Ireland’s regional economies risk being cut off from inward investment and face potential job growth devastation if the Aer Lingus sale to IAG goes through.

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern joined in a host of tributes to the former Independent TD, Jackie Healy-Rae, who died yesterday aged 83 following a protracted illness.

A TD whose son is a garda has lashed out anti-water protesters for spitting at and kicking members of the force and called campaigners against the levy "thugs".

Retired Independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae is “fighting the mother of all battles’’ against a serious illness.

A Fine Gael TD says he is very close to leaing Government over the issue of water charges.

The Government’s addition of two members to the banking inquiry to secure a majority has caused anger among backbenchers, with one Fine Gael TD publicly calling on the Taoiseach to remove a coalition member.

A coroner has called for warning signs to be erected at a notorious bend on the main road between Killarney and Tralee where three people died in two separate accidents in “exactly the same place.”

An independent TD has said it is “very hard to comprehend the insensitivity” with which ill people are being dealt with by the authorities in removing their medical cards.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan is leaving open the possibility of retaining a lower Vat rate for the hospitality and tourism sectors, amid increasing pressure from within Fine Gael.

Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae says a debate is needed on whether people should be allowed to buy guns to protect themselves.

Independent TD for Kerry South Michael Healy-Rae seems to have grasped that the first thing any politician needs on social media is a good sense of humour.

Kate Middleton is set to visit Ireland with her husband, Britain’s Prince William, early next year.

More than 1,000 allowances paid to public sector staff will be examined by the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after the Government abandoned plans to abolish them for existing workers.

Labour’s Brendan Howlin, the public expenditure minister, is set to be invited to speak at Fine Gael’s next parliamentary party meeting after an outburst last night by TDs over the failure to cut workers allowances.

The talent coming through from Cork and Kerry’s underage teams rolls on.

Is this a GAA first?

A parent is calling on politicians to follow the example of a TD who donated part of his salary to pay for a school teacher.

With constituencies in general growing larger, parties will find it easier to implement gender quotas. But some areas will see unprecedented competition, writes Adrian Kavanagh

The Fiscal Treaty referendum has been passed, with leading no campaigners conceding defeat.

A glut of Fine Gael TDs were elected to the Dáil for the first time last year. What do they think of the Government’s first 12 months in office? Paul O’Brien got the opinions of five of them

Bertie Ahern promised Jackie Healy-Rae about €71m in constituency-related road projects in return for his support when forming the 2007 government.

THE Government sanctioned lottery funding yesterday clearing the way for the development of a dedicated €3 million ward at Cork University Hospital (CUH) for adults with Cystic Fibrosis (CF).

HUNDREDS of Garda patrol cars, 4x4s and unmarked cars have been taken off the roads in the past four years — but just half of these vehicles have been replaced with new models.

FEARS are growing for a 120-year-old island community care hospital, with relatives saying their loved ones will not be willing to leave what has been a home to them, in some cases, for decades.

SENATOR Tom Sheahan did not mince his words in the Seanad last week when citing a “cancer” in Horse Sport Ireland for the failure of Ireland’s show jumpers to qualify a team for the Olympics.

Sinn Féin is expected to formally endorse Martin McGuinness as its Presidential candidate at a top-level meeting in Dublin today.

Kerry South TD Michael Healy-Rae said he is "the only person in Ireland that’s paying for other people’s phone bills" as he announced today that he intends to pay back €2,600 in costs incurred by the taxpayer as a result of calls to premium rate phone lines from Leinster House.

THERE were calls for an inquiry into who abused the Leinster House phone facilities to help the son of a TD win a celebrity television show.

THERE has been a dramatic new twist in the tug-of-war battle between Kerry and Derry for a multi-billion euro pharmaceutical project that has the potential to create close on 5,000 new jobs.

MEP Mairead McGuinness is to seek the nomination of the Fine Gael party to run for the Presidency.

Retired TD for Kerry South Jackie Healy-Rae has said he is "confident" he could get the support for a nomination if he was to run for President.

Jackie Healy-Rae has said he is considering running for President.

Here are some of the quotes of the General Election 2011 results day:

John O’Donoghue of Fianna Fáil has been eliminated on the third count in Kerry South.

THE BULL is struggling and the Dolly won’t make it to the starting line. The mighty have not quite fallen yet but they are fighting for their political lives.

THE intriguing battleground that is the Kerry South constituency is likely go right down to the wire but it looks as if the death knell could be about to sound for two of the country’s high-profile political dynasties.

SEVERAL years ago, just minutes after he had been surprisingly eliminated from a general election race in Kerry South, a disgruntled Fine Gael politician was approached by a young reporter at the count centre in Killarney’s old town hall and asked for his reaction.

ADJUSTING the collar of his heavy wool overcoat to shield his ears from a biting February breeze, John O’Donoghue strode purposefully through the near deserted streets of the mid Kerry village of Miltown and made an immediate beeline for O’Shea’s pub.

THE concerns expressed by the coroner for Kerry South, Terence Casey, about suicide among older people are shared by Age Action.

I REFER to a number of reports in last week’s Irish Examiner referring to comments by the Offaly and south Kerry coroners in relation to the increased incidents of suicide among the elderly and people in rural areas, and to the “export” of Irish people with intellectual disability outside of the country due to the lack of appropriate care facilities to deal with their needs.