The Cabinet formally approved the one-year bankruptcy bill in a meeting over the phone yesterday.

Another Labour TD has decided not to contest the general election, and has claimed that democracy has been degraded in Ireland.

The majority of TDs cost the taxpayer more than half a million euro each in pay and expenses in under four years, while TDs who are also ministers have received, on average, €631,000.

The student grants system that caused “chaos” when set up four years ago has lost so much money it would risk being closed down if it was a private company, the chair of a Dáil group has claimed.

Government TDs opposed to the sale of Aer Lingus are set to meet unions this week amid growing speculation that the Cabinet is to sign off on the drawn-out €1.3bn deal by the middle of April.

Grass-roots members have overwhelmingly rejected plans to sell the State’s “jewel in the crown”, Aer Lingus, unless IAG agrees to an independent valuation of the firm alongside further regional connectivity and jobs guarantees.

Senior Labour figures have ruled out expressing support for €1.36bn offer to buy Aer Lingus until after the general election.

Clare Daly's amendment on abortion in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities has been defeated in the Dáíl this afternoon.

The largest trade union in the country has backed next week’s mass rally against water charges as protesters vow to bring the capital to a standstill with their opposition to the levy.

John Delaney might prefer it if questions regarding his salary were put to bed, but the FAI’s chief executive’s remuneration package returned to the spotlight for the second time in under a week yesterday.

Irish sports chiefs have insisted that athletes are not hood-winking "relentless" anti-doping checks, despite concerns the nation’s detection rate is behind international levels.

Former CEO of the Rehab Group Angela Kerins has claimed she lost her job and her health suffered as a direct consequence of her questioning by the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee in relation to State funding of the Rehab group.

The State’s health watchdog has admitted feeling "slightly hamstrung" in dealing with cases where an elderly nursing home resident is in physical danger.

Junior health minister Alex White’s late bid to lead Labour has been weakened after party TDs yesterday indicated their support for Social Protection Minister Joan Burton.

The Government is putting hundreds of lives at risk by slashing drug addiction prevention budgets by more than a third since it came to power.

Fine Gael backbenchers have cast doubt over the position of the Garda commissioner after calls by senior ministers for him to apologise over remarks he made about whistleblowers.

The HSE is to carry out a trawl of bank statements at the Central Remedial Clinic as part of its efforts to pursue “to the bitter end” issues at the disability service.

Health Minister James Reilly has pledged the Government will use all available options to seek the return of former CRC chief Paul Kiely’s €740,000 secret payoff, including the gardaí, corporate enforcement and the civil courts.

“I don’t think I have ever been at a meeting where the emotions are such that we are actually angered and saddened. What we are hearing is how a noble concept, the Friends and Supporters group was turned into the Directors and Friends group.”

Fresh enquiries are under way into suspected top-up payments at another four state-funded bodies as the investigation into bonuses for senior managers at voluntary hospitals and agencies is set to widen.

The board of the Central Remedial Clinic is facing calls to resign immediately, after the disability organisation admitted to using money donated by the public to top up the salaries of some of its highest earners.

A company set up to support the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) had a surplus of €14m last year, despite cuts to services for people with disabilities.

A state body will pay €26.4m in rent up to 2034 on near-empty prime offices in Dublin for which it cannot find tenants.

The Taoiseach has declined to say if he supports a call from one a Government backbencher for a boycott of Arthur's Day.

Hospitals that repeatedly fail to meet basic hygiene standards should face “criminal neglect” charges for putting patients’ lives at risk, with calls for doctors to be “named and shamed” over the problem.

Labour chairman Colm Keaveney resigned from the party saying it is “heading for disaster” and that he wanted to challenge the Coalition’s failed policies from the opposition benches.

Labour Party chief whip Emmet Stagg welcomed

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Farmers should open up their land for recreational use to compensate for the “transfer of wealth from urban to rural areas”, a Dublin TD has claimed.

Labour members have warned against having to make up savings from the collapsed Croke Park deal by taking from services or from the vulnerable, and suggested further talks with trade unions.

A Labour TD is calling on all Labour rebels who have left the parliamentary party to come back and show a united front.

Coalition TDs have said the property tax is unfair and anti-urban, with Fine Gael politicians saying the planned levy was a danger to social cohesion and could lead to revolt.

Government ministers last night stood over budget cuts as frustrated TDs came under pressure from constituents to demand a U-turn on some of the tougher measures.

If it was not for England being so close, Ireland would have had to legislate for abortion years ago due to the number of women who would have died in “backstreet” terminations here, the Dáil heard.

THE State is subsidising supermarkets in selling cheap alcohol by refunding them VAT on drink sold at a loss, it emerged at an Oireachtas Committee yesterday.

GARDAÍ have responded to allegations of “harassment and brutality” made against them by a senior member of a youth group.

ALLEGATIONS of garda “harassment and brutality” against young people have been made by a community organisation at an Oireachtas committee.

IT was hardly blue murder, more a case of bureaucracy gone mad.

THE country’s busiest hospital has said it has no evidence that any patient information has been accessed or disclosed without authorisation.

THERE are reports that some leaders of Roman Catholic religious orders who represent institutions at which systematic abuse took place are reluctant to meet Ruairi Quinn.

THE motor tax system is to be revised to counteract the growing problem of motorists making false declaration of vehicles being off the road in order to avoid paying motor tax for short periods, Environment Minster Phil Hogan has said.

AS a new TD who called on the Government to seriously pursue a ban on the advertising of alcoholic drinks recently in Dáil Eireann, I must congratulate you on your supplement on alcohol.

With all bar four of the 43 constituencies in the General Election finished counting, the country’s political scene has undergone a sea change.

Former Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin has failed to retain her seat in Dun Laoghaire. Richard Boyd Barrett won the seat, bringing the haul of seats for Independents and others to 17.