TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern last night denied allegations he had delayed the investigations of the Mahon Tribunal and had not co-operated fully with requests for documentation.

FINANCE Minister Charlie McCreevy will spend 750,000 hosting fellow EU finance ministers at a summit at his favoured venue, Punchestown Racecourse, next May.

Fine Gael’s director of elections, Finbar Fitzpatrick, believes the party's seat losses could run into the mid-teens. The party could be facing a loss of eight seats or more in Dublin alone.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern issued a pre-general election rallying call to Fianna Fail tonight in the wake of this week’s humbling abortion referendum defeat.