The European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom has said Ireland will not be flooded by hormone-treated beef thanks to strict import conditions under the new US trade deal with Europe.

AS the days count down to a historic vote on changing our Constitution, most voters will be unaware that if senators are let go, so to speak, they are entitled to bumper pay offs.

The Government has promised to address concerns about organ donation numbers after it escaped political embarrassment and narrowly defeated a motion to annul legislation on transplants.

A Labour Senator wants the Minister for Public Expenditure to examine the practice of Oireachtas members sending thousands of Christmas cards.

The Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte says he had "no hand in determining" how RTE defended or settled a libel action last week.

Sweeping democratic reforms of Fianna Fáil’s internal decision-making were ushered in by the 73rd ard fheis.

A FORMER leader of the Seanad brought a close to the election count by imploring newly elected members to fight for the continued retention of the Upper House.

FIANNA FÁIL leader Micheál Martin has named former finance minister Brian Lenihan as his deputy in a move that could make it harder for the party to disassociate itself from previous failures.

FIANNA FÁIL leader Micheál Martin’s attempts to control the party’s Seanad candidates has been rebuffed by members.

PRECISE details of how over €38 million was spent in one year by the Oireachtas on the expenses and allowances of TDs and senators, the salaries of Oireachtas staff as well as on the upkeep of Leinster House have been released for the first time.

The Environment Minister is urging the five remaining TDs and MEPs still holding out on returning their pensions to "do the right thing".

Roscommon Senator Terry Leyden has become the latest politician to bow to pressure and give up his ministerial pension.

Six Fianna Fáil politicians in receipt of an Oireachtas pension on top of their salary are expected to surrender the pension payment today.

A THIRD “budget” within 10 months in the Department of Agriculture sums up the state of the economy.

THE degree to which Fianna Fáil was both vexed and jealous about the arrival of George Lee into politics was summed up in a couple of scenes from Leinster House this week.

The Government has told us there will be more tax increases in next December’s budget, that child benefit will be cut, that other social welfare benefits are under threat and that public spending will have to be cut. That is not a media construct

SENATOR Terry Leyden (Letters, March 28) said I failed to “appreciate the importance of protecting parliamentary privilege” (Letters, March 12). Nothing could be further from the truth.

IT IS not my intention to continue a public dialogue in these pages with John Kennedy and I intend now putting the matter to rest until the Taoiseach’s court proceeding are concluded.

SENATOR Terry Leyden offers the view that “military neutrality is a defining feature of our country” (Letters, March 6).

SENATOR Terry Leyden (Letters, February 28) is correct in saying TDs and senators should avail of parliamentary privilege in their “duty in the Oireachtas to fight for, and to be a voice for, those whom we represent”.

I HAVE followed the lively debate on the EU Reform Treaty in your letters page. As Government spokesperson on European affairs in the Seanad and a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs, I take a particular interest in the debate.

I SUPPORT the Taoiseach’s moves to uphold the parliamentary privilege from which members of the Oireachtas benefit in their capacity as public representatives.

Galway Co Councillor Michael 'Stroke' Fahy walked free from the Four Courts today after the Court of Criminal Appeal set aside his conviction for fraud and attempted theft and ordered that a retrial take place.

Fianna Fáil’s Pat Moylan was today formally elected unopposed as Cathaoirleach of the new Seanad.

The new Seanad will meet for the first time today to formally appoint a cathaoirleach and leas-cathaoirleach.

The new Cathaoirleach of the Seanad is expected to be agreed this afternoon at a meeting of Fianna Fáil's 28 senators.

BERTIE AHERN has not yet named the ‘temporary’ senators who will replace the four Taoiseach’s nominees in the outgoing Seanad who have been elected to the Dáil.

The new Northern Ireland Assembly must cut the corporation tax rate to the same level as the rest of Ireland to create a one-island economy, an Oireachtas Committee said today.

The Seanad has approved a private-members Bill aimed at tightening up the legal situation surrounding wills.

The Star newspaper had come under attack in the Seanad following the picture of Minister for Health Mary Harney that was published on its front page yesterday.

Compensation payments to elderly patients illegally charged in public nursing homes since the 1970s will begin next month, it emerged today.

The Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006 has passed all stages in the Oireachtas and has been forwarded President Mc Aleese for her signature, Senator Terry Leyden announced today.

IT was a macabre twist worthy of a crime novel - at precisely the same time news broke of Denis Donaldson’s murder last night, a news magazine was about to announce him winner of its Survivor of the Year award.

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.

Shareholders of Cement Roadstone Holdings Plc should withdraw their investment from a “wall of shame” security barrier being built by Israel in the West Bank, it was claimed today.

A major illegal dump by construction giant, Cement Roadstone Holdings Plc in West Wicklow has already contaminated the area’s groundwater, it was claimed today.

BITTER family feuds caused by wills being lost could be avoided if a new bill becomes law next year.

A national registry of wills should be established to prevent thousands of Irish people losing out on their inheritances, a former Government minister said today.

THE branding of towns chosen for decentralisation as “God-awful places” with only “dingy pubs” by a prominent Labour Party politician was roundly condemned yesterday.

LEGISLATION is needed to control the use of camera phones to protect children, says a Fianna Fáil senator,

HAVING heard Senator Terry Leyden attribute the Taoiseach’s intervention in the recent Roscommon planning controversy to his being a ‘humanitarian’ with a ‘big heart’, I’ve wasted no time faxing Mr Ahern to request the release of Fintan Lane of the Irish Anti-War Movement from Limerick Prison.

Fianna Fail may have the beginning of another grassroots rebellion on its hands, following an extraordinary outburst against the Hanly Report, from a former junior minister.

SHOPS and businesses ripping off consumers will be named and shamed in the Seanad in an effort to bring down prices and encourage competition.