Rebel Fine Gael TDs opposed to the controversial abortion legislation are being “threatened” by senior party figures ahead of Wednesday’s crucial Dáil vote.

A Mass-going North Cork TD has been given assurances by Church leaders that he will not be excommunicated for supporting the abortion legislation.

A junior minister has claimed there is hidden bullying in politics and a toxic culture in her party where female politicians are being treated unequally.

IT was poignant start to the Titanic centenary year.

FINE GAEL has decided to controversially defer its candidate selection convention in the east Cork constituency until after the new year.

A SECOND Fine Gael county councillor has declared that he will be putting his name forward in order to contest the party’s Dáil selection convention in the Cork East constituency.

CARBON tax could cost rural households ten times more than it costs urban households, says Irish Rural Link, which represents rural community groups.

AN internal analysis by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of the direct impact of the carbon levy on the agriculture sector suggests the average increase in the cost of production across all farms will be some €230 per farm.

FIANNA FÁIL brought off a spectacular triumph at the Cork East count in Mallow where Minister of State Michael Ahern headed the poll just ahead of his party colleague Ned O’Keeffe.

Corkonians go to the polls today in what is expected to be one of the tightest general elections in years.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is targeting Cork today for one final general election campaigning blitz.

A MOCK general election, by students in Cork East, produced a bag of surprises.

THE Government has dealt yet another blow to the fight against cervical cancer. The Department of Health has decided that a new vaccine against the disease will not be made available on the medical card scheme or reimbursable under community drug schemes.

THE announcement that 240 jobs at FCI Ireland will be lost by the end of next year is another hammer-blow to Fermoy and confirms that north Cork is facing its worst employment crisis for decades.

AS 2007 begins, it has emerged that consumers are facing another round of stealth taxes and increases in charges for public transport, electricity and mortgage repayments.

IN the media coverage of Mary Harney’s resignation as PD leader, it was noted on the airwaves and in many newspapers — including your own — that in 1977 the then Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, appointed her to the Seanad, and that at the age of 24 she was the youngest ever member of the Upper House.

THE 80-year-old Irish sugar industry was brought to an end yesterday when Greencore closed the country’s last remaining processing plant in Mallow, Co Cork.

THE decision to close Mallow Sugar Factory with the loss of 324 jobs was described last night as a major blow to the town and its hinterland.

The Government has been asked to intervene immediately in the case of a black man on death row for 28 years in the US.

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.