Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and SDLP leader Mark Durkan will jointly host a business breakfast today amid ongoing speculation about a possible merger between their two parties.

Northern Ireland’s politicians must make significant progress towards the restoration of the Assembly and other political institutions during 2006, British Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted today.

One of Northern Ireland’s best-known soccer clubs, Linfield, set in the heart of one of the most staunchly loyalist parts of Belfast, is to benefit from a Dublin government reconciliation fund grant.