Gerard Howlin believes a major cultural change is coming to Áras an Uachtaráin in September.

Okay folks, it’s showtime! The late PJ Mara’s open invitation to electioneer and party would have nothing on President Michael D Higgins, writes Gerard Howlin.

It may, right now, seem a bit inconsequential, but we are going to choose a President

Bertie had his kitchen cabinet. Enda had ‘Big’ Phil Hogan and a silent but deadly Michael Noonan. And, if comments from Kate O’Connell are to be believed, Leo has an entire choir, writes Fiachra Ó Cionnaith.

The 1970's were a time of highs and lows for workers at the Marina. As models like the Capri and Escort kept Ford as a brand leader, the global economy and industrial strife had adverse effects.

The State-owned mansion in Dublin’s Phoenix Park used to accommodate visiting heads of state was described in 1986 as “slightly shabby” with an interior that was “one of spacious but faded elegance”.

Garda killer Michael McHugh, who was released at the start of this month after serving 30 years of a 40-year prison sentence, was branded a reckless but highly intelligent criminal in Government documents.

The education minister’s mention of the “Rules for National Schools, 1965” as archaic on the cusp of a general election truly exemplifies the expression ‘kicking the can down the road’.

A man who “assassinated a Garda sergeant by shooting him in cold blood” has been refused temporary release and entry to a pre-release programme because of the nature of his crime, the High Court has heard.

The battle for next year’s general election in Clare will be a family affair, as Fianna Fáil’s John Hillery looks set to contest the election against his future son-in-law, Independent Michael McNamara.

Dr Maeve Hillery, the wife of former president Patrick, has died at the age of 91.

A history of the world in the first half of the 20th century is contained in 17 lots from a Skibbereen autograph collector to be sold at Whyte’s in Dublin on September 20.

Ten heads of state or government and 100 ministers sharpened their political teeth in the European Parliament, giving them an advantage in EU politics, but it is a trend Ireland has not followed.

The government was forced to review the adequacy of the annual entertainment bill for the presidency after a row broke out over who paid for the food bill at Áras an Uachtaráin.

40 years ago today, Ireland joined the EEC. Richard Fitzpatrick revisits the referendum campaigns — and de Valera’s rueful regrets

In Oct 1971, a man wrote to then foreign affairs minister Patrick Hillery complaining that when his mother had attempted to pick up the Government Information Bureau’s pamphlet on the EEC from Bray post office, the official behind the counter expressed ignorance of any pamphlet, asking: “What’s the EEC? Is it a new allowance?”

THE office of President of Ireland is invested with great moral authority. Unusually, our President is directly elected by the people, except where political parties agree a candidate.

WAKING up at the end of a week that teased us with a whiff of excitement in the presidential race, we’re left with that empty feeling described in the opening line of Samuel Beckett’s novel Murphy: “The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new.”

THE state is exploring the possibility of developing an interpretive centre at the birthplace of Michael Collins.

Below is the full text of Michéal Martin's speech after his election as Fianna Fáil leader today:

FINE GAEL councillor Joe Cooney last night confirmed that the party has approached him to run as a fourth candidate in the forthcoming general election.

THE son of former president Dr Patrick Hillery, Dr John Hillery, said yesterday he is willing to take a €100,000 hit in income if his hopes of being elected to the next Dáil are realised.

SO how was it for you? Good, bad or indifferent? It can’t have been that bad, I guess: you’re reading this so that means you got through to the end. What am I banging on about? The first decade of the 21st century, of course. It’s hard to believe it’s in its dying days: I can still remember the hangover from what we learned to call “millennium night”. But time speeds up as we get older, I’m finding.

Former president Patrick Hillery, who died in April, is to be honoured at a summer school in his native Co Clare.

IRELAND has never used the veto in its 35-year membership of the European Union.

THE death penalty was still on the statute books during Patrick Hillery’s presidency and a number of such sentences were handed down during that period.

Senator Ciaran Cannon has been appointed the new leader of the Progressive Democrats, it was announced today.

AFTER the first volley of shots rang out above the graveside, the momentary silence was broken by the sound of empty shell cases falling back to the ground like a trickle of rain.

FORMER president Dr Patrick Hillery worked in public life for four decades — serving not just as president for two terms, but as Ireland’s first European commissioner and a reforming minister in four government departments.

DR HILLERY was a private and even shy man despite the decades he spent in public life, mourners at his funeral mass heard.

OUR late former president, Dr Patrick Hillery, represented the last generation of honest Fianna Fáil politicians and it is right he is mourned and his record of public service honoured.

The counting of votes in the PD leadership contest is underway today, but the result is being delayed until tomorrow morning as a mark of respect for the state funeral of Patrick Hillery.

The state funeral of former president Patrick Hillery will take place in Dublin today.

THE late president Dr Patrick Hillery was praised from across the political spectrum as the Dáil honoured his memory.

Mugabe has gradually made the impossible possible: restoring Ian Smith’s historical reputation.

Hundreds of mourners tonight paid their respects to former President Dr Patrick Hillery whose remains were removed to Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral for tomorrow’s state funeral.

The death of former President Dr Patrick Hillery was an end of a political age, the Dáil heard tonight.

Thousands of people are expected to attend a service for former president, Dr Patrick Hillery, at Dublin's Pro-Cathedral tonight.

TÁNAISTE Brian Cowen has said it was “a great honour” to be asked by the family of the late Patrick Hillery to give the graveside oration at his funeral.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel tonight urged voters to accept the Lisbon Treaty.

Books of condolence for former President Patrick Hillery are due to open today at various locations in Dublin and his native Co Clare.

THE State funeral of former President Patrick Hillery will take place on Wednesday. He will be buried in St Fintan’s Cemetery in Sutton, Co Dublin, alongside his daughter, Vivienne, who died of cancer in 1987 at the age of 18.

PRESIDENT Patrick Hillery, who died on Saturday aged 84, was of the generation who succeeded the revolutionaries-turned-politicians who shaped post-colonial Ireland in the second quarter of the last century.

Tributes for the former president Dr Patrick Hillery have been flooding in from around the country.