Election officials in the North will begin preparations today for the official counting of the votes cast in the European Parliament election.

A top election official apologised tonight to voters who were accidentally charged over £5 (€5.75) to receive their polling cards.

Unionist leaders should join Sinn Féin in negotiating a shared future in a united Ireland, deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said.

THE budget is still nearly three weeks away and speculation is already mounting about the Government’s ability to get it through the Dáil. Against all expectations when this government was formed, the Greens have developed a limpet-like grip on power. Only grim death will separate them from ministerial office, it seems.

Two Irish MEPs are travelling on a fact-finding mission to Israel and Palestine to discuss humanitarian concerns following the four-week Israeli offensive in Gaza.

The war of words between Sinn Féin and the DUP is continuing unabated as the North's power-sharing Executive remains mired in deadlock.

Families of people killed by British soldiers during the North's Troubles urged the British army today to call off a contentious parade for troops returning from Afghanistan.

Elements of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) remain opposed to sharing power with Catholics, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams controversially claimed tonight.

The Labour Party will launch a poster campaign today urging people to back the Lisbon Treaty - while Sinn Féin will officially kick-start its drive to persuade the public to reject it.

Talks between Sinn Féin and the Police Service of Northern Ireland focussed on trying to build a better understanding of each other, Chief Constable Hugh Orde said today.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams was tonight told he was being delusional if he believed republicans were on course to achieve their goal of a united Ireland.

MINISTERS have spoken in Irish 22 times at EU meetings since the language became an official one last January, while MEPs have used it about twice as often.

THE chat-up lines used by farmers as they try to woo the girl of their dreams were the subject of survey results revealed by Macra na Feirme at the National Ploughing Championships at Annaharvey, Tullamore, Co Offaly, yesterday.

More than a tenth of the European funding programme for the North has been eaten up in administration, it was revealed today.

There is a possibility that an Irish Language Act will not be brought before Stormont ministers and the Northern Assembly, Culture Minister Edwin Poots said today.

A European Commissioner leading a Brussels taskforce on the North Ireland will today meet a senior minister in the Stormont power sharing government.

A delegation of US Congressmen visiting the North have been urged to keep pressure on the IRA to dismantle its structures, it emerged today.

The North's politicians found their appetite for devolved government again today.

An Irish language teacher was convicted today of hurling abuse in Irish at police officers during a night out in Belfast.

A report into Special Branch officers' involvement with a loyalist paramilitary gang by the North's Police Ombudsman will make uncomfortable reading, Northern Secretary Peter Hain admitted today.

Sinn Féin’s task will be to deliver a non-partisan police service in the North if it takes the groundbreaking step of supporting the PSNI, Gerry Adams insisted today.

THE full implementation of Irish as an official and working language of the European Union, which was due to come into effect yesterday, has been delayed because the Government has failed to recruit enough interpreters.

DANGEROUS chemicals in everyday products must be replaced — when available — with safer alternatives, MEPs decided yesterday.

Sinn Féin tonight criticised a programme designed to distribute around £134m for peace building in the North for entrenching sectarian differences.

A Sinn Féin delegation has lobbied the EU Commissioner for Transport for a better road and rail infrastructure in the north-west.

The EU is obsessed with economic growth and increasing military might ahead of other issues like poverty and human rights, it was claimed today.

The British government was condemned today after announcing it was providing more than £3m (€4.3m) to have paramilitary murals in Northern Ireland painted over.

IRISH MEPs appealed to the Government to divert more funds to the poorer regions of the country yesterday after the parliament signed off on the union’s biggest budget.

More action is needed to combat attacks on Dublin’s gay community, it was claimed tonight.

Irish women are paid on average almost a fifth less than their male counterparts in the workplace, the European Parliament heard today.

THE Government will continue to seek the closure of Sellafield and its MOX reprocessing plant despite suffering a setback from the European Court of Justice.

The British presidency of the European Union has recommended that €200m be allocated to peace and reconciliation funds for the North, it was claimed today.

Sinn Féin today refused to rule out tax increases if the party gets into government, but said any rises would be fair and committed to delivering better public services.

WE, the undersigned, support the Rossport Five in their demand for the natural resources of Ireland to be used for the benefit of the Irish people, and for those same resources to be extracted in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.

Health ministers on both sides of the border today faced fresh calls for an all-Ireland approach to tackle rising suicide levels.

A Government move to allow Northern Ireland MPs and MEPs to debate in the Dáil would be a welcome recognition of the rights of Irish citizens north of the border, Sinn Féin claimed today.

A small group of nationalists has blocked the Crumlin Road in north Belfast as part of a protest against two Orange Order parades in the area later today.

Sinn Féin's two MEPs have defended their decision not to back moves to get the EU to fund a possible civil action against the alleged killers of Robert McCartney.

THE European Parliament yesterday approved an unprecedented motion on the use of EU funds to help the McCartney family to bring the IRA killers of their brother to justice.

THE groundbreaking decision by the European Parliament to back the sisters of Belfast man, Robert McCartney, by funding their legal campaign to bring his killers to justice, deserves to be loudly applauded.

Euro MPs today overwhelmingly backed the McCartney sisters’ fight for justice over the murder of their brother Robert.

THE killer of Robert McCartney was one of Sinn Féin’s official treasurers while the man who ordered the killing is frequently seen with leading IRA members in Belfast, the European Parliament was told last night.

Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern last night imposed a four-day deadline to get an historic breakthrough on a Northern peace deal.