A ‘mega rare’ sighting of a seal usually found on Arctic sea ice has stunned wildlife observers after being spotted in Ireland for only the second time on record, writes Linda McGrory.

A ‘mega rare’ sighting of a seal usually found on Arctic sea ice has stunned wildlife observers after being spotted in Ireland for only the second time on record.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s future as Fine Gael leader is set to come under fresh scrutiny at a private meeting of party members tomorrow which is also expected to hear calls for potential successors to make themselves known.

Future coalition pacts for Fine Gael must be decided by the wider party and not just the leader, Leo Varadkar has said, as he insisted there was a “red line” about entering government with Sinn Féin.

Senior Government figures have insisted there are no plans to block people who fail to pay their Irish Water bills from receiving the €100 “water conservation” grant after backbench TDs strongly hinted at the move.

For the opposition, Irish Water is the gift that keeps on giving — even more so when that gift involves an internal Government row about giving €100 to people refusing to pay their charges.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has insisted that “a cast iron guarantee” on flights in and out of Ireland is needed before a takeover bid for Aer Lingus can be considered by the Government.

Oireachtas officials are to inquire into what happened to €75m spent by a state-funded charity to support thousands of school places which were never filled. 

Just weeks into his new role as Health Minister Leo Varadkar has urged lobby groups not to "attack and weaken" him because it could hinder efforts to protect his department’s budget.

One hundred senior health service managers are still topping up their high salaries with extra payments despite a HSE deadline passing to end the controversy.

At least eight high-ranking health service officials are refusing to give up their right to hidden contract "top-ups" — and have threatened legal action if the money is removed as planned next month.

The HSE will claw back funds from any hospital or health agency which continues to flout a ban on top-up payments to senior officials.

Ordnance Survey Ireland has been strongly condemned over its decision to award bonuses worth €30,000 to four individuals in 2011, despite a Government ban on such payments.

People with cancer, disabilities, or serious illnesses who have had their medical cards removed in “one foul swoop” deserve an explanation for the reasons why, according to Fine Gael TD, Paul Connaughton.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is braced for an angry backlash from backbench TDs over a list of possible cuts drawn up by his department ahead of October’s budget.

Clare senior hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald will give championship debuts to four players in Sunday’s Munster SHC quarter-final against Waterford in Thurles (throw-in 4pm).

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin has today called on the eight Fine Gael TDs who criticised the performance of the Croke Park deal in

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Public servants could see their pay and allowances cut when the Croke Park agreement ends and its successor is negotiated, Fine Gael’s Europe Minister Lucinda Creighton has said.

Eight Fine Gael TDs who controversially called for a review of Croke Park deal allowances and incremenets in yesterday’s Irish Examiner have been heavily criticised by Government.

Labour rebels claim to have support in the parliamentary party for their calls for a wealth tax in the budget.

The Troika are due to return to Dublin this week for their latest review of progress on our reform programme.

Eight Fine Gael TDs have challenged the Government’s stance on Croke Park, saying the system of pay rises and allowances for high-earning public servants must be re-examined.

Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin has told Fine Gael TDs he will further cut the bill for public sector worker allowances.

More than 1,000 allowances paid to public sector staff will be examined by the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after the Government abandoned plans to abolish them for existing workers.

Labour’s Brendan Howlin, the public expenditure minister, is set to be invited to speak at Fine Gael’s next parliamentary party meeting after an outburst last night by TDs over the failure to cut workers allowances.

Farmers and self-employed people can “manipulate their income” so that their children are eligible for college grants, Labour Party chairman Colm Keaveney has claimed.

Retired Kerry TD Jackie Healy-Rae has unwittingly received €15,000 too much in pension payments from the Oireachtas and said he is not in a position to repay the monies owed.

The country’s gone to the dogs, and a group of Fine Gael TDs are planning to follow the pack.

Pictures from the London opening of ‘DruidMurphy –Plays by Tom Murphy’; At the launch of the Campo Viejo Tapas Trail; the opening of Seapoint Clinic’s newly refurbished premises; and Dara O’Briain’s Live at the Marquee gig

GALWAY EAST - FIRST COUNT

THE Labour Party MEP for Ireland South Alan Kelly wants to leave Brussels less than two years after he was elected and win a Dáil seat in Tipperary north instead.

Fine Gael TD for Galway East Ulick Burke has announced he is retiring.

East Galway Fine Gael TD Paul Connaughton has announced that he will not be running for re-election to the Dáil in the next General Election.

OUSTED Fine Gael finance spokesman, Richard Bruton, will need a silent majority to sing for him in unison if he is to topple his friend, Enda Kenny, as party leader.

RECRUITMENT problems in Teagasc may be eased by employment control frameworks to be put in place across the public service.

SO, it’s come to this then has it Enda Kenny – mugging poor defenceless pensioners to look big in front of your peers?

EXTENSION of approval by the Department of Agriculture to wool sheds “is certainly not intended to drive buyers out of the business”, said Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith in the Dáil last week.

ELDERLY people are being subjected to unnecessary confusion and worry because of a new system to process medical cards for over-70s which was described yesterday as “a form of madness”.