Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said Budget 2019 is “a responsible budget for a modern and caring Ireland that aims to be at the centre of a changing world”.

Plans to ban gambling arcades from setting up in towns and villages in Co Cork have been put on hold after Cork County Council received legal advice on the matter which raised more questions than answers.

Several ministers have rejected calls for Attorney General Seamus Woulfe to be shown “the red card” over his comments at a lunch last Friday.

As undertakers mounted the floral displays on to the top of the horse-drawn carriage, the rain turned to sleet.

Any new version of the Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement will repeat the failures of the current model unless the Government changes the funding and staffing arrangements too, a leading anti-corruption watchdog has warned.

The multi-million euro sale of the iconic Harold’s Cross greyhound racing stadium took place this week without any tendering process and without any attempt to seek bids on the open market.

Saturday’s inaugural meeting of the Cork north central branch will uphold party’s values of fairness and equality, say joint Social Democrat leaders Róisín Shortall and Catherine Murphy.

The Government is split over plans to appeal the European Commission ruling that technology giant Apple owes the State €13bn in tax amid a growing public backlash over the position.

A Social Democrat candidate in the last general election is seeking a meeting with the Bishop of Cloyne after he was dropped from reading at Mass because of his support for repealing abortion laws and his political affiliations.

An activist for the Social Democrats in Cork has claimed that he has been taken from the roster of readers at Cobh Cathedral because of his party's stance on repealing the Eighth.

Senior Fine Gael ministers have suggested that talks on forming a government will begin in earnest with Fianna Fáil after tomorrow’s vote on nominating a taoiseach.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has fired the first shot in post–election government talks ahead of a crucial vote on who will be Taoiseach in the new Dáil next week.

As anyone who watched poll station counts in recent days will testify, politics is a numbers game. And that will only become more clear over the coming days as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil battle with numbers to avoid having to hook up together.

Post-Carbon Ireland, the initiative launched by a group of academics on February 12, has received replies from all contacted political parties except RENUA Ireland.

The embattled Labour leader has come out fighting after criticism of her performance in this week’s TV election debate. Joan Burton says she has no intention of “standing back” and “doing a little bit of Downton Abbey and the tea cups”.

Ask a five-year-old what they want when they grow up and most will have an answer.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has ruled out establishing a €100m tribunal into IBRC deals that could last over a decade and has said a solution to the botched inquiry will not be agreed before the general election.

Enda Kenny has said a report into the sale of Siteserv by IBRC could take until the end of next year — even if the inquiry judge is granted extra powers and resources.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and Germany’s main centre-left party have reached a deal to form a new government, more than two months after the country’s elections.

Voters in Germany’s most populous state strengthened a centre-left regional government which chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives sought to portray as irresponsibly spendthrift, and inflicted an embarrassingly heavy defeat on the German leader’s party, projections showed.

Croatia’s ruling conservatives and opposition centre-left Social were virtually tied in parliamentary elections today, leaving the make up of the future government unclear, exit polls and preliminary results showed.

Denmark’s main opposition party and a government ally today called for an investigation of a national Muslim group’s Middle East trip, which has been blamed for fanning the furore over a newspaper’s publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

A senior German Social Democrat today said he expected his centre-left party to show “great unity” in backing conservative Angela Merkel, its one-time opponent, as chancellor in a parliamentary vote this week.

Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel today defended her coalition’s programme of hefty tax hikes and benefit cuts as the right action for creating jobs, stimulating growth and putting Germany back among Europe’s top three countries.

GERMANY’S biggest political parties reached a deal last night to form a coalition government, sealing an accord that would make Angela Merkel the nation’s first woman chancellor.

Germany’s Social Democrats pressed for a new tax on high-income earners today as negotiators opened a decisive week in their efforts to form a new government - talks that will focus on plugging a huge budget shortfall.

A leading German conservative today said he was confident the country’s two biggest parties would succeed in forming a governing coalition, but he pressed Angela Merkel’s claim to replace Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

A leader of Germany’s Greens today knocked down conservatives’ hopes the party would help opposition leader Angela Merkel become chancellor in a coalition government, citing major differences with her Christian Democrats and their pro-business ally.

Czech Prime Minister Stanislav Gross resigned today, ending weeks of political crisis sparked by a scandal over the financing of his luxury apartment.

Germany would veto a plan by Textron Inc to sell to Israel armoured vehicles it makes under licence from a Munich-based company if asked for approval, according to lawmakers from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s ruling coalition.

Germany’s governing Social Democrats emerged from local elections in the country’s most populous state trailing well behind the conservative opposition.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder hopes to quell persistent dissent over his efforts to trim the generous welfare state by handing over the leadership of his governing Social Democratic Party today.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is stepping aside as chairman of his Social Democratic Party, a move that comes amid stubbornly low poll ratings and squabbling over the government’s future reform course.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was rebuffed by German voters in a crushing defeat for his party in two state elections, which conservatives read as a clear signal to allies, especially Washington, that voters reject his isolationist course on the question of war with Iraq.

The Czech Republic’s ruling party was in crisis today in the wake of parliament’s failure to elect a successor to President Vaclav Havel.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was today seeking a second term in national elections dominated by tensions with the US over Iraq and a minister’s comparison of President George W Bush with Adolf Hitler.

Calls for the creation of a European Government from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder were today sending shockwaves through Britain.