A Sinn Féin TD has used Dáil privilege to name a number of politicians she says have been named in a dossier of alleged tax evasion.

Former European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton has strongly criticised the British prime minister for his "anti-Juncker histrionics" and called for future European Commission presidents to be directly elected.

I have recently learned that a petition containing the signature of almost 2 million people from 20 EU member states was submitted to the European Commission under the ECI (European Citizens Initiative) which followed from the Lisbon Treaty.

The cost of paying pensions to former ministers has fallen by almost €700,000 to just over €3.7m over the past three years.

Enforceable code urged for food producers

Taoiseach Enda Kenny raised the political tempo inside and outside his parliamentary party yesterday by announcing there will be a Cabinet reshuffle, although it won’t be until next year.

Family size will partly determine the level of free water households are permitted when metering is introduced, Environment Minister Phil Hogan has pledged.

IT was all action on Saturday afternoon in Dublin.

The EU’s budget for research will be €70bn for the next seven years under a political agreement reached in Brussels — and Ireland hopes to win €1bn of that.

Recalling the 1745 victory on Fontenoy

Ireland’s reputation for research excellence is under threat from unequal pay and conditions at one of the country’s leading technology research centres, protesting staff claimed yesterday.

The Marine Institute in Galway looks set to become one of the leading oceanic research centres in the world after today.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has promised to examine whether taxpayers' money is used to provide VIP facilities at Dublin Airport for former and current office holders.

Two days of ‘hellish’ talks lie ahead to agree the EU budget, writes Europe correspondent Ann Cahill

As pay levels of top-earning bankers come under intense scrutiny, updated figures show taxpayers are also footing an annual €9.65m pensions bill for 111 former ministers.

THE President of the European Court of Auditors has accepted an apology from Ireland’s member over emails lobbying against Kevin Cardiff.

AN increasing number of potentially deadly illnesses can no longer be treated by antibiotics, due to over-use.

THERE is over €10 billion a year available in the EU for researchers, but often the best and brightest find it easier to move to the US than stay in Europe.

RESEARCHERS are being offered almost €7 billion to invent ways for Europe to escape its economic mire and create jobs and to build a better life for the future.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has fired another warning shot to Europe on Corporation Tax, again saying he will not consent to any change in the rate.

ALMOST three quarters of small Irish firms surveyed said they don’t have a budget for research and development (R&D) included in their business strategies.

A BATTERED Irish economy has enjoyed some respite on the international markets, after Europe’s five biggest economies overcame internal resistance to offer critical support to the Government’s borrowing plans.

The Environment Minister is urging the five remaining TDs and MEPs still holding out on returning their pensions to "do the right thing".

Roscommon Senator Terry Leyden has become the latest politician to bow to pressure and give up his ministerial pension.

Labour TD Emmet Stagg has this morning announced he is giving up his Dáil pension.

THE contrast could not have been greater.

The Lord Mayor's Commission on Employment - which was established to tackle rising unemployment in Dublin - will hold its final conference in the capital today.

SERIOUS lobbying has been done at the highest levels in Brussels this week on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Former Green Senator Deirdre de Burca has claimed the Greens only agreed to support Maire Geoghegan Quinn as Ireland's EU Commissioner in return for Miss de Burca getting a job in the Commissioner's cabinet.

Green Party deputy leader Mary White has described as "deplorable" the behaviour of Deirdre de Burca, who resigned this week from the Senate and from the party saying she believed it had become an extension of Fianna Fail.

IRISH people are so worried about the economy and jobs, they are prepared to sacrifice the environment to achieve growth.

ALMOST-invisible sensors being developed by Irish researchers could speed up the availability of lifesaving drugs and dramatically reduce the need for animal testing of cosmetics.

CHARLIE McCREEVY will get a golden handshake package worth more than €1.2 million when his term as Ireland’s representative on the European Commission ends in the new year.

ALL the top jobs in the EU have been allocated following the announcement of the new commissioners on Friday in Brussels, but for many that is just the start of a job hunt.

ISN’T it marvellous?

IRELAND’S new and first women European Commissioner, Máire Geoghegan Quinn, got the Research, Innovation and Science portfolio the Government has lobbied for over the past few months.

A 40-YEAR-OLD Romanian horticultural engineer and politician, Dr Dacian Ciolos, is the new European Commissioner designate for agriculture and rural development.

Ireland has secured the Research and Innovation portfolio in the European Commission.

Speculation is mounting about the job that lies ahead for Maire Geoghegan Quinn, after she was named Ireland's nominee for the European Commission.

MÁIRE Geoghegan Quinn recently commented that when her current term in the European Court of Auditors ran out in 2012, she would “return to Galway to put my feet up and write a book”.

THE way was finally cleared for the Lisbon Treaty to come into force when Czech President Vaclav Klaus signed the document yesterday hours after his country’s Constitutional Court cleared it.

THE mystery of just when the Government learned of John Bruton’s bid for the EU presidency deepened with a statement from the former Taoiseach that he had informed the Irish ambassador three weeks ago.

EUROPEAN Commission sources denied they had requested the Government to send Tánaiste Mary Coughlan as the next Irish Commissioner to Brussels.