Up to 60 people in Co Louth could be out of work following reports that Heinz food company are to make changes to their operations.

The final Dáil vote saw 31 TDs oppose the X case legislation as numbers were swelled by left-wing deputies protesting that the new law was not liberal enough.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said he personally supports proposed legislation allowing abortion in limited circumstances, which he said is “consistent with the pro-life position”.

A Garda report into the practice of quashing penalty points will be published today but will not identify drivers who have had fines cancelled or gardaí who were involved in the process.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin is facing a major challenge to avoid losing some of his frontbench spokesmen over the party’s position on abortion.

There were calls for a law exempting politicians from offences to be reviewed following an Irish Examiner investigation into the removal of penalty points from the driving records of TDs.

THE majority of TDs questioned for an Irish Examiner survey said they never sought nor had penalty points cancelled from their driving records.

A TD has revealed his wife took two penalty points he should have received and a former ceann comhairle said it was a “matter of lifting the phone” to get points quashed.

Martin McGuinness is set to make a return to politics in the Republic as a Sinn Féin nominee on the panel of the constitutional convention.

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has refused to force Comreg to oblige mobile phone operators to provide coverage across the whole country.

Galway West TD EamonÓ Cuív has been re-instated to the Fianna Fáil frontbench following his resignation last March over his stance on the fiscal compact referendum.

After my critique on the Single Farm Payment in this column last week I received a number of phone calls.

Two Louth men have been convicted and each fined €1,000 for attacking the referee after the 2010 Leinster football final.

Two Co Louth men have been convicted and each fined €1,000 for attacking the referee after the controversial 2010 Leinster football final.

Online payments company PayPal today announced the creation of 1,000 jobs in Dundalk over the next four years with the development of a new European Operations Centre.

A Fine Gael TD last night confirmed that he had been “physically assaulted” by a woman as he left the stage at a rally in support of retaining services for the elderly at a local hospital.

Three hundred construction jobs may be on the way for Dublin as brewer Diageo launches expansion plans.

The Opposition are today demanding strong measures to tackle illegal fuel sales.

Here are the current four candidates with enough support to stand in the Pesidential election on October 27:

INDEPENDENT presidential candidate Sean Gallagher has moved to sever his links with Fianna Fáil and has questioned the actions of the party’s former taoisigh.

TDs and senators face an external audit of their expense claims after the Oireachtas hired an outside firm to trawl through travel and other costs submitted by members.

THE Government parties “knew well” the economic situation awaiting them when they made “false commitments” during the election campaign, according to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.

MICHEÁL Martin cut a lonely figure as he walked down the Leinster House plinth in search of a bench.

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).

Taoiseach-in-waiting Enda Kenny is expected to decide later how to approach the formation of a new Government.

There are 70 seats filled so far.

The first 10 seats of the 31st Dáil have been filled.

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

Counting begins this morning in the General Election with Fine Gael expected to take power.

Party leaders today urged people to make their votes count in the most eagerly-anticipated election in decades.

Party leaders have urged people to make their vote count as polls opened in the most eagerly-anticipated election in decades.

FEBRUARY 25 is election day and, as we say in relation to December 25, there’s only 20 shopping days left. During that period we’ll decide, if we haven’t done so already, the recipient of our coveted support to form the next government.

LOUTH football boss Peter Fitzpatrick has come under public pressure to reconsider his decision not to seek a Fine Gael nomination for the forthcoming election.

An Taoiseach Brian Cowen will go toe to toe today with rebel ministers in the fight for leadership of Fianna Fáil.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan will publicly back Brian Cowen ahead of today’s Fianna Fáil leadership vote in a move that could deal a hammer blow to Micheál Martin’s hopes of ousting the Taoiseach.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan advised Brian Cowen to act aggressively in defending his position by tabling the motion of confidence in his leadership.

The Council of State will meet today to advise the President on controversial new laws covering the multibillion-euro international bailout and the banks.