Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe has confirmed the Irish priorities set to be copper-fastened in a key European Council Brexit document this weekend will "underscore" the possibility of a united Ireland border poll taking place in the future.

LATEST: The Minister for Public Expenditure, Paschal Donohoe, has criticised the religious congregations for not applying the moral code they expect of others to themselves.

The Government will not base the upcoming budget on claims Ireland’s economy surged by 26.3% last year, despite insisting that the eye-catching rate is “not wrong”.

Heartbreaking scenes unfolded in Wexford town yesterday as relatives of Thomas and Sylvia Connors and their children were flanked by mourners while the funeral convoy made its way to their final resting place.

THE announcement of a €27bn capital plan to drive the development of infrastruce yesterday is very welcome, even if some of the timescales mentioned suggest we are trying to hold an All-Ireland final on Mars now water has been found there, rather than build a few miles of railway in Dublin.

Just weeks before the budget, business group Ibec yesterday stepped up its campaign to persuade the Government that spending big on infrastructure will help rebalance the skewed over-development of Dublin that it says is disadvantaging other regions.

Nurses may take industrial action later this month to highlight continuing overcrowding in emergency departments.

Even the National Association of Anticlimaxes would have refused the spring statement entry to its ranks for fear of reducing its already disappointing reputation to an all-time low in the minds of right thinking people.

The Government yesterday committed to ensuring almost half of the membership on all state boards in future are women, as it launched a transparent process for appointments to agencies and bodies.

For the first time in almost a decade there are signs that our banking system is getting back to normal, beginning to operate within proper parameters and finally lending to businesses, home buyers, and other credit worthy customers.

The Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin is downplaying fears that services will need to be scaled back by councils who cut the property tax.

Budget expectations

HSE plans to save money by filling key hospital roles with interns and graduate nurses is putting budgets before patients’ lives.

We’ve been here before, haven’t we? We have done the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. We have phoned Liveline in our masses, watched politicians kick the problems around like footballs and read all the newspaper column inches dedicated to our rage.

The system for reviewing civil servants’ prospects of getting pay rises and promotions has been described as flawed by Fine Gael TDs after fewer than 1% of workers received a negative review.

Joe Lyons could not have been more pleased to hear about a school maintenance fund being restored after discovering a leaking roof when pupils returned from their mid-term break this week at Ballybrown National School outside Limerick City.

As the Government prepares to unveil the latest austerity budget, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has insisted the main focus of this year’s budget is to exit the bailout programme and provide incentives for job creation.

Labour TDs want to see leader Eamon Gilmore give up foreign affairs and “spend more time in Ireland”, a Cabinet colleague has warned as the pre-budget war of words within the Coalition intensified.

Schools are operating smoothly but atmospheres could become more intense if industrial action by 16,000 teachers continues for much longer, a management leader has said.

Almost 16,000 secondary teachers may have to escalate to strike action soon as the Government insists it will not talk to their union about the Haddington Road deal they rejected.

Bankers living abroad and other high-ranking officials linked to the night of the bank guarantee will be compelled to attend the Government’s promised banking inquiry under new powers announced.

Slow allocation of staff, poor communication, and inadequate planning were among the main causes of delay to thousands of student grants, an independent review has reported.

The Public Expenditure and Reform Minister is warning that time is running out on reaching an agreement to resume the public-sector pay talks.

Plans for targeted voluntary redundancy packages for 2,300 public service workers will be brought to Cabinet tomorrow as talks continue on renegotiating Croke Park.

As the screw turns, rural households are first in line to be pushed below — or further below — the poverty line.

It has been reported that the Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin is planning to cut TDs' and senators' travel and subsistence perks and other allowances in December's Budget.

Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin has said that he has been advised that he cannot block pay rises for high earners in the public service.

Minister for Health James Reilly has reportedly claimed the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste were aware of his controversial move to place two primary care centres in his own constituency.

The Public Expenditure Minister says the Croke Park Agreement is changeable but there's no reason to tamper with something that's delivering.

Independent TDs and senators received €713,885 in unvouched and untaxed allowances on top of their salaries last year.

Opposition parties are hitting out at the Government's proposals on the sale of some state assets.

Legislation on the reduction of judges' pay has been published by the Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin.

Ireland’s three biggest banks have told the Government they will not pass on the European drop in interest rates to tens of thousands of struggling mortgage holders.

THE €3.4 billion hole in pension funds of semi-state companies has tied the hand of the Government in deciding how to proceed with the sale of state assets.

THE Government has confirmed it is to standardise leave arrangements for public servants to eradicate holiday entitlements which are “wildly out of line with those in the private sector”.

The Government will reveal proposed changes to its EU/IMF bailout deal today.

THE Government has denied that a row over Cabinet positions was the reason for a delay in Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, revealing his new ministerial line up to the Dáil yesterday evening.