Youghal’s Mary Linehan-Foley could claim a big scalp with a hard campaign on the ground, reports Sean O’Riordan

Fine Gael lost a Dáil seat to Fianna Fáil in Cork East, while Sinn Féin held its seat, despite internal party divisions, according to the results of a school’s mock election. And despite a national swing against Labour, one of its junior ministers, Sean Sherlock, held his seat.

The sprawling constituency of Cork East is essentially split in two, with the main population centres of Fermoy, Mallow, and Mitchelstown in the north and Midleton, Youghal, and Cobh in the south.

A Sinn Féin TD’s accusations of a “vicious” bullying campaign have forced deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald to defend how members are treated.

Gardaí are investigating a series of "threatening or intimidating" messages sent to at least one General Election candidate in the Cork East constituency.

There must be a general election in the air…..as TDs’ attendance for votes in the Dáil has dropped significantly in recent months.

Sinn Féin TDs and senators yesterday voiced their support for leader Gerry Adams over his continued backing for convicted tax evader Tom ‘Slab’ Murphy.

A Sinn Féin TD who was allegedly bullied out of her position by party colleagues has held exploratory talks with the Independent Alliance in recent weeks about a possible general election bid, the Irish Examiner has learnt.

The mayor of County Cork has announced his plans to contest the forthcoming general election in the Cork North-West constituency.

Sinn Féin has defended its handling of a controversy which has prompted a sitting TD not to run for the party in the next general election.

It’s not so long ago since Independent councillors were out in the cold in the chamber of Cork County Council.

Sinn Féin has been thrown into even more turmoil in the Cork East constituency following the resignation of one of its county councillors.

Since taking power it appears that Enda Kenny has a rather ambivalent attitude to the North, writes Alison O’Connor

The Sinn Fein party in East Cork is set to be thrown into turmoil tonight when a member it expelled and then tried to reinstate announces he is to run as an Independent candidate in the next general election. 

Sinn Féin insisted yesterday its decision to temporarily freeze the expulsion of east Cork county councillor Kieran McCarthy over serious financial allegations, was not linked to the politician threatening to take legal action.

The Sinn Féin councillor expelled from the party after serious bullying and financial allegations is to sue his former colleagues instead of appeal the ruling because he has “no faith” in the process.

At least 30 children were trafficked throughout Ireland for sexual abuse and exploitation between 2013 and 2014, a Dáil debate seeking Ireland’s first ever laws specifically targeting child grooming has heard.

Children’s Minister James Reilly yesterday defended a decision by the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, to pay a company over €120,000 to review the organisation six months after it was established.

A senior Sinn Féin TD has rejected claims his party is suffering from an internal bullying crisis, after a former Dublin councillor claimed he was forced out of the party just days after a separate scandal in Cork.

Sinn Féin has suffered a double support slump in the wake of the Sandra McLellan bullying allegations, after falling three percentage points in two separate opinion polls.

Sinn Féin is set to hold emergency meetings with grassroots members “over the next few days” to quell anger over its axing of two prominent councillors.

Michael Clifford examines the funny goings-on within Sinn Féin.

Cork East TD Sandra McLellan has broken her silence about an internal Sinn Féin row amid speculation that she threatened to leave the party if it did not take her side in the dispute.

The Sinn Féin councillor expelled from the party this week has been the subject of two internal inquiries into financial issues in the past 12 months.

Sinn Féin’s ard chomairle has overturned a rule banning male candidates from challenging Cork East TD Sandra McLellan for a seat at the next general election.

A Sinn Féin councillor has been expelled from the party and another suspended for a year amid a wider internal row involving claims of bullying against a sitting TD and a loan from the organisation’s funds.

Tourism in East Cork received a boost yesterday when Michael Ring, the junior tourism minister, advocated Youghal as a likely “capital of the Ancient East”.

A long-serving county councillor has accused the Department of Education of turning its back on an east Cork village by failing to provide it with a national school.

The delay in Co Cork of a further major public scheme could have a significant impact on tourism in a seaside town.

Around 3,000 children known to be in serious danger of neglect, physical abuse or sexual abuse have no dedicated social worker, it has emerged.

The next general election is about a year away but already some candidates have declared their interest. Sean O’Riordan looks at the possible runners and riders.

The board of the National Museum of Ireland has confirmed it is considering a number of options to address "serious funding challenges" in 2015.

Pressure is mounting on Arts Minister Heather Humphreys to make a statement in the Dáil regarding the appointment of John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

Dáil parliamentary questions and their responses are usually very formal in their tone, but Transport Minister Leo Varadkar appeared less mindful of his "Ps and Qs" in one of his latest PQ responses to Sinn Féin’s Sandra McLellan.

The Galway site where bodies of hundreds of babies and children were disposed off should be treated as a crime scene, opposition TDs demanded.

Because of changes to a number of Co Cork’s electoral areas, there will be casualties among big-name councillors, and they’re more likely to be from Fine Gael, writes Sean O’Riordan

THE villages and townlands of Dungourney, Clonmult, Lisgoold and Leamlara lie about 13km north of Midleton in East Cork.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has poured cold water on the chances of Ireland accessing the EU solidarity fund for repairs and rebuilding after severe storms battered the country.