Despite recent research from the CSO indicating that the cost of motor insurance has dropped by 12.8% in the past year, many motorists are seeing premiums rise at the time of renewal, according to AA Ireland.

Former Ulster Unionist deputy leader John Taylor has denied being racist after calling Ireland's Taoiseach 'the Indian'.

Britain will not shut the door to European Union immigrants after Brexit but the Government wants people "with high skills" and better jobs for domestic workers, a Cabinet minister has said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has won Parliament's approval to begin talks on a divorce deal for the UK leaving the EU.

Update 10.30pm: The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been accused of deliberately mixing up abortion with assault.

A Cabinet minister says it is worth risking higher property prices in order to help out first-time buyers.

The former Secretary of Northern Ireland Patrick Mayhew has died.

‘More than 50 MPs’ ready to act against leader in rift over Europe

British and US intelligence cracked the codes of Israeli drones operating in the Middle East and monitored their surveillance feeds for almost 20 years, according to documents leaked by an American whistleblower and published in international media.

Fine Gael will not target “vulnerable” Labour seats in the general election, because the party wants the Coalition returned to power, senior sources have revealed.

Israel’s military deployed hundreds of troops in the West Bank after a drive-by shooting by suspected Palestinian gunmen killed a Jewish settler couple in front of their children as they were driving home.

A Cabinet Minister has accused Sinn Féin of a smokescreen in their request for an all-island forum for victims of sex abuse to come forward.

BBC Trust boss Rona Fairhead will be questioned about her work at HSBC after she was summoned before a UK parliamentary select committee.

A second Fine Gael Cabinet minister has given support for a coalition with Fianna Fáil after the next general election.

Concern that Irish Water could pressure landlords to hand over former tenants’ PPS numbers has led TDs to demand an intervention by the Data Protection Commissioner.

THE two faces of Simon Coveney clearly had poor little Richard Bruton running scared.

Israel has agreed to extend a 12-hour humanitarian truce in the Gaza war by four hours, a Cabinet minister said.

The penalty points controversy has regained a momentum that those defending the status quo, those deeply entrenched traditionalists, probably thought unlikely or at the very least manageable.

Israel has harshly criticised the international community’s nuclear deal with Iran, accusing the world of “self-delusion” and saying the first-stage agreement would not halt Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

A Cabinet minister has said Ireland needs to raise its tax bands in order to stop workers from emigrating.

David Cameron will today meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks on the Syrian crisis amid fears that differences between Moscow and the West are pushing the two sides towards a new Cold War.

A Cabinet Minister has defended the slashing of the number of ghost estates in the country where homeowners will not have to pay the property tax.

A Pakistani Cabinet minister has today offered a US$100,000 reward for the death of the US filmmaker whose movie features a depiction of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.

Swearing on the football pitch has “gone too far” and the sport’s authorities should do more to tackle it, according to a British Cabinet minister.

The UK's Defence Secretary Liam Fox faces a grilling by MPs today over whether he has breached ministerial guidelines as more claims surfaced about his working relationship with a former flatmate.

ENDA Kenny swept into the Burlington Hotel’s glittering ballroom as Taoiseach-in-waiting — and no one had ever been waiting for such validation for so long.

FIANNA Fáil has been all but wiped out in Dublin, reduced to just one TD in the city as a swathe of ministers were toppled.

A referendum on changing the voting system for general elections will take place on May 5 after the British Government overcame stiff resistance from the House of Lords to get the legislation through Parliament.

Celebrations have erupted across the Middle East after Hosni Mubarak stepped down as Egypt’s president.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen warned opponents tonight that there was no vacancy in his office as he offered to sit down with disgruntled party colleagues over his under-fire leadership.

A Fianna Fáil Cabinet minister has dismissed any suggestion of tensions between the coalition partners.

FORMER Cabinet minister Ed Balls was last night sounding out colleagues over a possible bid for the Labour Party leadership.

THE general election outcome may still not be clear as dawn breaks over Britain on Friday.

CABINET heavyweights moved to shore up Brian Cowen’s leadership of Fianna Fáil as he faced another wave of criticism from backbenchers.

Allegations of phone tapping at Britain’s best-selling Sunday newspaper were dismissed today by the industry’s watchdog.

Police broke up Malaysia’s biggest street protest in nearly two years today, firing tear gas and chemical-laced water at thousands of opposition supporters demanding an end to a law that allows detention without trial.

John Bercow pledged to heal public “anger and disappointment” over the expenses scandal as he was installed as the UK's House of Commons’ 157th Speaker.

The climate change protester who threw green custard over the UK's Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has been arrested, Scotland Yard said today.

The so-called 'golden circle' of investors embroiled in a €300m loans-for-shares controversy at Anglo Irish Bank are entitled to their privacy, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan claimed today.

The social partners are getting ready to enter a new set of intensive negotiations on cutbacks in Government spending.

RESIDENTS of the northern Israeli town of Nahariyaa woke yesterday to one of their country’s worst nightmares — rockets from Lebanon, and a possible second front in a battle that has raged for two weeks in Gaza.

FIANNA FÁIL MEP Eoin Ryan has agreed to visit Scotland as anger grows over sectarian singing at football matches.