Four ousted Fine Gael TDs —including ex minister James Reilly — are battling to become the party’s next Seanad leader, despite a number previously calling for the upper house to be scrapped.

The fall-out from its disastrous election performance was reflected in a stormy six-hour meeting this week, but the Labour party faces an enormous task to revive its fortunes and regain the trust and support of the electorate, writes Political Correspondent Juno McEnroe

Labour figures have backed acting minister Brendan Howlin to take over the leadership as recriminations break out over mismanagement of the party’s election campaign.

A high-profile Labour election casualty insists she will not retire from politics despite losing her seat after 14 years.

Joan Burton will not be contemplating her position as leader of the Labour party until after a new government has been formed.

Dozens of previously high-profile politicians are waking up to the reality today that they are no longer TDs after a second successive general election saw a seismic shift in the Dáil landscape.

The first anti-austerity TD to be elected outside Dublin — winning the seat at the expense of Labour junior minister Kathleen Lynch — has vowed to bring his constituents’ desire for radical change to Dáil Éireann.

It was a week late, but Groundhog Day finally made its way to Cork yesterday.

Ireland went over the fiscal cliff in 2005 as a direct result of poor political policies and reckless bank lending, but did not realise the situation until 2008 — when it was no longer a case of whether there would be a crash but how bad it would be.

What the banking inquiry really exposed was that there was no ‘gotcha’ moment, just a long period of bad politics, negligible regulation, and reckless trading, writes Michael Clifford

IF the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry proves anything it proves that we need another referendum.

Several Government TDs have backed calls for a referendum to be held to ensure Irish Water remains in public ownership ahead of further water charge protests planned for this week.

Socialist TD Joe Higgins will publish an alternative bank inquiry report calling for “fundamental legislative change” to prevent a repeat of what happened during the property bubble when the official document is released next month.

The Banking Inquiry Committee have agreed on a draft report.

The bank inquiry was thrown into fresh chaos last night after members held an emergency meeting over serious concerns they may not be able to publish the report.

Crisis-hit bank inquiry members will have their first chance to examine a last-ditch reworking of the report into what caused the economic crash tomorrow, amid ongoing concerns it will fail to meet public demands.

The chairman of the banking inquiry has ruled out any so-called ‘minority’ report being part of the probe, as members scramble to bring the investigation back from the brink of collapse.

Labour leader Joan Burton has said her party is “ready for an election at any time” amid ongoing speculation that Taoiseach Enda Kenny may be about to call a snap November vote.

Rising tensions between the coalition parties over the date of the election have forced Tánaiste Joan Burton to declare she is “not a quitter” and is confident the Government will run its full term.

The Cork Local Government Review (CLGR) committee has been invited to appear before a Dáil committee on environment and local government to discuss its controversial merger report which has split the region.

Fine Gael officials will decide on whether to run under-pressure European Affairs Minister Dara Murphy in the general election at a grass-roots vote in his constituency tonight.

One of Cork’s most established politicians, minister of state Kathleen Lynch, opposes the merger of Cork’s city and county councils.

A rift is threatening to engulf the Labour Party over the proposed merger of Cork’s city and county councils with two party ministers divided on the issue.

Divisions look set to continue over the controversial proposal to merge Cork’s city and county councils — a plan to be brought to Cabinet tomorrow by Environment Minister Alan Kelly.

The majority of TDs cost the taxpayer more than half a million euro each in pay and expenses in under four years, while TDs who are also ministers have received, on average, €631,000.

The debate over the future of Cork’s local authorities has escalated to a war of words between two organisations representing businesses in the city.

Senior Labour TD Ciarán Lynch has taken another apparent swipe at his party colleague Alan Kelly, saying the Department of Environment, over which Mr Kelly is minister, has done more to reduce the power of local government “than the British administration ever did in 800 years”.

The President of University College Cork (UCC) has defended the right of academics to speak out against the Cork super-council plan.

A split has emerged in Labour over the proposal to merge Cork city and county councils, with a TD accusing Environment Minister Alan Kelly of rushing to accept the findings.

The vast majority of people living on the fringes of Cork City have backed experts who favour a boundary extension, a survey has found.