing Development Bank which would oversee the spending of €16bn to deliver 80,000 low-cost homes.

A number of Fianna Fáil frontbench TDs have backed calls for the party to enforce a whip on the party in support of the pending abortion legislation.

Confusion surrounds billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s position on the board of Russian aluminium giant Rusal, the owner of Aughinish Alumina in Limerick.

The Government cannot become complacent about the risk to more than 650 jobs at Aughinish Alumina in Limerick even though fears are easing about the Trump Administration’s targeting of its Russian owner Rusal.

Those who vandalise or take down referendum posters should be pursued by the gardaí, Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party have said.

The special Fine Gael meeting on abortion heard concerns that the party could be politically damaged if it gets its strategy wrong on a planned referendum later this year.

The cost of fixing the pensions discrimination scandal next year would be some €363m, the Dáil heard, but leaving the gap in payments for older people is “cruel, callous and unconstitutional”.

The housing minister has been asked to intervene after it emerged that some tenants are being asked for two months’ rent as a deposit.

The new tourism minister faces a baptism of fire and must recognise the urgency of the problems being caused by Brexit, according to industry organisations.

Often described as the godfather of Fine Gael, Michael Noonan has been the glue that keeps the Government together — but at times he has been the reason for its headaches.

Labour TDs and senators have given their support to Brendan Howlin’s insistence that the party should speak to “everybody” about post-election coalition, saying even Sinn Féin cannot be ruled out.

A community-supported school bus is ensuring that 15 homeless children living in emergency accommodation in the city get to school every day.

Leo Varadkar’s venture into the world of broadcasting as a DJ has sparked a war of words.

There is division between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on whether the two thirds of households who have paid water charges should be entitled to refunds.

The head of a secondary school teachers union has said he believes his members “are heading towards an all out strike”.

RTÉ is currently filming an autumn series on the legacy of Enda Kenny — and it’s being viewed as a clear signal as to the timing of his stepping down.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has opened up the possibility of establishing an independent task force to investigate surging car insurance prices.

Sinn Féin TD Kathleen Funchion last week gave a character reference in court to a man who was convicted for assaulting a Garda and behaving in an abusive and threatening manner, the Irish Examiner can reveal.

Department of Social Protection officials came under fire when they told a Dáil committee community welfare officers are helping thousands of distressed tenants by providing rent advances and help with deposits.

Alan Kelly has spoken publicly for the first time since he failed to become leader of the Labour Party.

There has been widespread surprise at the selection of Enda Kenny’s junior ministers with a number of high-profile TDs losing out.

Former environment minister and deputy party leader Alan Kelly has emerged as the overwhelming favourite to replace Joan Burton, after the Labour leader formally announced her resignation yesterday.

People struggling to buy a home could receive tax breaks from the next government in a bid to halt the escalating housing crisis.

Shocking footage has emerged of a gang of youths attacking a firefighter who was responding to a bonfire in Limerick last night.

Latest: Green Party Deputy Leader, Catherine Martin, says that their future probably lies in "constructive opposition".

Fianna Fáil has decisively rejected an offer of a coalition government with Fine Gael and Independents but discussed abstaining from the next vote for Taoiseach to allow Enda Kenny to win the vote.

Fianna Fáil is taking a much more relaxed attitude to talks than Fine Gael.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has branded a €1.24bn shortfall in the costings in Fianna Fáil’s election manifesto as the party’s “black hole of Calcutta”