A ROW broke out during Enda Kenny’s visit to the North after the Fine Gael leader said Sinn Féin has not completed its “journey to democratic politics”.

FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has said he wants the failed rebellion leader Richard Bruton back on his front bench.

THE battle for the leadership of Fine Gael is on such a knife-edge that the party chairman is seeking legal advice on whether he can use a casting vote in today’s motion of confidence in Enda Kenny.

BOTH sides in the Fine Gael street fight promised they would deliver the decisive blow throughout yesterday.

Enterprise Minister Batt O'Keefe has said job losses at Quinn Insurance are likely.

MORE lone parents should be allowed access to the Rental Accommodation Scheme, while Fás needs to drop its “stupid” start times for courses, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

PRODUCERS are outraged by the drop in pig prices, says the Irish Farmers’ Association. IFA pigs and pigmeat committee chairman, Tim Cullinan, said demand on the Continent is up, yet Irish processors cannot secure better prices for producers.

GALWAY East Fine Gael TD Ulick Burke has told the Dáil of a bank manager who said a farmer’s grain could rot in the fields before he would get a loan to buy a combine harvester.

THE Government is undermining its own homeless strategy by slashing rent supports for vulnerable tenants.

THE number of mushroom growers has declined from 504 in 2000 to 85 at present, Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith told the Dáil.

DISCOURAGING cultivation of genetically modified crops is Irish government policy, rather than discouraging the importation or consumption of authorised GM food or feed, according to Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith.

COMMUNITY, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Éamon Ó Cuív hopes to shortly commence selecting local action groups to deliver the LEADER element of the Rural Development Programme for Ireland 2007-2013.

People with information on the IRA-linked murder of a Co Armagh trucker must come forward, the Dáil heard today.

THE numbers of new and replacement bovine animal ear tags issued last year highlights the need for a new system of identification, according to Cavan-Monaghan Fine Gael TD Seymour Crawford.

The DUP is remaining silent on a fresh controversy surrounding links between Ian Paisley Jnr and the property developer Seymour Crawford.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny will today offer his backing to the family of murdered Paul Quinn in their fight for justice.

The family of a man murdered along the Border two months ago are to raise directly with the Irish Government allegations that IRA members were involved.

THE first thing the new Dáil will do when it convenes on Thursday is not elect a Taoiseach, but a Ceann Comhairle.

A total of 108 applications were successful under the compensation measures introduced for poultry producers due to the fall-off in consumption arising from concerns in regard to avian influenza.

Family, friends and neighbours of four young men killed in a road crash in Monaghan have been plunged into a deep state of shock, it was claimed today.

Former Government minister and Ceann Comhairle Tom Fitzpatrick has died aged 88 years, it was announced today.

FARMERS have been reminded that forestry is a real alternative land use option and is worth investigating.

NEW animal transport rules, due to be introduced in the near future, will threaten the viability of local livestock marts, Fine Gael claimed yesterday.

A face-to-face meeting between Gerry Adams and the Rev Ian Paisley would be truly historic, Sinn Féin claimed tonight.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is to hold historic talks with Democratic Unionist Party leader the Rev Ian Paisley in Belfast tomorrow.

Ambulances services at Monaghan General Hospital have resumed almost three years after they were suspended.

THE Department of Health has come under fire for wasting €30 million of tax payers' money on unnecessary reports while the health service is struggling to cope with demand.

Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin has rejected accusations that he wasted millions of euro in taxpayers’ money on commissioning reports in his former role as Health Minister.

The Minister for Health has been called on to consider his position following the death of a nine-year-old girl in Cavan two weeks after having her appendix removed at Cavan Hospital.

The British-Irish inter-parliamentary body is due to hold its latest biannual meeting in the British town of Ware this week.

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy is to be pressed to turn the Republic’s controversial planned workplace smoking ban into an all-Ireland concept.

The result from Cork South Central's recount is expected to be known this afternoon.

A recount is underway in Cavan/Monaghan to determine which Fine Gael candidate takes the fourth and final seat in the constituency.

A second recount of the votes in Cork South-Central is due to begin this morning after independent candidate Kathy Sinnott’s three-vote victory was overturned in an initial recount yesterday.

Defeated Fine Gael TD Andrew Boylan is challenging his defeat at the hands of his running mate, Seymour Crawford, in Cavan-Monaghan.

Fine Gael's Seymour Crawford has won the fifth and final seat in the Cavan-Monaghan constituency.

A full recount has been called for Cavan-Monaghan and will go ahead on Tuesday morning at 9am.

Fine Gael leader John Bruton has said he forgives Michael Noonan and Jim Mitchell for challenging his stewardship of the party.