Kieran McGeeney savoured his first Ulster Championship victory in five seasons as Armagh manager as a manic quarter-final tie was settled in dramatic fashion in extra-time.

Leo Varadkar’s plans to divide the Department of Justice have been severely criticised by three former ministers at the department, one of whom said it would be a “massive mistake”.

The justice minister is reviewing a system that costs €50m a year and that unquestioningly finances repeat offenders, but public defenders would not be cheaper and may involve a conflict of interest, writes Caroline O’Doherty

A powerful Dáil committee is seeking to delete the names of politicians accused of having Ansbacher-linked accounts from the official record and haul in a TD who named them for a private dressing-down.

Former tánaiste Mary Harney last night denied she halted a probe into offshore tax accounts because prominent PD Des O’Malley’s name was on a list of people allegedly involved and that every opportunity had been afforded the investigation to finish its work.

A Sinn Féin TD has used Dáil privilege to name a number of politicians she says have been named in a dossier of alleged tax evasion.

Donegal 3-17 Queen’s University Belfast 3-05

A scene straight from a Specsavers television ad, involving Nelson Mandela, was recalled yesterday by Gerard Collins from the period when he was minister for foreign affairs.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny led Irish tributes to Margaret Thatcher yesterday, saying she had signed the Anglo Irish Agreement that laid the foundation for the peace process in the North.

Ploughing championship wins last week for Longford, Donegal, Tipperary North, Galway, and Kerry indicated the rise of interest in competition ploughing across Ireland.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has criticised what he said was an “extraordinary slight” on the legacy of former taoiseach Jack Lynch by reports about the Smithwick Tribunal.

The Alzheimer Society of Ireland and its carers were yesterday poignantly thanked for the help they gave finance minister Michael Noonan’s wife Florence, who died from the disease last Thursday, 14 years after the illness had gripped her life at the age of 54.

THE large attendance from West Cork at this week’s National Ploughing Championships was thrilled with the performance of its team in the 21 ploughing competitions at the centre of the event.

KNOW Your Neighbour Weekend was a great success, with more than 200 opportunities organised for neighbours to get to know each other.

FIANNA Fáil and Fine Gael could be standing together outside the GPO for the centenary of the Easter Rebellion in little over five years time, according to Leo Varadkar.

FIANNA FÁIL’S poor performances in recent local elections are “clearly unsustainable” and the party needs dramatic overhaul of its structures to rescue the situation, an internal report has found.

ORGANISING the armies, positioning foot-soldiers and deciding who is deployed to which battleground will keep much put-upon directors of elections sleepless for the next week.

A PRESTIGIOUS dresden figurine manufacturing company in Co Limerick is to close with the loss of about 15 jobs.

KOSTAL expects that up to 50 of the 200 workers who are to lose their jobs at their car component manufacturers plant in Abbeyfeale will opt for voluntary redundancy.

AN anti-terror police officer accused of hiding a secret hoard of child porn images under his bed told a court he preferred older men and “daddy types”.

An inquiry investigating alleged garda collusion in the murder of two RUC officers 19 years ago is reportedly taking legal action to get hold of a Cabinet document referring to the killings.

Two British police officers have been charged with possessing indecent images of children, Scotland Yard said tonight.

GARDAÍ are investigating a fire which gutted a seaside holiday home owned by former MEP and Fianna Fáil minister Gerard Collins and his wife, Hilary, in Co Kerry, early yesterday.

A downcast Bertie Ahern tonight vowed to lead his Fianna Fáil party into the next general election despite the party suffering its worst defeat in almost a century.

Counting of European election votes was due to resume in centres across Ireland today as pressure mounted on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

The second count in the South constituency has been completed. Fianna Fáil’s Brian Crowley has been elected to the European Parliament after he topped the poll.

Fianna Fail director of elections John O’Donoghue came under fire from colleagues tonight as major European election defeats were added to their local poll meltdown.

Fine Gael's Simon Coveney is topping the polls in the South Constituency at 25%, closely followed by Brian Crowley for Fianna Fáil on 24%.

INDEPENDENT European candidate Kathy Sinnott launched her campaign in the South constituency last night with the prediction she could win a seat.

DEFIANT MEP Brian Crowley yesterday rejected an appeal from Fianna Fáil’s director of elections to stop jeopardising the party’s chances of keeping its two seats in the South in the upcoming European elections.

Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill assesses the performance of Munster MEPs seeking re-election.

KATHY Sinnott, the disability rights campaigner, yesterday confidently predicted she can win a seat in the three-seater South constituency in the European Parliament elections.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern insisted yesterday that the Government was contemplating the release of the killers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe only in the context of the acceptance by the IRA of total arms decommissioning and an end to all forms of paramilitarism.

PRESIDENT of the European Parliament Pat Cox will make his farewell speech today after two and a half years as its president, but his future career path is still uncertain.

EUROPEAN Parliament President Pat Cox will announce on Wednesday whether he will be a candidate in the upcoming Strasbourg elections in June.

THE Government’s proposal for a referendum on June 11 is to amend Article 9 of the Constitution.

Fianna Fáil MEP Gerard Collins has said Ireland has nothing to fear from the enlargement of the EU.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern admitted the European constitution will not be ready in time to be part of the European Parliament elections.

TOM GILMARTIN claims he was secretly warned by a Fianna Fáil TD that he was being “shafted” in his plans for retail centres at Bachelors Walk and Quarryvale.

FINE GAEL last night chose Cork South Central TD Simon Coveney as their European election candidate to replace retiring party MEP John Cushnahan in the South constituency.

Can FF continue to ride out corruption allegations? asks Political Editor Harry McGee

Fianna Fáil has chosen its party candidates for the South constituency ahead of the Euro elections in June.

Fianna Fáil is to choose candidates to run in the June European elections for the southern area later today.

The Fianna Fail MEP Gerard Collins has called on the European Commission to deliver a judgement quickly on an investigation into claims that Ryanair has been given an unfair advantage at Charloi airport In Brussels.