Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald had a good abortion referendum campaign, but a bad presidential election, writes Alison O'Connor

Former Fianna Fáil senator John Hanafin and a handful of Independent TDs have held talks about setting up a new political party before the next general election.

Former Fianna Fáil senator John Hanafin and a handful of Independent TDs have held talks about setting up a new political party before the next general election.

TDs will decide this month on whether to compel Pat Hickey to answer questions about the Rio ticket scandal.

The Ceann Comhairle, Sean O'Fearghaíl, has announced the establishment of an expert forum on Dáil privilege.

TK Whitaker, dubbed the “architect of modern Ireland”, wanted to be remembered simply as a civil servant who did his best, mourners at his funeral Mass heard.

Former Government Ministers received almost €4m in pension payments last year, according to Department of Finance figures.

I struggled to get myself shipshape on Sunday morning before heading off down the road to attend Mass. 

With such a large number of sitting TDs now ousted from Leinster House, the 32nd Dáil will be spattered with unfamiliar and fresh faces.

Dozens of previously high-profile politicians are waking up to the reality today that they are no longer TDs after a second successive general election saw a seismic shift in the Dáil landscape.

Fianna Fáil’s giveaway manifesto, which was launched yesterday, is aimed at offering an alternative, according to party leader Micheál Martin.

Mary Cowen, the wife of former taoiseach Brian Cowen, has blasted former Fianna Fáil minister Mary Hanafin on social media over comments she made in relation to last weekend’s ard fheis.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin is likely to snub ex-cabinet colleague Mary Hanafin’s front-bench ambitions if she wins back her Dáil seat, saying the era of “I’ve served my time so I’m entitled to something” is gone.

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.

A councillor selected as Fianna Fáil’s Dún Laoghaire candidate for the general election has hit out at headquarters’ decision to add ousted ex-minister Mary Hanafin to the ticket, saying it “dramatically reduces” the party’s chances of winning a seat.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Former education minister Mary Hanafin’s bid for a Dáil return suffered a setback as Fianna Fáil members in Dún Laoghaire narrowly rejected her as an election candidate.

Mary Hanafin has been beaten in her bid to gain Fianna Fáil’s nomination to run in the general election.

Fine Gael officials will decide on whether to run under-pressure European Affairs Minister Dara Murphy in the general election at a grass-roots vote in his constituency tonight.

Fianna Fáil has backed down on mooted plans to order party members to pick a female general election candidate in a tightly contested constituency after a legal threat from a male councillor who claimed he was being blocked from running.

Fianna Fáil has ruled out holding a referendum on changing the Constitution in relation to abortion if the party was to enter Government after the next general election.

Fianna Fáil is in a “conundrum” over whether party headquarters should issue a directive to select only a female candidate for a Co Dublin constituency, it has been claimed.

BDSM, Bertie’s unbelievability, and bad marriages dominated as the opening of the MacGill Summer School took some unusual twists.

Tánaiste Joan Burton has admitted to tensions within the Coalition as she said it was too early for Labour and Fine Gael to consider a pact at the general election.

The Coalition says there is nothing that can be done to prevent former ministers getting pension hikes amid calls for the public sector pay-linked increases to be scrapped.

A smear campaign has been launched against former Education Minister Mary Hanafin in a bid to derail her attempt to return to the Dáil in the general election.

A former cabinet colleague of ex-taoiseach Brian Cowen has heavily criticised a small group who videoed themselves surrounding the former TD before calling him a “scumbag” and a “traitor”, saying the attack is an affront to democracy.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has been accused of “cosying up” to Fine Gael in a desperate bid to survive as head of the party, and enter government after the next general election.

The Fianna Fáil leader has vowed to fight until the end, but has he got the mettle to to stand up to his detractors and get them in line before the election, asks Juno McEnroe

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern believes Fianna Fáil will fail to re-enter government regardless of what happens in the upcoming general election, placing pressure on current leader Micheál Martin.

THEY’RE playing it down, of course, but Fianna Fáilers are rather gleeful at present given their rather robust state of political health. All things being relative.

Joe Walsh, the former agriculture minister who was acclaimed as being equally at home in the parish hall or in the gilded buildings of Brussels, was laid to rest yesterday.

Joe Walsh, the former Agriculture Minister who was acclaimed as being equally at home in the parish hall or in the gilded buildings of Brussells, was laid to rest today.

Around 800 people are expected to gather in Belfast later for a memorial service for the late Ian Paisley.

Not many people convert their back garden into a continental speakeasy to celebrate their child’s christening, but then not many have lived a life like Breifne O’Brien.

Adoption campaigners have slammed the Government’s repeated delays in offering basic tracing and information rights to adopted people and natural parents as "Groundhog Day".

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has insisted he is "not phased" by polls showing his party failing to close the gap on the Government, and has rejected claims he will have to consider his own position if he cannot secure one of two imminent Dáil by-election seats.

The Parliamentary Labour Party will gather for a two-day think-in today for the first time under the leadership of Joan Burton.