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

The entire country went a little bit sports-mad this summer, so it comes as no surprise to hear Rugby World Cup 2015 is the phrase people in Ireland searched online for the most this year.

The first eight candidates to run for Renua Ireland in the upcoming general election have been confirmed.

On paper, the planned centre-left party has a good-looking lineout that’s far stronger than Lucinda Creighton’s Renua, writes Gerard Howlin.

The Renua Ireland TD who suffered an embarrassing interview on national radio as his party was launched has said the incident was not caused by a panic attack or failing to read up on the group’s policies.

Last Friday, a new political party was launched here. 

Renua leader Lucinda Creighton moved to put the party’s shaky launch behind her as more than one in five voters said they might support the new force in Irish politics.

Renua is dominated by former minister Lucinda Creighton, though she says the party is bigger than just one person.

Families of the Stardust fire victims are preparing to seek leave for a judicial review of the Government’s continued endorsement of two reports into the fire that they say are seriously flawed.

A support network for families with terminally ill babies has called for better services for parents whose children are expected to die soon after birth.

The launch of a new political party is due to be announced this morning by former Minister of State and Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton.

The Coalition has been urged to address Ireland’s spiraling rent prices as part of any measures to tackle homelessness, after claims the issue has helped force thousands of people into emergency accommodation or onto the streets.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has confirmed that Cork-based firm Abtran was last year paid €3.58m inclusive of Vat for providing telephone call handling for the local property tax and household charge.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has signalled dissatisfaction with Aer Lingus management over its remuneration practices, amid its ongoing pensions dispute.

The Reform Alliance will host their public conference this afternoon in the RDS and you can follow live updates here from 10am.

If media exposure equalled political success then surely Lucinda Creighton would be fast-tracked to the office of the Taoiseach by now.

New political grouping The Reform Alliance, which is due to be registered with the Standards in Public Office Commission in coming days, is holding a conference at the end of this month.

Taxpayers have forked out €5m for college fees for hundreds of staff across government departments under the Coalition.

Former banker consultant Peter Mathews has resigned from the Fine Gael party.

The fallout between Taoiseach Enda Kenny the seven rebel “Reform Alliance” TDs and senators showed no sign of abating yesterday after Mr Kenny said he wasn’t interested in “superfluous conversations” which had nothing to do with the problems Ireland faces every day.

Fine Gael rebel Lucinda Creighton has said her new grouping, Reform Alliance, which is holding a think-in in Dublin today will “speak its own mind in the Dáil” and “vote in the best interests of the country”.

The prospect of disaffected Fine Gael and Labour elected TDs joining forces to secure greater Dáil rights has grown stronger after two from either group held discussions.

The Labour Party has taken in almost €100,000 in Dáil allowances in respect of the five TDs who have lost the party whip and moved to the opposition benches.

Rebel TDs kicked out of Fine Gael for opposing the abortion legislation could be let back into the parliamentary party after a period of time, according to a junior minister.

Expelled Fine Gael TDs resisted efforts by Leinster House ushers to move them out of their party offices and into different locations following their expulsion from the parliamentary party.

When Enda Kenny used the ‘crosier’ of the parliamentary party whip to bully Fine Gael TDs into supporting his abortion Bill, and he ‘excommunicated’ from the Fine Gael parliamentary party Deputies Lucinda Creighton, Terence Flanagan, Peter Mathews, Billy Timmins and Brian Walsh for honouring Fine Gael’s general election pledge not to introduce abortion legislation, there were very few criticisms of his actions by media commentators.

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.

Lucinda Creighton insisted she had stayed true to Fine Gael’s values after she was kicked out of the parliamentary party for voting against the abortion legislation.

A final Dáil vote on legislation allowing abortion in certain circumstances is expected to take place later today after TDs failed to conclude all stages despite a marathon all-night sitting.

It now looks increasingly likely that the European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton will be the only TD to revolt on abortion legislation tonight.

Rebel minister Lucinda Creighton faces a vote for her political future today when she must decide whether to back the abortion legislation.

The Health Minister has denied politicians were bullied into voting for the new contentious abortion legislation.

Up to 30,000 protesters took to the streets of Dublin today against the contentious new abortion legislation.

European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton has proposed far-reaching changes to the abortion legislation in a move that signals she will oppose the bill during a final Dáil vote next week.

The Taoiseach has promised that a number of amendments to the abortion legislation will go through in the Dáil next week.

Former Minister of State for Primary Care Róisín Shortall has described the lack of gestational time limits in the proposed abortion bill, in cases where the woman is suicidal, as "abhorrent".

The expulsion of anti-abortion TDs from Fine Gael has been compared to a death in the family by Transport Minister Leo Varadkar.

The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill has passed its Committee stage tonight.

A Government minister has compared the expulsion of Fine Gael TDs for their revolt against contentious abortion legislation to a death in a family.

Fine Gael TDs Peter Mathews and Billy Timmins have been removed from the Dáil's Finance Committee.

Calls to allow abortions in cases where a baby has no chance of survival outside the womb dominated last night’s Dáil committee meeting on amendments to the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill.

Four Fine Gael TDs who voted against legislation allowing abortion in limited circumstances were last night expelled from the parliamentary party and told they would be stripped of their membership on Oireachtas committees.

Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald warned that rebel backbenchers will lose the party whip and their position in the parliamentary party.

TDs have passed the second stage of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill by 138 votes to 24 in this evening's Dáil vote.