The Fianna Fáil leader has vowed to fight until the end, but has he got the mettle to to stand up to his detractors and get them in line before the election, asks Juno McEnroe

A failure to win a seat in today’s Dáil by-elections will not be linked to questions around Micheál Martin’s leadership of Fianna Fáil, according to the party’s finance spokesperson, Michael McGrath. 

NOT for the first time, I find myself wondering why Micheál Martin doesn’t tell the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party to simply shove it.

The whole Freedom of Information process is a bit like scallop dredging.

The Fianna Fáil parliamentary party has today agreed that its 33 TDs and Senators should not nominate candidates for the upcoming presidential election.

Prospective presidential candidates have until September 28 to secure a nomination, it was revealed today.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and his Labour counterpart Eamon Gilmore were tonight putting the finishing touches to their Cabinet lineup ahead of the first sitting of the 31st Dáil tomorrow.

THE country faces a severe four-year package of spending cuts and tax hikes “significantly” greater than the €7.5bn already signalled, it was revealed last night.

The ICTU has denied approving the 'work for dole' scheme.

Legislation recognising transgender people in their new identity is set to be introduced after the Government scrapped a Supreme Court appeal.

A MONEY-SAVING scheme to reward employers for creating new jobs begins today with the aim of getting thousands of unemployed people back to work within the year.

New social welfare rules targeting lone parent payments and jobseeker’s allowance were today branded heartless and draconian.

A new stamp celebrating the centenary of Irish language poet Máirtín O’Direáin’s birth was unveiled on his native Inis Mor today.

Pressure intensified on Ireland’s European Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn last night after a second minister signalled she should give up her Dáil and ministerial pensions.

THE long-running Dingle name change row is coming closer to resolution, it has emerged.

WITH all the skill and efficiency of a bomb planting operation by Slovakian intelligence, the Government finally swung into action to deal with the worst winter weather crisis for nearly half a century.

If you stay around long enough in the one position in politics, you will accumulate a lot of enemies. Harney has not lacked for courage or shirked conflict. Like all warriors, eventually the scars of battle take their toll. Too many health commentators, professionals and leaders want rid of her

The Government today called for the catastrophic events of the Great Famine to be properly remembered as a series of engagements got under way in Canada to mark the disaster.

Support for Irish is stronger in the east of the country than in the traditional heartland of the west, new research revealed tonight.

MORE ministers will be staying at home this St Patrick’s Day with the economic difficulties being cited as the primary reason behind a halving in the number of foreign trips.

Constituency profiles offer some fascinating insights into who elects who and why, finds Political Correspondent Conor Ryan.

GRASSROOTS members of Fianna Fáil in Galway West have written to party headquarters in an attempt to resist any move to allow Noel Grealish automatically join the party when the Progressive Democrats wind up.

One of the country’s best known historical writers is among group of experts who will decide how to honour the million people who died in the Great Famine.

The country’s first card-operated service station for the public has opened on the Aran Islands.

Inishbofin island is to get air links for its 200 inhabitants, 20 years after it was first proposed, it was revealed today.

Around 150 members have been recruited into newly formed Ógra Fianna Fáil societies in the North, it emerged today.

Key commentators specialising in regional development will gather for a two-day conference in Co Clare today to discuss the need for greater investment in areas outside Dublin.

Key commentators specialising in regional development will gather for a two-day conference in Co Clare tomorrow to discuss the need for greater investment in areas outside Dublin.

AN Oireachtas inquiry should be set up urgently to establish how Galway’s water supply was allowed to become contaminated by a harmful parasite, it was argued yesterday.

FIANNA FÁIL members should not ignore the houses of “blueshirts” or “provos” when canvassing for votes, Junior Minister Brendan Smith told delegates.

Landowners had for many years an understandable case for opposing passage through their land , on the basis that they were liable to have to pay damages if somebody got injured by walking into a hole or through some misadventure.

A CONFERENCE for LEADER companies, which will be held in Furbo, Co Galway, on Thursday and Friday, will review a decade of rural development and examine what lessons need to be taken forward as the EU embarks on a major new rural programme.

The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has asked the Board of Udarás na Gaeltachta for a set of recommendations on the development of the Irish Language and Irish-speaking areas.

Professionals who relocate from Dublin to the north west have a better quality of life, less time commuting and suffer less stress, a survey claimed today.

Independent Living provides the best possible quality of life for people with disabilities, according to a new report.

The Law Reform Commission recommended the creation of a new legal structure for charities today.

Disadvantaged communities are expected to be the biggest winners today in the latest round of grants from the dormant accounts fund.

Gardaí from ethnic communities may be allowed to wear turbans on duty in a bid to attract new members to the force, it emerged today.

Over €7m will be spent to radically change the future roll-out of a development programme for rural areas across the country, it emerged today.

The Western Rail Corridor which runs from Ennis to Sligo should be re-opened on a phased basis, a report recommended today.

Children in Gaeltacht areas will no longer be deprived of native-speaking speech language therapists, it was claimed today.

A film-maker from Havana is on a mission to prove that former president and Taoiseach Eamon de Valera was half Cuban.