Go on admit it. You’ve said it. Maybe you were watching the news and the Dáil was in uproar.

PRODIGAL party Fianna Fáil is no longer the pariah of Irish politics, but has it really learned anything from its time in political purgatory?

Giving TDs and Senators free hand-held tablet devices such as iPads will save the taxpayer money, Oireachtas officials claim.

The Dáil was branded “a joke of a parliament” after a planned €112m spend next year for TDs and senators was pushed through without any debate.

Kerry South TD Michael Healy-Rae said he is "the only person in Ireland that’s paying for other people’s phone bills" as he announced today that he intends to pay back €2,600 in costs incurred by the taxpayer as a result of calls to premium rate phone lines from Leinster House.

Phil Hogan, Fine Gael's director of elections, has warned commentators and analysts not to rule out single-party government.

THE Fine Gael party in Kerry South is expected to adopt a two-candidate strategy for the next election when it holds a convention in Killarney tonight.

SEVENTEEN TDs have each claimed more than €5,000 in expenses per month since the introduction of a new allowance system.

THE trademark ruddiness of John O’Donoghue’s face must have deepened and contrasted ever more starkly with the pale pastel hues decorating the Georgian walls of his Leinster House fiefdom as he pleaded with Eamon Gilmore not to damn him into oblivion on the Dáil floor.

CEANN COMHAIRLE John O’Donoghue has announced he will resign next week after Labour ended his slim chances of survival on a dramatic day in the Dáil by claiming his position was no longer tenable.

CEANN Comhairle John O’Donoghue has intensified my feeling of disgust with politicians in this country.

Up to 8,000 people are expected to visit Leinster House today and tomorrow for the second annual Oireachtas open day.

A 50-year-old Cork man has been arrested after an alleged assault on John O'Donoghue at the Killarney races this afternoon.

SO CONCERNED was the Government about feuds in Limerick last year that it sent down John Fitzgerald to sort it all out.

Newly-elected TD Mary O’Rourke today celebrated her 70th birthday.

AS SELF-HELP guides go, this Thursday’s new series on RTÉ is pretty much out on its own.

YESTERDAY was possibly Bertie Ahern’s last Leaders’ Questions before the General Election with Pat Rabbitte, in a clear case of wishful thinking, even suggesting possibly his last Leaders’ Questions ever.

Opposition politicians tonight launched a blistering attack on the Taoseach Bertie Ahern after he apologised for taking £8,000 (€11,800) at a dinner in Manchester in 1994.

PLANS to downgrade Monaghan General Hospital have caused a major split among local Fianna Fáil politicians as the controversial hospital reform plans are set to become major issues in the run-up to the general election.

Michael O’Farrell