The ‘godfather’ of Fine Gael, who steered the country out of the bailout, Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, has fulfilled his final acts as the man in charge of the State’s purse strings, writes Political Correspondent Juno McEnroe.

As a member of the EU, the eurozone, and the OECD, Ireland does not lack for European economists to review the fiscal and expenditure decisions of our Government, and at times comment, recommend, and even insist on changes.

From highpoints such as challenging the Vatican, to lows like being ensnared in Garda scandals, Political Correspondent Juno McEnroe looks at the career of Enda Kenny

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has been accused of attempting to “influence or muzzle” a Public Accounts Committee investigation into the Project Eagle controversy after demanding negative findings against him are removed.

A week has passed since the Brexit shock result and it’s time for Ireland to get its act together, writes Elaine Loughlin.

THE weeks leading up to Christmas might be described as the Anything-in-Wonderland period. 

It seems that the legal profession is set to continue on its expensive merry way despite calls from the Troika and the Competition Authority to overhaul legal practices here.

SEE them strolling along the platforms of Heuston Station with smiles so wide it almost hurts to watch because you’re sure their faces are hurting too. They’re announcing the Metro North project which they themselves binned four years ago.

Enda Kenny’s Cabinet was good at doing what the Troika told them, but they were unable to produce a credible scheme for delivering and disposing of water. Instead, they managed to create the most powerful mass anti-governmental popular movement since the ’20s, 1918 and even the Land League.

A senior European Commission official has denied the commission, as member of the Troika, tried to “manoeuvre, push or threaten” Ireland to accept the November 2010 bailout, despite arguing the controversial move was “inevitable”.

The troika shot down any prospect of Ireland burning the bondholders in late-2010 and warned such a move would cancel any possibility of a future bailout, a senior Government adviser during the crisis has confirmed.

The privatisation of Irish Water is high on the list of the Troika and their powerbroker and profiteering friends.

Arvind Subramanian says the Greek people were deprived of true choices during the recent financial crisis

Considering RTÉ have been telling us we are in election mode, maybe we should reflect on what our Government has achieved to date.

 The ‘back to work’ mantra is used to force people, despite their skills and training, into precarious work, offering the choice between hard labour and destitution, say Tom Boland and Ray Griffin 

The former Taoiseach Brian Cowen has defended the decision to go with the bank guarantee in September 2008 saying he had to pick the "least worst option".

Brian Cowen will today outline the events surrounding the bank guarantee in September 2008 and the Troika bailout two years later.

In 2010, the Troika imposed a program of what is politely termed ‘fiscal adjustment’ on Greece, which, by the IMF’s own admission at the time would be “tough, difficult and painful’.

For hundreds of years, Ireland was under the control of the Crown, economically, politically and socially.

Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill looks at the state of play ahead of tonight’s emergency meeting of eurozone leaders on the future of Greece, and the balance parties will try to strike

Much of the time the Oireachtas banking inquiry seems to take on the character of a whodunnit, writes Michael Clifford

Ireland has much work to do to shore up its delivery of human rights, according to the Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, speaking before a top level United Nations committee.

How much longer must this Greek debt farce go on before someone in Greece, or in the Troika, has an epiphany and see things clearly, and has the guts to walk away?

This might sound a little harsh, but I recently heard an individual compare our government to the Germans — for their efficiency.

The Troika gave the country’s economic progress a thumbs-up and maintained their advice that the Government should put unexpected extra income into cutting debt, rather than cutting tax and increasing spending.

When the debacle that is Irish Water was heralded by Phil Hogan, he claimed efficiencies would be maximised by using Bord Gais’s billing system.

Greece won’t exit the monetary union this year, in our judgment. The country’s near-term financing gap is small relative to the size of the financial aid it has received in the past, and the will to keep the union together remains strong.

Draft plans for new commitments by the Greek government to win an extension of their programme were still being exchanged between Athens and Brussels last night, coming up to the midnight deadline.

Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin has hit out at the IMF's former mission chief for Ireland, who suggested we could have had a better deal on our debt burden.

The Eurozone's technical working group is meeting in Brussels to discuss any progress made in talks with the Troika over the weekend.

As an elected representative of the Irish people to the European Parliament I would like to distance myself from the remarks of An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, in relation to how the new government of Greece should progress in its debt negotiations with the EU.

Work is under way on a new deal between Greece and its troika creditors after both sides agreed to a number of compromises.

How typically Irish. We are the country that created the situation that Greece, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus are now in, because we came up with the idea of a bank guarantee.

Government plans for tax cuts and additional expenditure could increase growth this year, the troika says in its review of the country’s economy.

The election of an anti-austerity party to power in Greece may seem at first as if the lunatics have taken over the asylum whereas it could be the very thing to bring sanity to European Union finances. The election result should come as no surprise, considering that more than a quarter of the Greek population is without a job and youth unemployment remains above 50%.

The head of Greece's left-wing Syriza party has promised to end the "national humiliation" of austerity.

Unrequited love is our theme today. My heart went out to Joan Burton yesterday morning. I hope you had the sensitivity to feel the same.