Fine Gael has been dealt a further blow after high- profile candidates failed to get elected to the Seanad.

Labour has chosen two junior ministers to stand for the upcoming Seanad elections.

Against the wider trend, Longford-Westmeath is one area where the Government stronghold is likely to remain.

The HSE’s most senior official has said “only a complete fool” would believe the serious abuse claims against a Waterford foster family are not being repeated elsewhere after revealing he expects multiple law suits over the case.

Thousands of refugees escaping the Mediterranean crisis could be “ghettoised” and housed in a single campus location for years unless the Government puts in place practical medium-term measures to cope with the sudden influx in people.

More than one in five people kept in the direct provision refugee system have been there for at least seven years, an Oireachtas committee heard.

Taxpayers have paid out €1m to cover the initial cost of ensuring the safety of residents in the Longboat Quay apartment block which was found to be a firetrap last year, the Public Accounts Committee heard yesterday.

Moves by Nama to press legal action against a widow whose husband took his own life have been roundly condemned by TDs.

At least 100 current Oireachtas members have received in excess of half a million euro in pay, expenses and allowances since the current Government came to power in March 2011.

By-election victor Ruth Coppinger took her seat in the Dáil for the Socialists yesterday.

Sinn Féin are on course to have four MEPs on the island of Ireland after a resounding electoral success which also trebled their number of councillors.

A second day of counting in the European election gets under way today with a former minister awaiting a recount in a battle for a seat.

The buzz, the excitement: it just wasn’t there at the count centre in Keenagh in Co Longford on Saturday where counting of votes in the Longford-Westmeath by-election was taking place.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has conceded a major shift in Ireland’s political landscape after voters turned in their droves to anti-austerity candidates in European, local and by-elections.

The Dáil has two new women TDs following the by-elections in Longford-Westmeath and Dublin-West.

The Dáil's newest TD has been elected - Ruth Coppinger of the Socialist Party has won the Dublin West by-election, after six counts.

More than 100 councillors, and the Dáil's newest TD, have now been elected across the country as counting continues.

Sinn Féin and Independents the major winners so far as the results of the local elections come in.

First count is in the Longford Westmeath by-election. Gabrielle McFadden is out in front with more than 12,000 votes.

With counting underway for nine hours in the local elections and two by-elections, just over a dozen councillors are elected this evening, and none is from the coalition parties.

An Independent has become the first councillor elected in the country, with Michael Kilcoyne topping the Mayo poll with two quotas.

The first election results of the day have started arrive, with Sinn Féin topping the poll in the Dublin West by-election.

The first indications of how the country has voted in 'Elections 2014' are coming in.

Gabrielle McFadden remains in the lead in the Longford Westmeath by-election.

Guns ‘n’ Poses were the order of the day for Enda Kenny on the campaign trail.

The battle for Longford-Westmeath once again highlights Ireland’s curious tradition as a Republic that often takes comfort in voting for the hereditary principle when choosing elected representatives.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has confirmed the man being questioned in connection with an alleged incident in Athlone did not have a criminal record for sex offences against children.

THE attempt of members of Athlone Town Council to remove an exhibit from a local gallery should not be dismissed as an isolated case of parochial philistinism and should alert the public to the dangers of the Government’s plan to merge the boards of the National Library and National Museum

Athlone town councillors have kicked to touch a motion that a state-owned artwork featuring messages sent by hunger strikers to their families should be removed from the town’s modern art gallery.

Westmeath council has said it had no responsibility “from a public safety perspective” for the unfinished housing estate in Athlone where a two-year-old boy drowned.