THE loss of two Fianna Fáil seats in Meath West, where Fine Gael won two, and the election of Meath’s first Sinn Féin TD since Liam Mellows in 1918, was the outcome of an astonishing count in this constituency.

Fine Gael's Damien English is top with 9,290 votes in Meath West but has not reached the quota of 10,045.

FACING into electoral humiliation Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has pleaded with the grassroots of his party to spend every waking hour battling to ensure it remains a force in Irish politics.

A FIANNA Fáil TD came under fire yesterday after he appeared to claim Dáil deputies could not get by on €100,000 a year.

GOVERNMENT reductions in betting tax have endangered the future of horse racing and breeding in Ireland, according to the body which oversees the industry’s development.

There is growing concern that the renegotiations of the Common Agricultural Policy will see a reduction in payments for Irish farmers.

For the once hurling-centric Éire Óg club, Sunday’s football finals – and the appearance of Daniel Goulding, Ciaran Sheehan and exciting minor Kevin Hallissey – offer a global platform to the strides the club has made with the big ball. Fintan O’Toole visited the Ovens-based club

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley has made peace with Fianna Fáil backbenchers through a complicated legislative juggling act with his new law to ban puppy farms.

THE Green Party has riled up backbench Fianna Fáil TDs by pressing ahead with a controversial law to stop pack dogs hunting stags.

I USED to be an inveterate funeral goer – several per week. I hadn’t been to one for the past two years until the unexpected death of newspaper man and former schoolmate, Alan Ruddock.

A LATE push is being made to encourage more Irish submissions to the European Commission debate on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy.

THE creation of one agency with full responsibility for river and waterways maintenance in the state will be discussed at an Irish Farmers Association forum in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, tomorrow afternoon.

The consequences of An Bord Snip Nua's recommendations on how to save money in the agriculture sector will be discussed today.

AN initiative by the Swedish presidency of the European Union to set up a special farm council meeting on October 5 to discuss the dairy crisis was welcomed yesterday.

CRUMBLING homes and abandoned houses are causing havoc in towns, TDs said yesterday, as it emerged there are nearly 1,300 derelict properties around the country.

BOG owners who have agreed to sell their land to the Department of the Environment for conservation purposes have been told they will not be paid until 2014.

A TRADE union has claimed that huge savings would arise if the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food got its own trained staff to undertake factory meat inspections currently done by external inspectors.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney has said she will meet with up to 200 alleged sexual abuse victims of former consultant surgeon Michael Shine, despite ignoring three requests for a meeting before Monday’s Prime Time investigation.

THE traceability system for pork meat is flawed and exposed taxpayers to an excessive bill from last year’s dioxin crisis, an Oireachtas committee has said.

A new state agency to monitor animal feed must be set up to prevent a reoccurrence of December’s pork contamination crisis, it was claimed today.

NOBODY cried ‘fowl’ yesterday when RTÉ announced the six Eurosong finalists.

The head of the Oireachtas farm committee has said he believes that traceability will be the key to preventing a re-occurrence of the pork crisis.

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley’s plan to introduce strict spending limits for candidates in next year’s local elections were boosted yesterday by cross-party support from TDs and senators.

HE ROSE a taoiseach and sat down as Bertie the backbencher.

AN AGREEMENT between the National Roads Authority and the Irish Farmers Association that promised farmers would be paid promptly for any land purchased for road building needs to be reviewed.

DIRECT talks with EU Commissioner Peter Mandelson on the world trade negotiations are being sought by the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee.

REBEL TD Ned O’Keeffe is ready to come in from the cold after turning his back on the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party a mere 11 weeks ago.

British MPs are to be quizzed today about the level of controls they have in place to prevent an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease from spreading to Ireland.

The Government tonight announced the 17 Coalition TDs who will chair Oireachtas Committees and pick up €1.7m in extra pay over the next five years.

Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins is the first high profile candidate to lose out in this year's election.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has picked up two awards in the Magill Politician of the Year awards.

RUSSIAN ambassador Vladimir Rakhmani has been invited to attend a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food to explain why his country proposes to ban imports of all European Union meat from January 1.

MEATH footballer Graham Geraghty will decide over the next few days if he will stand as a candidate for Fine Gael in the Meath West, the party’s senior constituency strategist said last night.

MARLAINA REDDY gave herself a year to get in shape.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was today urged to listen to his Fianna Fáil backbenchers in the run up to the next General Election after it emerged they were forming a committee designed to have their concerns taken on board.

BACKBENCH TDs and senators spent €500,000 last year on foreign travel, including a number of fact-finding trips to exotic long-haul destinations.

TWO sitting Fianna Fáil TDs were last night automatically selected to run for the party in the Meath West constituency in the next general election after a third candidate withdrew his nomination.

A minister and a sitting TD were tonight chosen as Fianna Fáil’s two candidates to contest the next election for the Meath West region.

Vets should adopt hospital-style precautions to guard against passing the deadly MRSA super-bug to animals, it was claimed today.

Candidates vying for seats in Kildare North and Meath enter their final days of campaigning this week.