Fine Gael Senator Paudie Coffey has settled his High Court action over a newspaper article which he said defamed him when he was likened to an 18th-century highway robber in an article about boundary changes in south Kilkenny.

The bitter feud in Fine Gael’s Waterford organisation which has exploded this week has been a long time coming.

Waterford Fine Gael TD John Deasy has hit out at party rivals Paudie Coffey and Maurice Cummins saying he won't listen to people “who couldn't get elected to the Dáil”.

An ally of Fine Gael TD John Deasy has lodged a formal complaint with the Taoiseach over alleged “bullying and intimidation”.

Waterford Fine Gael TD John Deasy has demanded the local Fine Gael organisation be stood down as he hit back against a motion of no-confidence in him.

Fine Gael members in Waterford unanimously passed a vote of no confidence in sitting TD John Deasy late last night.

The HSE is failing both the living and the dead in the South East says the PRO for Health Equality, Matt Shanahan.

The case, which took place over 13 days, centred on the newspaper's use of a press release from Paudie Coffey's FG Carlow-Kilkenny colleague, John Paul Phelan.

Fine Gael Senator Paudie Coffey believes the loss of his Dáil seat in 2016 by 300 votes was due to a newspaper article about county boundary changes which likened him to an 18th century robber, the High Court has heard.

Public and private investment can unlock the potential of Waterford city and county, writes Christy Parker

He is not a gambler, he is a mathematician. He plots three, four steps ahead. He will not risk a Theresa May calamity on the basis of two or three polls. He genuinely wants this to go on, writes Daniel McConnell

The Government did not cave in to the powerful drinks lobby in changes to the alcohol health bill, Health Minister Simon Harris says.

Fine Gael senators and TDs who blocked plans to limit the sale and promotion of alcohol earlier this year have demanded a meeting with Health Minister Simon Harris over his plans to force through the law change.

That there will soon be more plastic than fish in the sea doesn’t even take into account the inevitable decline in fish stocks, writes Victoria White.

It's not over yet - Housing Minister Simon Coveney has vowed to continue his campaign for the leadership of Fine Gael, writes Eoin English of the Irish Examiner.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney has received a double boost in terms of declared supporters for his bid to become Fine Gael leader.

“Sit down Deputy Doherty, sit down.”

A major development could be on the way for a key site in the centre of Waterford City following reports a Saudi Arabian company is preparing to invest €300m in the area.

Fine Gael members have been warned that Ireland would be hit with a daily €20,000 fine, backdated to 2009, if water charges are scrapped.

Attempts to agree on the future of funding water services have already divided TDs, after a Dáil row broke out yesterday about a new committee which will examine water charges.

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, the junior health minister, has come under fire from members of her own party over plans to change the sale, advertisement, and price of alcohol.

Fine Gael senators have threatened to vote against the Government’s alcohol bill if they do not get reassurances on measures impacting on small businesses.

Noel Baker looks at a timeline of events that has led to the Housing Action Plan.

Credit unions around the country have been fielding calls from fans desperate to secure some funding to get to France for this Sunday’s crunch game against the host nation.

Four ousted Fine Gael TDs —including ex minister James Reilly — are battling to become the party’s next Seanad leader, despite a number previously calling for the upper house to be scrapped.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has relinquished three of his Seanad nominees to Fianna Fáil as part of a special deal with Micheál Martin.

Cabinet is today expected to sign off on the establishment of a new cross-party committee to look at the long-term future of the health system.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been branded as “indecisive” over his delay in appointing his 11 nominees to the Seanad by one of his former junior ministers.

James Reilly, the former children’s minister, is tipped to be among the Taoiseach’s nominees to the Seanad.

Veteran Fine Gael senator Paul Coghlan celebrated his last-gasp late-night re-election to the Upper House with “tea and toast”.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin teamed up yesterday against the proposed location of an incinerator in Cork Harbour, claiming such a plan would cause irreparable damage to the area.

It is 15 years since the residents of Ringaskiddy heard about plans for an incinerator in their backyard. They tell Catherine Shanahan their opposition to the project has not dimmed.

Sixteen years later and €12m poorer, Indaver is no less committed to building an incinerator in Ringaskiddy. On the eve of yet another oral hearing and with a third planning application under scrutiny, Indaver Ireland chief John Ahern tells Catherine Shanahan that he’s upbeat about their chances of success.

A finding by senior planning officials at Cork County Council (CCC) that a revised proposal for an incinerator in Ringaskiddy is within the rules has been described as “a blow, but not a show-stopper” by one of its staunchest opponents.

Thousands have been paid out to ministers who failed to get re-elected, writes Fiachra Ó Cionnaith

Smaller parties and Independent TDs have rowed in behind calls for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to begin negotiating government formation options — warning it is otherwise difficult to support either party.

The Simon Communities are calling for there to be a specific Minister for Housing in the next government.

A number of government ministers who lost their seats last weekend are planning to run for Seanad Éireann in next month's elections.

Fine Gael’s senior party figures look set to go into ‘bunker’ mode and shy away from any blame game yet as the outgoing coalition as the party dissects the drubbing it received from Irish voters in the election.

Fianna Fáil reclaimed its seat in the Dáil for the Waterford constituency on Saturday, with first-time candidate Mary Butler emphatically passing the quota on the first count.

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.