Make no mistake — despite having 15 candidates to choose from due to the merger of two former Kerry constituencies into one, three of the five seats on offer in this sprawling area are already effectively decided.

A rejected Fianna Fáil candidate has become the latest addition to the diverse grouping of the Independent Alliance (IA).

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

A group fighting the amalgamation of local councils is urging Cork councillors to visit areas which have suffered after merging.

The standard one-year warranty on 10 PlayStations bought for the entertainment of children hospitalised with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is in danger of expiring before the ward for which they were purchased even opens.

From an early gig in Cork, to their Lady Gaga remix, Wild Beasts have long been one of the most fascinating bands around, writes Ed Power

The planned opening of a €2m, high-observation psychiatric unit — which has remained closed since last December, due to staff shortages — has again been postponed, a nurses’ union has claimed.

The HSE’s national recruitment service has been asked to prioritise staffing a new €2.3m respiratory ward, funded by a charity, that remains closed at Cork University Hospital (CUH) due to nurse shortages.

A new €3m high-observation unit in a hospital psychiatric department remains closed due to a nursing shortage.

Michael Clifford explains why he loves John Delaney.

The Irish Farmers’ Association has ruffled An Taisce’s feathers by seeking a reduction in the hedge-cutting season.

ANYBODY trying to keep hens, or ducks, will know how difficult it is to protect them from predators. Foxes have always been a threat to poultry but, in some areas, mink are now regarded with equal dread in the coop.

The leading TD of a new independent alliance of politicians has said his group has not held talks with the Coalition about propping up parties after the next general election.

A number of Independent TDs - including Shane Ross - are meeting in Tullamore Co. Offaly today, to consider their plans for the next general election.

Regular flooding in parts of a south Kerry town is causing residents acute anxiety and lack of sleep, at times, it has been claimed.

More help for households with mortgage arrears could be on the way after widespread criticism of the manner in which banks are dealing with the crisis.

As political bedfellows go, few make a more unlikely pair than turfcutters’ champion Michael Fitzmaurice and bombastic city-slicker Shane Ross.

Kerry is unlikely to benefit from an upsurge in the tourism industry until major road schemes have been undertaken.

Even in death, Jackie Healy-Rae looked like a man on the campaign trail.

IDA Ireland "has given up on many parts of the country" even though it punches above its weight in attracting investment into Ireland.

Simon Coveney, the agriculture minister, has signalled that he will push Ireland’s incoming European commissioner, Phil Hogan, to help frustrated farmers here get fair prices for their beef.

Speculation is growing in Kerry that the former Fianna Fáil and now Independent councillor Michael Cahill, who left the party in 2011 and was crucial to the election of the Independent TD Tom Fleming in Kerry South, is on his way back to Fianna Fáil.

Final tallies from Killarney are in and the quota is likely to be 2,000.

Legal and consultancy firms were the big winners in the €7.6m paid out last year by the Government’s two finance departments.

Eircom customers — some of whom have been without a landline phone service for up to a month — may have an even longer wait for restoration of service.

The site of an old shipwreck, displaced in recent storms, is dangerous because of unstable sand dunes, it has been warned.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has poured cold water on the chances of Ireland accessing the EU solidarity fund for repairs and rebuilding after severe storms battered the country.

Amid calls for a cooling-off period, both sides in the increasingly fraught dispute at the Liebherr container crane factory in Killarney, Co Kerry, were yesterday considering the outcome of a Siptu ballot.

High-resolution satellites have detected that half of Co Kerry’s 8,000 farmers are claiming EU farm payments for agricultural land which is not suitable for farming.

A Kerry County Council rule banning telecommunications masts within 1km of homes and other residential buildings could be delaying improvements to the mobile phone service.

An independent TD has said it is “very hard to comprehend the insensitivity” with which ill people are being dealt with by the authorities in removing their medical cards.

A dramatic increase in the number of hoax calls to the ambulance service in Kerry has been strongly condemned with a warning such calls could lead to loss of life.

THE spectre of someone suffering a heart attack, or another life-threatening illness, or being involved in a serious accident in a remote part of the South-West is fuelling concerns about likely cutbacks in ambulance services.

The cash-strapped Department of Social Protection is splashing out on more than 1,000 hand-held tablet computers for staff despite fears about looming budget cuts.

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.

A group of vocal protesters campaigning against banks and house repossessions has forced the cancellation of a large-scale property auction in Dublin.

Calls have been made for a return to a local ambulance call-out system following another mix-up involving the new centralised service in Dublin.