Pressure is mounting on the Government to stop detaining teenage boys in adult prison facilities at Saint Patrick's Institution.

MINISTERS will plead with the EU/ECB/IMF troika to cut the multi-billion euro interest payments looming on the Anglo bailout as the foreign financial chiefs arrive in Ireland for a 10-day inspection of the state’s books.

MINISTERS in Britain’s coalition government, criticised for being too close to Rupert Murdoch’s scandal-hit News Corp, face more scrutiny this week when details of their meetings with the company’s executives are published.

Dublin Airport was forced to close its main runway for a time overnight to allow for snow and ice clearance.

MINISTERS adjourned yesterday’s pre-budget cabinet meeting following news of the death of the daughter of Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin.

MINISTERS from around the world yesterday began a final push for a UN deal to protect nature, urged by the World Bank to value the benefits of forests, oceans and rivers on economies and human welfare.

MINISTERS were heading for a coalition flash-point over winter fuel payments last night as the Greens insisted the benefit must be boosted.

CAREFUL European Commission management of intervention stocks has helped sustain steady growth in the dairy sector over the past 12 months, according to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Brendan Smith.

MINISTERS have signed off on a big increase in spending on consultants, despite slashing €4 billion from the public purse.

PERHAPS you would permit me to correct two errors in your reporting of comments of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in Dáil Éireann on March 5 (‘Ahern refuses to explain dropped case’, March 6).

Opec oil ministers decided today to cut output by 1.5 million barrels a day from next month.

MINISTERS last night defended spending €163,000 to confirm what they already knew about the Lisbon defeat — that the Government failed to explain the treaty.

EU MINISTERS have cleared the way for consumers to take out loans of up to €100,000 from banks and lenders in other member states.

IN what has been hailed as a hat-trick of successes, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday brokered an agreement on the candidate to fill the pivotal role of president of the European Commission.