A former MEP, failed Dáil candidates and party councillors are in the running to be added to a list of nominees for the upcoming Seanad elections.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are set to add numbers to the Seanad election race from candidates who lost their Dáil seats.

Green Party MEP candidate, Saoirse McHugh, is being lined up to contest the Seanad seat vacated by Grace O'Sullivan.

Personal injury payouts could be capped under proposed new legislation which, it is hoped, will help reduce the cost of cover for businesses, motorists and farmers.

People would have to be “deaf, blind, dumb, and batty” to have been unaware of the proposed 12-week abortion limit before last May’s referendum, the Seanad has heard.

Shock and Awe, Blitzkrieg, total annihilation. That was the clear strategy from the Leo ‘X Factor’ Varadkar camp on the first day of the campaign to replace Enda Kenny as Taoiseach, writes Political Editor Daniel McConnell.

Efforts to resettle 200 refugee children here, from the camp in Calais, France, will be hastened by a proposal to Cabinet this week.

The flying of drones was banned in the air space over the site of the national ploughing championships in Ratheniska, Co Laois, last September.

Kerry Senator Paul Coghlan has called for action on the problem of seagulls in Dublin city centre, who he said " wreak havoc with their breaks” ripping rubbish bags, writes Jack Power of the Irish Examiner.

Transport Minister Shane Ross has called for the Taoiseach to make clear Ireland’s “dissatisfaction” with the US blockage of the air route between Cork and North America with US vice president Joe Biden.

Environment Minister Simon Coveney is hoping to press ahead with legislation to introduce a mandatory cap on bin charges with or without the agreement of bin companies.

Sinn Féin says it will bring a motion to the Seanad on Wednesday, which it hopes will annul the legislation for the new pay-by-weight bin charges.

Seanad members have said they are not at fault for the decision to allow the Upper House to break for another week, after meeting for just three hours during its first business since the election.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is coming under mounting pressure to reveal his 11 Seanad appointees, after it emerged the month-long delay in making a decision has cost the taxpayer over a quarter of a million euro.

Cabinet is today expected to sign off on the establishment of a new cross-party committee to look at the long-term future of the health system.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been branded as “indecisive” over his delay in appointing his 11 nominees to the Seanad by one of his former junior ministers.

Fr Paul Connell’s address can be interpreted as offensive, writes Michael Clifford

LGBT campaigner Fintan Warfield is the first person to be elected to the 25th Seanad.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has strongly criticised the €70m cost increase for the second parallel runway at Dublin Airport.

Former Tánaiste Michael McDowell says the failure of Enda Kenny’s government to reform the Seanad is “deeply regrettable”.

Outgoing senator John Crown has said he is walking away from political life because of a failure to reform the Upper House.

ALMOST three years ago the Government asked a simple enough question: Do you want to abolish the Seanad or leave it as it is?

Scandal-hit peer Lord Sewel has resigned from the House of Lords after coming under intense pressure over footage of him allegedly taking cocaine with two prostitutes.

Laws to allow unpaid water bills be deducted from people’s wages or dole were passed by the Seanad, despite warnings the moves may affect employment prospects or result in personal financial details being revealed in court.

Children’s Minister James Reilly addressed the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Abu Dhabi on the battle for cigarette plain packaging legislation in Ireland and Europe

Enda Kenny has signalled that senators could be made ministers in the next government if he is returned as taoiseach at the next election.

Renowned scientist and broadcaster Robert Winston has attacked a British MP for his “lunatic” support of homeopathy.

Donegal businessman John McNulty is expected to take up his Seanad seat next week — on the same day Michael Noonan will deliver his budget to the Dáil.

Indepepndent Seanad nominee Gerard Craughwell is meeting legal advisers today to decide on whether to challenge John McNulty's Seanad election bid.

The Seanad nomination storm has provoked deeper rifts in the Coalition, with a well-placed Labour figure warning about Fine Gael’s "culture of arrogance" pushing the Government to a tipping point.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that acts of self-defence in the Middle East need to be "proportionate" and the death of 1,000 people in Gaza is "not satisfactory."

Seanad reform pledge an ‘act of window dressing’

Health Minister James Reilly has agreed to fasttrack legislation to ban people smoking in cars carrying children after the Seanad passed the statute some two years after the initiative began.

The Government has agreed not to oppose proposals for strict regulations on the location and operation of wind farms in plans put forth by Sinn Féin.

Former tánaiste Michael McDowell has said he has “no association” with the Reform Alliance and will not attend their rally at the RDS later this month.

Sarah Connolly discovers that hotels all over the world are tuning in to the needs of tech-savvy travellers with up-to-date gadgets.

The group of rebel Fine Gael TDs, the Reform Alliance, are said to be seeking a suspension of normal Dáil business tomorrow to discuss reform the Seanad.