A book of condolence has opened in the State-owned Killarney House for the last member of the McShain family, who donated the house and grounds to the people of Ireland.

Environment Minister Denis Naughten has said it would be financially reckless to move ahead with a bottle deposit and return scheme.

Concern has been expressed that any evidence given to the Mother and Baby Homes Commission is not admissible in any future criminal proceedings.

The latest inquiry into allegations of planning corruption in Donegal has run aground amid fresh uncertainty over how it should proceed.

Noel Baker looks at a timeline of events that has led to the Housing Action Plan.

I’m the eejit who bought the water harvester, a gigantic yoke sitting in the back garden looking like it’s an oil tank, writes Victoria White

Landlords are calling on the next government to incentivise the return of thousands of properties abandoned because of their owners’ inability to refurbish to the required standards.

Plans to impose water charges twice as costly as today’s rates were drawn up by the Fianna Fáil-led government months before the troika bailout, despite repeated claims that the system was only created to comply with EU demands.

With conservation metering off the agenda this decade and those who didn’t pay for water probably receiving €100 for the privilege, the credibility of those we have put in charge of the country has taken another hit, writes Shaun Connolly

Gardaí investigate after prisoners’ protest leads to injuries at Cloverhill; Banking inquiry to quiz Cowen advisor as Drumm controversy continues; Players defend departing Brian Cuthbert; and Dentist who killed Cecil the lion ’in hiding’ as he shuts up shop Here’s this morning’s irishexaminer.com round-up.

The banking inquiry was redolent with film references as two fallen stars from the Celtic Tiger’s silver screen era, Mary Harney and John Gormley, took a stroll down the political equivalent of Sunset Boulevard one last time.

There was an awareness of insolvency issues at Anglo at the time of its nationalisation, former Green leader John Gormley has insisted.

The former leader of the Green party John Gormley says it is his firm belief that some bankers hid the fact they were insolvent from the Government in the run-up to the bank guarantee.

Gormley: Bankers hid insolvency issue in run-up to guarantee; Two prisoners scale wall to stage roof protest at Cloverhill; Bionic suit allows paralysed jockey Jonjo Bright 'step into the unknown'; Two charged over killing Cecil the lion; farmer 'had no hunting permit' These are some of the latest and most read news stories on irishexaminer.com this evening.

The whistleblower row which has rocked the banking inquiry will delay its final report into the collapse of Ireland’s financial system.

It will be a “close call” whether the banking probe can consider former Anglo chief David Drumm’s written evidence after the idea of allowing him to given video-link testimony was torpedoed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, a senior source has warned.

The head of the banking inquiry has written to all national media outlets warning journalists they face criminal prosecution if any leaked witness statements are published before they are officially made public.

After eight years, €64bn in bailout money, dozens of banking inquiry witnesses, and one hugely controversial blanket guarantee, former taoiseach Brian Cowen will finally give his side of the story on what caused the economic crisis.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Joan Burton will today be told they must attend a banking inquiry grilling in late July over the roles of Fine Gael and Labour in the 2008 economic crash.

Rock ‘n’ roll arrived at the Oireachtas banking inquiry yesterday. It came in the form of David McWilliams: He Who Foretold The Crash.

IT’S been the year the British forged a surprising love affair with GAA sports from the safe distance of their TV screens, writes Nick Bramhill

Today, we start paying for a once-free precious resource. Caroline O’Doherty outlines the terms and conditions

Creating waste to boost profits of a multi-national’s incinerator in Dublin Bay is a nightmare scenario, says Victoria White

The go-ahead for the Poolbeg plant over the objections of councillors shows that in some areas of public life, democracy is simply unworkable in this country, writes Michael Clifford

An eyesore ghost estate in a Kerry village is gaining as much notoriety as its most infamous son, the Wild Colonial Boy

With kids in the back, tent packed and a Lexus GS 450h F Sport for transport, John O’Mahony hits the trail.

A former senior county council planner turned whistleblower has called on the Department of the Environment to stop stalling on plans for a probe into alleged planning corruption.

THE big question facing the Labour Party is when to stop telling lies. When to come out and tell the people that we are a small capitalist economy plugged into the international capitalist economy which gives us a high standard of living but sometimes forces us to keep commitments to international agencies, such as the EU, with whom we sometimes disagree.

A REGULAR feature in engineering works is “looking into the hole”. This involves a group of often highly educated engineering personnel peering down a hole in the ground and thinking.

Two West Cork town councillors have almost bared all in the campaign to have fluoride stripped from the country’s public water supplies

A long-serving county councillor’s shock resignation was prompted by power being stripped from local authorities.

The environment minister wants to see concrete progress on the first boundary extension for Cork City in almost 50 years — before next year’s local elections.

Cork County has enough land zoned for housing to fill 3,460 full-size soccer pitches with new homes.

WATCH them riding on, the three musketeers, Alan Shatter, James Reilly and Phil Hogan!

The mantra from Labour has been: ‘We must communicate better!’ Sometimes, the person with whom one wishes to communicate no longer wishes to hear.

A property millionaire alleged to have made corrupt payments to a councillor told gardaí the councillor left the country in 2007 because he had “an affair with a young one” and not because of a Garda investigation, a court has heard.

Slowly. Silently. The sea lettuce crisis began in 1995, writes Tony Lowes

Only four out of 43 former government ministers have declined to accept an allowance, saving taxpayers over €250,000, new figures reveal.

WE were promised Action Man Enda but we got a Ken doll Mr Kenny.

Two Fine Gael councillors who refused to back a party colleague for mayor because of her stance on a rezoning vote have been summoned to an internal disciplinary hearing.