With the Dáil set to return later this month for the last session, those hoping for a summer general election might as well forget about it.

In 2020, Eamon Ryan will be Tánaiste and the general election result will be so close to 50:50 that the two main political parties will end up with 50 seats each. Those are my predictions for 2020.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has appealed for fairness after a failed local Fine Gael revolt to remove embattled south Dublin Fine Gael TD Maria Bailey as a party general election candidate.

Not since the days of Big Tom and the Mainliners Showband tours has the country been traversed as extensively and in rapid-speed.

Maria Bailey (43) is a first-time TD, who was elected on the seventh count in 2016 as one of three Fine Gael TDs in the Dun Laoghaire constituency.

Shane Ross’s Judicial Appointments Bill and bid to reform the way in which ‘unaccountable’ judges are appointed is meeting strong resistance from the opposition benches but also from within the Fine Gael ranks, writes Daniel McConnell

You should all be ashamed of yourselves. All 32 of you.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin is facing a widescale backbench revolt over his pro-choice abortion views, after half of his party’s TDs voted against allowing any referendum on the Eighth Amendment.

Ireland could become one of the world’s most extreme pro-abortion countries if the Eighth Amendment is repealed, the Dáil was told last night.

The special Fine Gael meeting on abortion heard concerns that the party could be politically damaged if it gets its strategy wrong on a planned referendum later this year.

All eyes will be on Fine Gael’s special parliamentary party meeting this afternoon where TDs and senators will discuss their views on plans to repeal the Eighth Amendment and allow unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

‘Dream comes true for Imokilly’ read the headline in The Examiner on Monday morning, October 6, 1997.

Simon Coveney’s campaign team have urged grassroots Fine Gael members to “turn” national politicians supporting Leo Varadkar, after two Clare TDs controversially backed his rival just hours after the Housing Minister visited their constituency.

That a mathematician and sportsman would consider it important that engineering students be lectured on poetry says a lot about Trevor West. 

Drugs minister Catherine Byrne is pressing ahead with legislation to set up injecting facilities, despite concerns raised at an Oireachtas health committee yesterday.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney has opened an early lead on his main rival Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar in the race to succeed Enda Kenny as Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach.

This week, the Irish Examiner Political Team — Juno McEnroe, Fiachra O Cionnaith, Elaine Loughlin, and Daniel McConnell — have endeavoured to pin down where support within the 73 members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party is likely to go once votes are cast.

Fine Gael TDs are split on refunding water charges, with half of those contacted by the Irish Examiner in favour of giving the money back and a near identical number saying non-payers must instead be pursued.

Tie hole drama was the order of the day when the finals of three Munster inter-club competitions were decided over the weekend.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is coming under mounting pressure to reveal his 11 Seanad appointees, after it emerged the month-long delay in making a decision has cost the taxpayer over a quarter of a million euro.

The Taoiseach surprised his party colleagues last night by announcing that the Dáil will rise for three months despite the long absence during government formation talks.

Cabinet is today expected to sign off on the establishment of a new cross-party committee to look at the long-term future of the health system.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been branded as “indecisive” over his delay in appointing his 11 nominees to the Seanad by one of his former junior ministers.

About 20% of the country’s political representatives are landlords, according to the most recent registry of members interests.

James Reilly, the former children’s minister, is tipped to be among the Taoiseach’s nominees to the Seanad.

Several of Enda Kenny’s loyal senators lost their seats or were last night fighting for their survival.

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

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has strongly criticised the €70m cost increase for the second parallel runway at Dublin Airport.

A leading Fine Gael minister has backed a former Fianna Fáil senator’s bid to be returned to the Upper House.

Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ó Fearghaíl has promised to deliver substantial reform of how the Dáil is run now he has been elected ceann comhairle. He is the first to be elected by secret ballot.

The first test of politicians’ claimed new-found interest in reform will take place this morning when five long-standing TDs fight it out to become the next ceann comhairle of the Dáil.

Dublin Central Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan looks likely to seek the position of ceann comhairle on Thursday.

The next Ceann Comhairle will be able to lobby the Government on behalf of their constituents, it has emerged.

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

Ireland went over the fiscal cliff in 2005 as a direct result of poor political policies and reckless bank lending, but did not realise the situation until 2008 — when it was no longer a case of whether there would be a crash but how bad it would be.

The refusal of the European Central Bank (ECB) to allow the burning of bondholders in 2010 amounted to “a one-sided extortion” of the Irish Government, a so-called minority report by a leading member of the Banking Inquiry has found.