Joe Walsh, the former agriculture minister who was acclaimed as being equally at home in the parish hall or in the gilded buildings of Brussels, was laid to rest yesterday.

Sq m 196 (2,100 sq ft)

State-controlled AIB plans to do €2bn in mortgage lending this year, which is double the €1bn target the bank had last year.

AIB has doubled its mortgage lending target for 2013 to €2bn.

The wife of former Tánaiste Peter Barry was described at her funeral Mass yesterday as “a lady in the best sense of the word” who had a caring heart that reached out to all.

AIB will not write down any mortgage debt as part of its plans to tackle arrears, an internal memo has revealed.

The value of new mortgage lending in Ireland fell by 30% in the first three months of 2012 compared with the last quarter of 2011, an Irish banking federation PricewaterhouseCoopers mortgage market found.

Nama is stepping up efforts to entice buyers back into the property market with the launch of a new deferred payment scheme.

Nama has set about rebooting the housing market with an ‘80/20’ offer in which buyers would pay interest on just 80% of the sale price — but it denied seeking to start another property bubble.

The viability of AIB’s standard rate variable mortgage business is in jeopardy if the level of deposits in the bank don’t increase, according to head of AIB mortgages Jim O’Keeffe.

Up to 3,000 people from communities all over West Cork are expected to stage a protest in Bantry on Friday over changes which they warn could force the closure of small rural schools.

“WE made it harder for ourselves than was necessary.”

THE average age of Cork’s Dáil representation has dropped by eight years since the last general election in a reflection of the changed face of politics after last Friday’s ballot.

A PATTER of little feet is expected at a General Election candidate’s door imminently, but it won’t be his canvassing party.

FOUR Fine Gael TDs including finance spokesman Michael Noonan are continuing to claim ministerial pensions despite a claim by the party last April that all sitting TDs would forego the payment while still in office.

ANOTHER leading Fine Gael politician in Co Cork has announced that he will not be contesting the next general election.

THE Labour Party MEP for Ireland South Alan Kelly wants to leave Brussels less than two years after he was elected and win a Dáil seat in Tipperary north instead.

THE political landscape of the Cork South-West constituency has changed forever following the announcement a second long-serving TD will not seek re-election.

SO FG deputy Jim O’Keeffe’s son Michael “wouldn’t be ready to take over from him just yet” (Irish Examiner, November 15).

THE country’s second-longest serving TD has announced he is to step down from the Dáil to make way for a younger person.

FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has refused to criticise three of his TDs who had the Dáil record changed so their absences, caused by Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud, would not be highlighted.

WHEN the Dáil attendance record was changed to accommodate TDs who could not turn up because of the Icelandic ash cloud, the deputies argued the correction was incidental.

JUST who does God think he is trying to separate TDs from their divine right to lavish expenses?

POLITICIANS who aspire to the high moral ground as the elected leaders of society frequently end up to their backsides in quicksand — especially in these turbulent times when public patience with the behaviour of the political classes has run out.

A CROSS-PARTY committee is to examine whether the Constitution should be changed to give TDs and senators greater powers of investigation.

THE Enterprise Minister must establish a taskforce in his constituency after a pharmaceutical giant yesterday announced plans to shed 160 jobs over three years.

FIANNA FÁIL TD Seán Ardagh is undergoing “very positive” treatment for illness and hopes to return to work in time for the next Dáil session, a political colleague has said.

The Government was urged today to lower the voting age for Dáil elections by a year to 17.

OUSTED Fine Gael finance spokesman, Richard Bruton, will need a silent majority to sing for him in unison if he is to topple his friend, Enda Kenny, as party leader.

MICHAEL Noonan kept details of his wife’s illness from his colleagues while fighting the 2002 general election, several members of the Fine Gael frontbench from that period have said.

AGRICULTURE Minister Brendan Smith has been told to shake up the board of the Irish National Stud by the chair of the Dáil’s spending watchdog, who said the company was run like “Fás on overdrive”.

THE exodus of ministers for St Patrick’s day cost the taxpayer more than €200,000 this year as Cabinet members, their spouses and advisors, splashed out on expensive hotels, car hire and business class flights.

UP to six Government TDs could be missing for Dáil votes this week because they are stranded abroad due to the travel crisis.

MEMBERS of Fine Gael have rallied around their leader Enda Kenny as the party comes to terms with the shock departure of their star recruit.

THOUSANDS of people flooded out of their homes in the Republic may never return, it was claimed last night.

THE golden handshake deal agreed with former Fás boss Rody Molloy was in breach of the Government’s own rules, which state it should have been sent to cabinet for approval by all ministers.

IT is not proposed to extend the spreading periods for organic fertilisers, Environment Minister John Gormley has told the Dáil.

DOZENS of people have been waiting more than 20 weeks for jobseekers’ allowance in parts of Co Cork.

FARMING families are concerned that Clonakilty Agricultural College in west Cork will not be able to accommodate an increased demand for places, the Dáil was told.

THIS is one constituency where there will definitely be changes of personnel.

The bail-out of the banks’ bad assets could lead to legal battles in the courts, it was claimed today.

WORKERS face waits of up to six months for redundancy payments as the number of claims lodged soars to 1,600 per week.