Jan O’Sullivan, a Labour TD for the past 23 years and her 4,667 votes, in the end, brought Leddin into the fourth and final seat ahead of Independent Frankie Daly.

Dr Jim Stewart of Trinity College Dublin has said there is a “window of opportunity” at present because the Social Insurance Fund is in surplus.

People who want to work beyond the age of 65 should be able to do so, Willie O'Dea told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland

When election time comes around I will be eagerly awaiting what I expect will be a doorstep diatribe of meaningless fawning waffle from politicians tip-toeing around the real issues of our time.

Fine Gael has been accused of failing children, with 92,000 young people now living in consistent poverty and 4,000 in emergency homeless accommodation.

Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan has launched a blistering attack on Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy during a private meeting of the parliamentary party.

A stormy meeting on the controversial Public Services Card this morning saw Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty say her department would take their objection to accusations of illegality levelled at the card “as far as it takes to vindicate our position”.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection cannot say how much the 10-year Public Services Card project has cost to date.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s suggestion of tax cuts in Tuesday week’s budget has left many of his own ministers “furious”, as they are being told there is no money for their pet projects.

The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection has been called upon to release the legal advice she received on the Public Services Card at a stormy Dáil session this evening.

Fianna Fáil has ramped up the pressure on Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty to publish the Data Protection Commissioner’s highly adversarial report on the Public Services Card.

The Government’s decision to challenge the Data Protection Commissioner’s highly adversarial rulings on the Public Services Card has been condemned as “ludicrous” and “incredibly bizarre”.

The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, faced calls for her resignation last night as the fallout from the Data Protection Commissioner’s investigation into the Public Services Card continued.

One in 10 working-age households has no one in employment.

Hundreds of mourners, including stars from the world of boxing paid their respects at the removal of boxing champion Kevin Sheehy in Limerick this evening.

Back in the 1970s, a few years after Bob Dylan released Blood on the Tracks, he was being interviewed about how it was such an outstanding album.

Thousands of parents could be left without childcare as creches are being forced to reduce the places they can offer because of new Government rules.

Having sold 33.8 acres of Limerick residential development land at Castletroy for up to €8.5 million, or €375,000 an acre, agents Savills now have a similar sized 21-acre lot on the other side of the city, price-guided at €200,000 per acre at Mungret.

An invitation from the FAI to members of the Oireachtas Committee on Sport to attend a social occasion, days before the FAI was due to be grilled on its finances, has been described as “wholly inappropriate”.

Tributes have been paid to Dick Sadlier, a founding member of the Progressive Democrats, who showed “courage” in helping attempt to broker peace between rival gangs while he was mayor of his native Limerick.

Your morning bulletin.

Economics is basically the study of how to allocate scarce resources to achieve the best possible outcomes. The problem is that resources are by definition limited in supply and demands are virtually insatiable, writes Jim Power

Willie O’Dea has again called for a €5 hike to the pension. A new report says such a move would have little impact for the better, writes Political Editor Daniel McConnell.

Hundreds of sex abuse victims should be compensated by the State without having to prove a prior complaint was made to authorities, the Government will be told next week.

Those who vandalise or take down referendum posters should be pursued by the gardaí, Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party have said.

The Government has been criticised for setting 2020 as a target for reducing child poverty. It is unlikely to be met.

A minister has slammed Fianna Fáil moves to trigger a general election as “irresponsible” and “out of order”.

Fewer than one in five people who were enrolled on the State’s highly criticised back-to-work scheme, JobPath, secured full-time employment, despite the scheme costing €84m.

Pensioners who have lost up to €1,500 a year since 2012 will not be compensated for the amounts lost since then, the Government confirmed yesterday.

The Government has been criticised for setting unrealistic targets for reducing poverty. The latest figures for those in consistent poverty are more than double the level at which the Government had been aiming.

There are fresh calls for a new, statutory child maintenance service, after figures showed that, of all the cases reviewed by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection last year, just 15% resulted in payments being made.

The Cabinet is likely to approve the legalisation of abortion up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy in the new year, in line with the report of the committee of the Eighth Amendment.

Thousands of lone parents could benefit from closing off a loophole which allows estranged partners to avoid paying maintenance payments for their children.

Latest: Gardaí have upgraded the death of 78-year-old Rose Hanrahan to a murder investigation.

The head of the Department of Social Protection is emphasising that women who have been subjected to domestic abuse do not have to make attempts to contact their attacker in order to receive the lone parent’s allowance.

The phrase “all politics is local” is generally attributed to the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, the late Tip O’Neill. 

The Government has to approve measures next week which will see 42,000 people hit by “bonkers” pension reductions refunded, the Irish Examiner can reveal.

Fianna Fáil has criticised the Government for failing to publish the report on the pension system.

The Government is facing mounting pressure to address the State pension gender discrimination case after losing a Dáil vote on the issue.

The cost of fixing the pensions discrimination scandal next year would be some €363m, the Dáil heard, but leaving the gap in payments for older people is “cruel, callous and unconstitutional”.

Yesterday’s debate on the disadvantaging of mostly women carers when they come to pension age goes to the heart of defining who we are and what we value.