Incoming Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is to deliver a major snub to Simon Coveney, who looks set to lose out on the role of Tánaiste today, the Irish Examiner has learnt.

Public sector workers who reject the new €880m Lansdowne Road pay agreement will miss out on pay increases contained in the deal, unions leaders are being warned.

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe has delivered a fresh blow to public sector pay demands, saying lower-than-expected tax revenues will impact on what the State can afford.

Local authorities will get over €226m to facilitate the building of 23,000 homes over the next four years, as part of a plan to provide infrastructure for the construction of properties.

Unions and Government face a collision course in upcoming negotiations over working hours.

LATEST: The Minister for Public Expenditure, Paschal Donohoe, has criticised the religious congregations for not applying the moral code they expect of others to themselves.

The Government has signalled its desire to spend more on key capital projects as the IMF in a new report said that “robust” economic growth may give the Coalition a bit more room to invest in the country’s infrastructure.

The Government has avoided potential industrial action by bringing forward a €1,000 pay increase for public workers.

Half of the money needed to pay for a €50m Garda pay deal is to come from the Department of Justice, with the other half coming from other areas.

An independent report recommending whether to scrap or continue controversial water charges is set to be given to the Government by the end of the month — sparking a fresh crisis for the coalition.

Tax breaks allowing landlords to offset the cost of paying local property taxes against what they owe Revenue are being considered as part of measures for next week’s budget.

Education Minister Richard Bruton wants the Oireachtas Education Committee to urgently consider the question of how to find the €600m extra a year needed to fund third-level colleges.

There can be unexpected things in government reports. Did you know, for example, that car manufacturer BMW redesigned some of its assembly lines to make them ‘senior’-friendly?

Update - 2.15pm: Age Action hit out after advisers called for a shift in cultural norms over when people should stop work but stopped short of demanding reform to working into older age.

The developer behind Dublin’s Convention Centre and the head of Chadwick’s hardware are among those who have made personal donations to politicians.

Labour has promised to reduce taxes for workers on €25,000 by as much as a third as part of a €3bn tax reform package, if returned to power.

Domestic abusers in Britain who control their victims through social media accounts, or spy on them online, could face up to five years in prison.

The State’s political corruption watchdog has warned that a proposed bill could undermine its independence and effectively create an “amnesty” situation for officials facing investigations, unless key shortcomings are addressed.

The Government are not worse than Fianna Fáil in terms of excessive spending increases, Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin insisted yesterday.

The Government is set to benefit from an unexpected €100m income boost this year due to a tax most people do not even know they are paying.

It looks possible that EU ministers will agree on asylum seeker numbers on Monday, writes European Correspondent Ann Cahill

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has claimed the Greek coalition government party Syriza made a “disastrous political decision” when it asked the public to give its view of the EU debt deal.

Former tánaiste, foreign affairs minister, and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has confirmed he will not run as a candidate at the next general election, bringing to an end a 26-year-long Dáil career.

Low-paid public servants could be as much as €2,000 better off by the end of 2017 under a public service deal which was still being negotiated between the Government and trade unions late last night.

Tánaiste Joan Burton has backed plans to give public sector workers pay rises of up to 3% in the coming months, despite declining to say how much money is available to fund it.

A Labour minister has urged the Coalition to back plans to reduce bankruptcy rules from three years to one in a bid to stop people skipping the country to “avail of more favourable” terms in the UK.

The board of the former Cork County VEC received nearly six times more in payments and expenses than its city counterparts in the five years prior to the amalgamation of the two organisations, correspondence to the Public Account Committee has revealed.

For the first time in almost a decade there are signs that our banking system is getting back to normal, beginning to operate within proper parameters and finally lending to businesses, home buyers, and other credit worthy customers.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has denied the budget amounts to a string of pre-election "smart-alecky tricks".

A return to national partnership agreements will be considered along with a post-emergency reversal of public sector pay cuts, ministers have revealed.

It’s 25 years since Public Enemy hit the mainstream with the Do The Right Thing film. Their frontman tells Don O’Mahony why his group’s message remains relevant

HSE plans to save money by filling key hospital roles with interns and graduate nurses is putting budgets before patients’ lives.

Two Government funds will help alleviate the costs of damage from flooding in communities and homes, ministers have agreed.

We’ve been here before, haven’t we? We have done the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. We have phoned Liveline in our masses, watched politicians kick the problems around like footballs and read all the newspaper column inches dedicated to our rage.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan was honoured today by the German-Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce with an award for achieving the bailout exit.