The Green Party expects to secure a sizeable chunk of the vote in the upcoming poll, says Elaine Loughlin.

There she stood in a largely empty Dail chamber. The day after the budget is the graveyard shift when it comes to contributions from opposition backbenchers.

Details of a new suburb the size of Wexford town on the Kildare / Dublin border are due to be revealed soon.

A rejected Fianna Fáil candidate has become the latest addition to the diverse grouping of the Independent Alliance (IA).

If there is to be greater equality, the price will have to be paid by ’middle income’ earners, writes Michael Clifford.

"I missed you all," Mary Hanafin gushed to reporters in the manner of a faded film star who had just glimpsed the limelight once more thanks to a cameo role in a B movie.

By Juno McEnroe, Irish Examiner Political Reporter

"Radio" is the latest music video from Paul Gogarty, the former TD turned musician - now known as His Sweet Surprise.

Formerly famous as the foul-mouthed Green who thought he might be 25% gay, ex-TD Paul Gogarty has staged a remarkable return to national attention as an unlikely chart star.

Dan Boyle’s new book is the first insider account of the Fianna Fáil-Green government and the economic and banking disasters that struck on its watch. Today, in the second and final extract from the book, he outlines the central role which he and social media site Twitter played in the 2010 resignation of Fianna Fáil defence minister Willie O’Dea

Former Fianna Fáil Minister of State Ivor Callely has been arrested by gardaí in Dublin today.

SAY what you like about the Greens but they can’t be accused of lacking guts when it comes to offering themselves as objects of public ridicule.

TWO Derry footballers were in court for being involved in a pub brawl in Galway city after their team’s defeat in the recent semi-finals of the Celebrity Bainisteoir television series.

FORMER Miss Ireland and social columnist Amanda Brunker will no doubt be hitting a few high notes when she joins seven other celebrities taking the reins of GAA teams for the hit RTÉ series Celebrity Bainisteoir.

A POLITICAL ethics watchdog has sent a file on Ivor Callely to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) after investigations into irregular mobile phone claims.

SHORTLY after dawn last Saturday, the fate of fistfuls of flutters and fancies dangled as if the gates were just snapping open at the Curragh.

IT was, in the words of the Greens’ Ciarán Cuffe in 2007, akin to “a deal with the devil”.

The Greens have claimed their dramatic collapse into political oblivion is the price to pay for a "deal with the devil".

There are 70 seats filled so far.

Senior figures in the Fine Gael party have claimed they could be on course for single-party government.

Phil Hogan, Fine Gael's director of elections, has warned commentators and analysts not to rule out single-party government.

Fine Gael is on course to lead the next Government but appears to have failed to secure an overall majority.

One Green TD has already conceded defeat.

* DESPITE all the calumnies persecuted against him, John Gormley took part yesterday in a public discussion, Climate Change, The Incinerator and Me at the Unitarian Church in Dublin.

“There will be no gimmicks“, warned Micheál Martin at the launch of Fianna Fáil’s General Election manifesto yesterday, much to the disappointment of Éamon Ó Cuív, who had planned to counter Fine Gael’s move to downgrade Irish in the Leaving Cert by reading from memory all of Máire Mhac an tSaoi’s poems.

Labour finance spokeswoman Joan Burton called for the Government to agree to an election on February 18 or 25.

Government chief whip John Curran has confirmed the Taoiseach Brian Cowen will make a statement in the Dáil in the next 15 minutes.

The Taoiseach Brian Cowen is absent from leader's questions in the Dáil today as he reshuffles his Cabinet after an exodus of five ministers in the past 24 hours.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen was today expected to reshuffle his Cabinet after an exodus of four ministers.

FIANNA FÁIL deputies have been accused of cowardice after taking shelter in a private parliamentary party meeting rather than speaking in the Dáil to support the controversial cuts to social welfare payments.

THE Greens have given mixed signals as to how long they are prepared to stay in Government before demanding a general election next year.

“Our income tax system as it stands today is no longer fit for purpose.”

Gaffe-prone Green TD Paul Gogarty has been forced to defend bringing his 18-month-old daughter to a media briefing on Monday at which the junior coalition partner said it was seeking a general election in January.

The pressure of the political and economic crisis facing Ireland was etched across the face of a drained-looking Taoiseach as he took questions in the Dáil tonight.

Green Party TD Paul Gogarty has reacted furiously to comments from Tourism Minister Mary Hanafin who said this morning that she didn't think the junior coalition party had the best interests of the country at heart.

Ireland is to hold a General Election within two months after the Green Party today stunned its Government partners by issuing a new-year deadline for the vote.

TDs and senators are to seek changes to the Irish Leaving Certificate syllabus to cater for students in all-Irish schools, after hearing their rights are being denied by recent amendments to the marking scheme.

THE Green Party has admitted it has lost its bid to protect students from hikes in registration fees, but said any increases should not take the charge beyond €2,000 a year.

The Green Party's Education Spokesman Paul Gogarty has indicated that he is not running for the position of Mayor of Dublin.

A Green party TD has said he "simply won't stand for" massive cuts to education or the effective re-introduction of college fees "by stealth".

THE Green Party believes up to €5.7 billion could be cut in the budget without sacrificing education commitments in the Programme for Government.

THE Government is considering raising student registration charges again to achieve savings in the near €9 billion education budget.

EDUCATION services may have to be severely cut as a result of the Croke Park deal’s protection of public service wages, Green Party TD Paul Gogarty has warned.