FORMER MEP Avril Doyle has surprised Fine Gael by withdrawing from the race to be the party’s presidential candidate.

Avril Doyle has announced that she is withdrawing from the Fine Gael race for the Áras.

Laois Offaly TD Charlie Flanagan is to lead Fine Gael’s Presidential campaign.

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan has formally endorsed Pat Cox’s campaign to represent Fine Gael in October’s presidential election.

The four candidates vying to be Fine Gael's presidential candidate will this morning outline their case to the parliamentary party ahead of a vote in nine days' time.

All Fine Gael presidential hopefuls will be out in force this weekend in an effort to persuade members of the party to give them their votes.

DAVID NORRIS’ Presidential campaign has received a significant boost in the shape of an opinion poll showing him to be the public’s favourite for the Áras.

Independent Senator David Norris is leading the presidential election race, according to a poll in today's Irish Independent.

PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Avril Doyle has vowed to give up her TD, ministerial and MEP pension entitlements if she is elected to the Áras.

Four are vying for the Fine Gael nod. But what’s between them? asks Michael Clifford

The former Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle is to seek the party's nomination for the Presidency.

Presidential hopeful Niall O'Dowd has said he is meeting with Sinn Féin later today, as he makes a bid to become an independent candidate for the Presidency.

Former MEP and TD Avril Doyle is expected to announce later that she will be seeking the Fine Gael nomination for the Presidency.

IRISH publisher Niall O’Dowd received a knock to his campaign to compete for the Presidential election after Fianna Fáil declared it would be weeks before it decides on whether it will support a candidate.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor, is throwing her support behind Pat Cox for the Fine Gael presidential nomination.

David Norris is the favourite to become Ireland's next President, according to a new opinion poll.

POLL-TOPPING Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness will not run in the next Dáil elections but may consider mounting a bid to replace President Mary McAleese when her term ends in two years’ time.

Nessa Childers (Labour) and Liam Aylward (Fianna Fáil) have been elected on seventh count at East constituency of the European elections this evening.

A new Irish Times MRBI/TNS opinion poll published today suggests that Fine Gael is likely to lose a seat in Ireland East in next week's European elections.

ORGANISING the armies, positioning foot-soldiers and deciding who is deployed to which battleground will keep much put-upon directors of elections sleepless for the next week.

CHILDCARE services should be integrated into plans for residential developments, according to the Labour Party, which said its councillors would also promote more playgrounds, family festivals and night-time facilities for teenagers if elected next month.

LABOUR leader Eamon Gilmore fired back at outgoing Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle yesterday after she questioned the credentials of one of his party’s European election candidates.

AS ONE older voter put it to Nessa Childers, who is campaigning to win a seat for Labour in the East constituency: “Right party, right name, right time.”

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is back in the firing line, with the opposition parties using growing support to undermine his Fianna Fáil-led coalition.

Fianna Fáil's Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher is expected to declare his candidacy for the European elections before nominations close at midday today.

FF’s results in previous Euro elections are poor. From 1979 to 2004 the average FF Euro vote over the 30-year period was 34.73%. Over the same period, the FF vote in general elections from 1981 to 2007 shows a significant differential. Their average over nine general elections was 43.05%

Avril Doyle reflects on her political career with our Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill.

ONE of the leading names in Fine Gael, Avril Doyle. has announced her retirement after 35 years in politics.

Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle says she will not be seeking to retain her seat in June's European elections.

THE failure of the Government’s national pig identification and tracing system has been blamed for the 100% withdrawal of Irish pork products over the weekend, which Fine Gael yesterday described as a “disproportionate response to a relatively contained problem”.

EU environment ministers edged closer to agreeing a climate change package that they hope will lead the rest of the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

EUROPEAN Parliament members are in Moscow this week to discuss climate change with their Russian counterparts.

CIGARETTES and tobacco should be available only on prescription, while nicotine replacement therapies should be free of charge to tobacco addicts, according to Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle.

MEPs are calling for a relaxation of the laws surrounding the confiscation of duty free liquids at airports.

I wish to put into context the real story behind the scandalous headlines that have been so offensive to Olympic showjumper Denis Lynch and to his highly respected, honest and totally unassuming parents and family.

IRISH MEPs miss one out of every five days of the European Parliament and have only attended an average of 33 days of parliamentary sessions so far this year.

SMOKING kills more people than Aids, murder, drugs, road accidents and suicide combined, but governments and the EU are allowing tobacco companies to influence their policies.

EUROSCEPTIC Brits donned the green jersey in the European Parliament yesterday and called for the Irish no vote to be respected.

CHEMICALS used in everything from plastic bottles to cosmetics are contributing to the huge increase in breast cancer in women, according to a scientific report discussed in the European Parliament.

SINN FÉIN was joined by Northern Ireland Unionist and British eurosceptic MEPs in a vote against the Lisbon Treaty in the European Parliament.

GOVERNMENT proposals to cut Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% over the next 12 years were called into question by an Irish MEP attending the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali.

OUT with the old, in with the new.

UP TO a third of the 50,000 deaths a year in Europe caused by superbugs could be prevented, according to the European Centre for Disease Control.