Labour leadership candidate Alex White says the addition of two Government Senators to the Banking Inquiry "gives politics a bad name".

The Government is to add two more Senators to the banking inquiry to make sure it has a majority on the committee.

Government inaction could lead to the closure of hundreds of post offices in the coming years, it has been claimed.

AS the days count down to a historic vote on changing our Constitution, most voters will be unaware that if senators are let go, so to speak, they are entitled to bumper pay offs.

JIMMY GRALTON is the only Irishman to be deported from Ireland in the history of the state, (80 years ago), and he’s also the focus of a film being shot in Co Leitrim at the moment by Ken Loach, which is a companion piece to his 2006 Palme d’Or winner, The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

IF the people abolish the Seanad, in a referendum in October, then that outcome will most likely be traceable to this week’s act of self-sabotage by members of the Upper House.

All TDs have been warned about accepting “sponsored” travel and accommodation after concerns were raised about several Oireachtas members who visited the US recently as guests of a pro-life group.

News of Alex Ferguson’s retirement received more than 1.4m mentions on Twitter in the first hour after the story broke yesterday morning, while the tweet from the club was re-tweeted or favourited more than 18,000 times.

A Fianna Fáil senator has called for stricter controls for foreign taxi drivers “who do not have a word of English and no clue about the city in which they are working”.

Private bus operators claim they could save the State up to €30m per annum if they were allowed to tender for 350 subsidised bus routes currently operated by Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus.

Sinn Féin wants to make corporations ineligible for the single farm payment, and proposes to limit the amount an individual can claim at €100,000.

RTE chair Tom Savage needs to “set the record straight” about his PR company’s clients, a Labour senator has said, as the fallout from the Mission to Prey programme continues.

Accusations of murder and lunacy rippled through the Seanad as the ghosts of Michael Collins and Éamon de Valera rose once more to do battle.

DOUBT was cast on the Government’s ability to rake in cash from the hike in the VAT rate, given the downturn in the global economy.

Changes are being made to the Rent Supplement scheme with the minimum contribution payable by tenants set to rise.

A FORMER leader of the Seanad brought a close to the election count by imploring newly elected members to fight for the continued retention of the Upper House.

FIANNA Fáil leader Micheál Martin has failed to get a number of his preferred candidates elected to the Seanad.

Fianna Fáil has selected former senator Paschal Mooney as its candidate for the forthcoming Seanad by-election.

Voting for anti-Europe candidates could lose more jobs and isolate Ireland within the EU, Taoiseach Brian Cowen warned today.

TWO of Fianna Fáil’s European election candidates sought to distance themselves from Government health policy yesterday in a bid to placate angry voters in their constituency.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has insisted he is “absolutely” secure in his post even if Fianna Fáil takes an expected hammering from voters in the elections.

Fianna Fáil's Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher has confirmed his intention to contest the upcoming European elections in the North West constituency.

Fianna Fáil's Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher is expected to declare his candidacy for the European elections before nominations close at midday today.

ACROSS Europe a raft of new websites, advertising campaigns and information points is focusing more attention on the European Parliament elections than ever before.

SOCCER legend Packie Bonner has officially joined the battle for Fianna Fáil’s European election ticket in the north-west.

NINE defeated general election candidates were yesterday appointed to the Seanad in a line-up which produced many unexpected winners and losers.

THE Taoiseach is expected to announce his 11 nominations to the Seanad, within the next 48 hours, with the Greens and Progressive Democrats each securing two coveted seats.

FIANNA FÁIL took three of the first five Seanad Éireann seats filled last night, as the counting of votes continues.

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

Irish development aid to Ethiopia should not be cut off because of unfounded allegations of corruption, it was claimed tonight.

THE son of the murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane said yesterday that his family would refuse to participate into a new British Government inquiry into his death because it was a sham.

The Irish Government’s support for the war in Iraq is putting Dublin at risk of a terrorist attack, an Oireachtas Committee heard today.

Three Fianna Fáil politicians are due to travel to the United States today to discuss the situation facing illegal Irish immigrants in the country.

THE commission which has responsibility for Dáil and Seanad budgets should enquire into the cost and extent of foreign travel by senators and TDs.

Political Editor Harry McGee wonders how much of the €1.25 million spent by TDs and senators on foreign travel in the two years to August 2004 was a necessary expense.

IRELAND is one of the bad boys of Europe. Again.

ANGRY Fianna Fáil backbench TDs yesterday claimed they had been misled over details of legislation which will force them to give up their council seats.

THE political career of former Clare TD Madeleine Taylor Quinn was in tatters last night when she lost her seat in the Seanad.