TDs, senators, and their staff are to get mental health counselling to help them handle stress from their work brought on by the financial crisis in recent years.

The bishops were quick out of the blocks last week to smite the proposed referendum on same-sex marriage.

The school principal whose criticisms of Dublin TD Derek Keating prompted a Fine Gael aide to remove and dump thousands of copies of a local newspaper has denied his actions were politically motivated.

The school principal whose criticisms of Dublin TD Derek Keating prompted a Fine Gael aide to remove and dump thousands of copies of a local newspaper has denied his actions were politically motivated.

A war of words has broken out between a TD and a school principal over claiming credit for securing funding.

A referendum on gay marriage is looking likely, with a number of TDs from the Government and the Opposition throwing their weight behind proposals to put it to a public vote.

A random audit of expenses of 12 members of the Oireachtas has led to €16,000 being handed back after it was found that some of the expenses claimed could not be properly accounted for.

SOME of you halfwits have been blaming bankers and politicians for savage cutback, but righteous truth merchant, and Fine Gael TD, Derek Keating, has finally had the courage to identify the real cause of our current woes — single mothers.

The Government comfortably survived one of its biggest tests yet, as TDs last night approved the first crucial stages of the coalition’s welfare budget cuts in the Dáil.

Annual pensions totalling almost €3m are being paid to judges who retired within the past five years.

Sinn Féin has urged all TDs in Leinster House to support its motion on abortion — even though one of its own deputies has yet to do so.

A Fine Gael TD has urged his party to “relaunch” its campaign on the children’s referendum amid fears people aren’t interested and the message is not getting through.

Details of our TDs roll-call in the Dáil have been revealed today.

Security at the controversial weekend concert in Dublin’s Phoenix Park may have been more focused on driving up the promoters’ profits than protecting those who attended, Alan Shatter has said.

The telecoms watchdog is to probe if late night advertisements on TV3 are promoting sexual entertainment services and breach a code of practice for call lines.

A prominent Government backbencher has criticised the €164,000-a-year contract for Health Minister James Reilly’s latest expert appointment, saying the taxpayer-funded figure is “too high”.

Two Dáil members have called for an inquiry after a whistleblowing mental health worker claimed she was sacked.

MORE people than ever before are being jailed for the non-payment of court fines relating to TV licences.

THEY made their singing debut on the Late Late Show last month.

TV3 has decided it will broadcast the Taoiseach's address tomorrow night at 10.15pm, after the X Factor final.

MORE than €500,000 was paid in mileage claims last year to district and circuit court judges to travel from home to court hearings.

ENDA KENNY has steered his party to its best election result in history, more than doubling the number of Fine Gael seats since he became party leader after the 2002 general election.

With all bar four of the 43 constituencies in the General Election finished counting, the country’s political scene has undergone a sea change.

Former Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin has failed to retain her seat in Dun Laoghaire. Richard Boyd Barrett won the seat, bringing the haul of seats for Independents and others to 17.

The election of Fine Gael's Mary Mitchell O'Connor in Dun Laoghaire brings to 141 the total number of seats filled so far (from a total of 166).

There are 70 seats filled so far.

Labour's Robert Dowd and Fine Gael's Derek Keating have been elected to the final seats in Dublin Mid-West.

No candidate has been elected after the first count in the four-seat constituency of Dublin Mid-West.

I WAS very interested in your report headlined “Fine Gael recruits ‘politically promiscuous’ Keating” (July 9) — in particular the accusations of Green Party deputy Paul Gogarty.

THE Green party accused Fine Gael of “desperation” in recruiting a councillor who has previously been a member of both Fianna Fáil and the PDs.

Enda Kenny says he intends to lead Fine Gael into the next general election.

Minister for Education Mary Hanafin was tonight urged to provide emergency accommodation for more than 300 children whose school was extensively damaged in a fire.

THE Office of the Data Protection Commissioner said yesterday it had received a number of calls from people complaining they had been bombarded with text messages from election candidates.

OVER €2 million is to be spent on skateboarding facilities to give young people a safe space to ramp up their skills. After years of teenagers hanging around town parks and squares seeking spots to show off, the Government yesterday announced a nationwide plan for proper facilities.

RESIDENTS of Lucan could be forgiven for feeling an overpowering envy this week as Dubliners, and particular those living on the southside of the city, went into raptures at the arrival of Luas.