Cavan-Monaghan TD Sean Conlan has told gardaí he was not the perpetrator but rather the victim of an assault in pub which is leased out by his family.

Good evening. Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Cavan Monaghan TD, Deputy Sean Conlan stated "if you don’t grovel and follow the edicts of the Taoiseach..... an attempt is made to damage your reputation". 

THE Big Chill is over but a distinct frost remains in the air. Robert Frost to be precise as Michael Noonan quoted the poet’s most famous work The Road Not Taken as his narrative guide when the Government declared austerity to be at an end.

Fine Gael backbencher Sean Conlan believes there may have been a dirty tricks campaign against him, after an email sent to the Taoiseach about him was leaked to the media.

"WHEN I win this vote, I will go on to be Taoiseach," said a fiery Enda Kenny — to a roar described by one TD as being "as loud of those vuvuzela horns in South Africa" — as he delivered a rousing speech in a packed Leinster House meeting room, which saw off party rebels seeking to oust him.

The Taoiseach has seen off any major backlash over his handling of Fine Gael’s nomination process for the Seanad by-election after backbenchers were told to keep their focus on economic recovery.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told the Fine Gael that it is time to move on from the John McNulty affair and focus on the next election.

A Fine Gael TD has accused Taoiseach Enda Kenny of changing his story over the Seanad nomination affair.

The Taoiseach’s apology doesn’t mean an end to the McNulty controversy, says Political Editor Mary Regan.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been compared to arch manipulator Charles Haughey by a Fine Gael TD outraged over "stroke politics" surrounding a Seanad by-election.

IT IS the little things that find you out, as Enda Kenny is now realising with his spectacularly botched attempt to promote someone we have never heard of to a nothing organisation.

Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte has played down a suggestion that concerns about power lines for the North-South interconnector may form part of a review of Eirgrid projects.

The Troika has told Government backbenchers it is optimistic about Ireland’s post-bailout future.

A loosening of the party whip system and allowing individual TDs to vote with their conscience on laws would be bad for stability and therefore bad for investment, the Taoiseach told the Dáil.

A loosening of the party whip system and allowing individual TDs to vote with their conscience on laws would be bad for stability and therefore bad for investment, the Taoiseach told the Dáil.

Tesco has pulled the plug on its €15m contract with Silvercrest following the horsemeat scandal as the Irish company braced itself for the possibility of Burger King following suit.

The British food safety watchdog has launched an investigation into how beef on sale in the UK and Ireland contained traces of horse and pig DNA.

The Government comfortably survived one of its biggest tests yet, as TDs last night approved the first crucial stages of the coalition’s welfare budget cuts in the Dáil.

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.

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.

Tourism Minister Leo Varadker has accepted an invitation to get “down and dirty” in Co Monaghan next Saturday when participants from all over the world take part in this year’s annual Irish Bog Snorkelling Championships.

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.

The election of Fine Gael's Mary Mitchell O'Connor in Dun Laoghaire brings to 141 the total number of seats filled so far (from a total of 166).

BANKS received the most complaints from customers last year and provide the lowest value for money, a customer satisfaction survey has found.

IRISH firms have to fight harder to win overseas business, a major conference was told yesterday.