Jimmy Devins has become the latest Fianna Fáil TD to announce he will not be contesting the next General Election.

“THEY gave me nothing and I owe them nothing” was how Jim McDaid summed up his relationship with Fianna Fáil back in 2007, just after he regained his seat on the party’s ticket in Donegal North East.

Ceann Comhairle Seamus Kirk has confirmed the resignation of former minister Jim McDaid from the Dáil.

Renegade TD Jim McDaid is to quit politics, it was confirmed today.

THEY’RE more used to fighting each other in the Dáil and Seanad but a group of cross-party politicians have found a common goal.

HOSPITALS could yet save the Government from death or send it to an early grave.

A PLEA for Fianna Fáil rebels to rally behind the Government was issued by Brian Cowen last night as he faced into a succession of knife-edge votes when the Dáil returns.

IT’S groundhog day – or almost. This time last year, the coalition partners were in the middle of another row over legislation.

THE stability of the Government has been questioned by Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore following the resignation of Martin Cullen from his Dáil seat.

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley has blamed Fianna Fáil backbenchers for delaying plans for local government reform.

SIX Independent TDs have been urged to vote down a series of controversial social welfare cuts before they are passed by the Dáil this evening.

THE Government is confident of shoring up enough support to push through the harshest budget in years following a number of meetings with independent TDs and Fianna Fáil defectors whose votes are crucial to pass it in the Dáil.

Former Progressive Democrat TD Noel Grealish is to meet the Taoiseach today in an effort by the Government to secure his support for the Budget.

THE Government will hold last-minute talks with independent TDs today to ensure it can shore up support needed to push through tomorrow’s budget, which is being flagged as one of the harshest in living memory.

THE looming battle to get the budget through the Dáil became even more daunting for Brian Cowen last night as his knife-edge majority was shaken further.

A CONCILIATORY Taoiseach Brian Cowen has invited four renegade TDs who left his Government in protest at policy decisions to come back to the fold.

Politicians deeply abhor and detest general elections. All recoil at the personal horror of their own uncertainty. TDs are always in a constant state of denial about the prospects of a pending contest. The profound level of private insecurity has to be felt to be believed.

If you stay around long enough in the one position in politics, you will accumulate a lot of enemies. Harney has not lacked for courage or shirked conflict. Like all warriors, eventually the scars of battle take their toll. Too many health commentators, professionals and leaders want rid of her

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern says Fianna Fáil must resolve the difficulties that led to two TDs resigning the party whip.

PRESSURE is growing on the Taoiseach to cut short his holidays and intervene in the pharmacists’ dispute before patients die, after Health Minister Mary Harney last night refused to appoint a mediator to end the escalating row.

BRIAN Cowen faced a deepening leadership crisis last night as Fianna Fáil TDs expressed despair at his failure to hold the party together.

WHEN Brian Cowen became Taoiseach just 15 months ago there was, for a time at least, a sense of optimism that the new brush might sweep clean. There was a feeling that the staleness of the discredited, stultifying Ahern leadership might be replaced with something vigorous and uplifting.

Cork Fianna Fáil TD Noel O’Flynn has warned the Taoiseach that he faces losing the support of more TDs by the end of the year.

The Tánaiste said she is ‘disappointed’ at the decision of two Fianna Fáil TDs in the North-West to resign the party whip.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has lost his outright Dáil majority and his fate now rests on the whim of renegade Fianna Fáil deputies.

THE resignation of two Fianna Fáil TDs from the Parliamentary Party has brought Taoiseach Brian Cowen within a vote of having to dissolve the Dáil.

Fianna Fáil’s grip on the Dáil loosened tonight after two TDs stood down from the parliamentary party over the withdrawal of cancer services in their constituency.

A Fianna Fáil back-bencher has resigned the party whip in a row over cancer services at Sligo General Hospital.

The Taoiseach is dropping seven TDs from the junior ministerial ranks, it was confirmed this afternoon, as the new line-up of 15 Ministers of State appeared for an official photocall at Leinster House.

ENERGY, Communications and Natural Resources Minister Eamon Ryan will today aim to forge links with green technology firms in Silicon Valley in the US.

Natural Resources Minister Eamon Ryan will today aim to forge new links with 'green tech' firms based in Silicon Valley in the US.

Three university research centres will receive more than €60m euro in funding over the next five years, it was announced today.

DUBLIN has won the bid to become the European City of Science for 2012 when it will host one of the world’s largest science events.

Dublin will be the City of Science in 2012, it was confirmed this afternoon.

THEY might look like small birdhouses, but the small wooden boxes are more likely to contain CPUs than cuckoos.

SCIENCE researchers were yesterday encouraged to push the parameters of possibility in their everyday research.

I ORGANISED a conference in Brussels recently on how best Ireland can draw down funding and maximise opportunities that are available under the seventh EU Programme for Research and Technological Development.

Some 35 jobs are to be created at a cosmetics company in north Wicklow, it was announced today.

ANOTHER minister was slammed over planned class size increases after claiming the Government will help maintain the country’s reputation as a science leader.

THE TCD Entrepreneurship Training Programme for students, researchers and entrepreneurs cuts to the heart of the Government’s goals for creating a modern, dynamic knowledge economy.

JUNIOR Enterprise Minister John McGuinness was accused of “hypocrisy” yesterday when it emerged he had 10 staff working in his constituency and private offices despite his recent attack on the civil service.

DUBLIN is bidding to host one of the world’s largest science events that would raise the country’s profile internationally.

Dublin is set to launch an official bid to become the European City of Science for 2012.

The Junior Health Minister has said the Government is facing a real challenge to maintain high standards in the health service.