Several of Enda Kenny’s loyal senators lost their seats or were last night fighting for their survival.

Smaller parties and Independent TDs have rowed in behind calls for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to begin negotiating government formation options — warning it is otherwise difficult to support either party.

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.

With huge tracts of this constituency hived off into the new Roscommon-Galway region, a number of TDs have seen their home bases ripped asunder.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has again tried to shut the door on the possibility of entering coalition with Fine Gael, despite several of his TDs saying they would consider such a deal if the party is the stronger one after the election.

Flood-hit areas are facing more misery with further heavy rain due at least into the middle of next week, followed by another round of rising river levels and many more weeks of cleaning up ahead.

The Red Flag consulting firm being sued by businessman Denis O’Brien has confirmed it had a client for a dossier of material relating to the businessman which he alleges is part of a conspiracy to damage him, the High Court has heard.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has again rejected any possibility of his party forming a post-election coalition with the “mafia-like” Sinn Féin, despite colleagues and one senior Sinn Féin TD insisting a deal could be struck.

A consulting company has told the High Court that billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien has left “clouded in mystery” exactly how material from the firm’s computer files ended up on a USB stick placed in an envelope sent anonymously to Mr O’Brien.

Labour effectively has about 10 critical constituencies to identify where it must fight for its life, writes Gerard Howlin

A Galway mother whose home has been broken into four times in as many months has taken to arming herself with a nailgun to protect her family.

One in five admissions of children to mental health institutions is made to an adult psychiatric ward, in spite of government promises to end the practice.

Rebel senator Averil Power’s bombshell departure from Fianna Fáil descended into a he said/she said row as the party leadership moved to try and discredit her.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association has described as “unique” the action of nurses who voted against transferring to a new €15m acute psychiatric unit despite three in five being offered an incentive to do so.

The Renua Ireland TD who suffered an embarrassing interview on national radio as his party was launched has said the incident was not caused by a panic attack or failing to read up on the group’s policies.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association has said it will not take part in talks designed to defuse a row over the opening of a psychiatric facility unless a nurse put off duty for airing his concerns in the media is allowed return to work.

NUI Galway has suspended the use of a pre-employment health screening questionnaire after it was heavily criticised for querying women about their menstrual cycle.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been told to apologise to Magdalene laundry victims for a second time in just two years, after failing to live up to promises to women who were effectively forced into State “slavery”.

It was the game that had everything — blood, sweat, tears, and crazy behaviour from both players and fans at the All Ireland senior championship semi-final replay between Kerry and Mayo on Saturday.

A HSE plan to restructure children’s disability services nationwide, modelled on its work in the Mid-West, has been challenged by the head of a free therapy centre, which is receiving referral requests for children living over 240km away.

HSE report points to 13 fatalities

To paraphrase a well-known commercial, ‘every little hurts’.

The Government has scrapped funding for an advocacy service provided to thousands of deaf people.

New figures show almost 340,000 people are waiting for an appointment to see a consultant.

THE Tuam babies story this week says much about the past, but about the present also.

Children’s Minister Charlie Flanagan’s claim that the Government is giving "active consideration" to addressing the growing scandal of the mass child grave discovered at a mother and baby home in Galway has been deemed wholly inadequate by opposition parties.

Just when people thought no more revelations remained to be uncovered, a truly shocking spectre — 800 dead babies dumped in a septic tank and innocent infants buried in mass graves — has come back to haunt the Irish State and the Catholic Church.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny is being called on to apologise on behalf of the State to the women and children who resided at mother and baby homes.

The Government has defended the standard of care in Galway’s main psychiatric unit after the country’s work safety watchdog was called in over complaints about staffing levels.

A mental health expert says the policy of admitting psychiatric patients to emergency departments needs to be "looked at".

Following the recent unrest in Labour due to MEP Phil Prendergast’s criticism of Eamon Gilmore’s leadership, it has highlighted a common thread that explains the rise of independents.

THE clue is in the name really. Labour. It doesn’t paint word pictures of sunny skies, optimism and basking in the glow of an affectionate electorate.

The reality of coalition government is well known to Labour. It has bounced back from the brink before, says Gary Murphy.

More than 15,000 children with serious speech and language difficulties must wait up to two years to access basic initial assessments, while cutbacks mean hundreds more are not even making it onto the lists.

Opposition party TDs have asked is Justice Minister Alan Shatter thinks that “people are stupid” and said he is no longer “fit for office” after a series of excuses over the whistleblower affair.

When is tea not tea? When it’s a herbal tea, according to the taxman.

Eamon Gilmore says the country has been “to hell and back” — but unfortunately for him and his Government, many people have yet to make the return journey and still feel trapped in Satan’s departure lounge.

Large sections of the country have no early intervention teams to help children with serious disabilities — risking potential havoc for their development.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny pledged that the Child and Family Agency would not be just be “going through the motions” but would transform the way Ireland treats vulnerable youngsters.