Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin is to move next week to expel former taoiseach Bertie Ahern from the party following the damning Mahon Tribunal report.

PRE-TAX profits at luxury chocolate maker, Lir Chocolates last year increased threefold to €581,164.

A Fianna Fáil TD has this afternoon confirmed that informal contacts have been made on behalf of the party with Gay Byrne, regarding the Presidential campaign.

FIANNA FÁIL leader Micheál Martin narrowly avoided a potential backlash from within his own party after five out of his chosen “list of 10” candidates were successful in the Seanad elections.

FINE GAEL’S candidate to run for the presidency will be decided in June when the party chooses one high-profile figure to go forward for the Park.

LUXURY chocolate maker Lir saw the appetite for their products rise last year as pre-tax profits increased from €129,410 to €178,836 in the year to the April 30, 2010.

RTÉ broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan has ruled out running for the presidency next year.

I WRITE in the earnest hope that a grave injustice in this state will soon be fully acknowledged and put right.

JOURNALIST Con Houlihan, long considered one of this country’s finest sports writers, has won an inaugural all-Ireland Inspirational Life Award.

THE neglect of the State and an underfunded childcare system were major contributory factors in the death of murdered teenager Daniel McAnaspie, mourners at his funeral mass heard yesterday.

The Communications Minister is being asked to justify a levy on the country's independent radio stations of as much as €2,000 a week.

DOZENS of business and engineering courses at a number of colleges have failed to attract enough interest to fill them for the coming year.

THESE days most of the column inches in our newspapers are consumed by the global economic crisis to which Ireland is far from immune.

DOCTORS in border counties have been instructed not to refer children or teenagers for psychiatric help except in emergencies because the local services cannot cope.

Round-the-clock emergency response services are needed to help people at risk of suicide, it was claimed today.

CONTRARY to yesterday’s Irish Examiner report, Senator Mary White is married to Padraic White.

FIANNA Fáil deputies, senators and MEPs from the western seaboard conceded last night that the Aer Lingus decision to pull its Shannon to Heathrow service was a done deal and that their anger over the decision will not materialise into a rebellion.

I WISH to draw attention to the utter heartbreak experienced by thousands of fit and healthy people who wish to continue working after 65.

THE Colombian government appears to have given up its pursuit of the so-called Colombia Three.

MINISTER Cullen’s recent announcement that free bus travel for pensioners is to be available 45 minutes earlier than before is a welcome if somewhat inadequate development.

IDA Ireland faced strong criticism yesterday for its failure to get sufficient investment to the regions.

The Irish Government must strongly reject a British bid to control an inquiry into the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, it was claimed today.

CHRIS ANDREWS, the son of former MEP Niall Andrews, was last night selected as a Fianna Fáil Dáil candidate for the Dublin South East constituency.

Fianna Fáil Senator Mary White has called on the British authorities to reopen the case of an Irish jockey serving a life term in Britain for murder.

A Fianna Fáil Senator is planning to introduce a bill in the Seanad to help parents experiencing difficulties with childcare costs.

EVEN though many people might like to know what Martin McCauley, Niall Connolly and James Monaghan were doing in Colombia, it should be recalled that, at their first trial, they were found not guilty.

WE, the undersigned, support the Rossport Five in their demand for the natural resources of Ireland to be used for the benefit of the Irish people, and for those same resources to be extracted in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.

IT is hardly surprising the Government rejected Sinn Féin calls for intervention at the highest level over the 17-year jail sentences handed down to three Irishmen for training Marxist rebels in Colombia.

A conference involving former republican and loyalist prisoners takes place in Dublin Castle today.

"THE Kangaroo court," roared one of Beverly Flynn's supporters from Mayo, as his entry was blocked into the Fianna Fáil meeting rooms in Leinster House.

THE three Irishman were arrested in August 2001 as they prepared to board a plane back to Ireland after spending some time in the rebel FARC-controlled area of Colombia.

THREE Irishmen acquitted of training left-wing Colombian rebels yesterday could be detained indefinitely in South American until an appeal is heard.

OBSERVERS from three continents are expected to attend the controversial trial of three Irishmen accused of training FARC rebels in Colombia which is due to resume in the capital, Bogota, today.

THE trial of three Irishman accused of assisting South American left-wing guerrillas to develop deadly mortar bombs resumes today after months of delay.

A SENIOR Irish diplomat is set to take the witness stand in the Colombian trial of three Irishmen accused of helping to train left wing guerrillas in the use of mortars.

Fianna Fail Senator Mary White and Sinn Fein TD Sean Crowe are due to travel to Colombia next Tuesday to observe the trial of the three Irishmen accused of training anti-government rebels.

The Government is being asked to request the halting of the trial of three Irish men who are charged with training FARC rebels in Colombia.

A delegation of Irish politicians, lawyers and human rights activists is due to fly to Colombia today for the trial of the three Irishmen accused of training anti-Government rebels in the South American country.

Two politicians tonight withdrew from a visit to the trial of three Irish men arrested in Colombia on suspicion of training FARC guerillas.

LABOUR'S Joe Costello will not accompany an Oireachtas delegation visiting the Colombia Three following objections from within his party.