"My door is open. We will have to look at the issues that affect Cork South West."

The outgoing independent TD from Schull swept through on 11,712 votes, easily exceeding the quota of 11,085.

The Schull TD has tallied at around the 27% mark, well clear of Fianna Fail Cllr Christopher O'Sullivan in second place on around 15%.

For the first time in the history of the State, more than 30% of the candidates running in the general election are women.

Never underestimate the power of local knowledge. AsChristopher O’Sullivan moves around Ballydehob, the 37-year-old is propelled around town by others with decades of experience.

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald is confident the party will defend all three seats it currently holds across Cork City and county in the upcoming general election.

The decision was made following a meeting of the Party's National Constituencies Committee, the party said on Thursday.

Fine Gael has agreed to drop Wexford candidate Verona Murphy for the general election with fears she could damage the party if allowed run.

The Cork West TD confirmed he's leaving politics as he was finding it "increasingly difficult" to balance his work with his family life.

All Fine Gael members selected to run in the next general election will gather today, adding to speculation that Leo Varadkar is preparing to go to the country.

Doctors who are opposed to abortion will not be forced to dispense the abortion pill, according to Health Minister Simon Harris.

The possibility of unrestricted access to abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy if the Eighth Amendment is repealed has moved a step closer after another Government minister said he is backing the plan.

He is not a gambler, he is a mathematician. He plots three, four steps ahead. He will not risk a Theresa May calamity on the basis of two or three polls. He genuinely wants this to go on, writes Daniel McConnell

The Government will not be addressing a “bonkers” rule which is denying tens of thousands of women full pensions entitlements, claiming they do not have the money to do so.

They were all singing for their supper, but now the meals are coming who will be left hungry? Fiachra Ó Cionnaith assesses the likely winners and losers in incoming Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s new cabinet.

Another sibling has joined the ranks of Cork County Council following the recent elections to the Dáil and Seanad.

Not many of the 2,151,293 who voted in the election were working hard on the Sunday evening of the St Patrick’s Day weekend.

A newly elected Independent TD has confirmed he will engage with like-minded politicians with a view to establishing a Dáil technical group that will represent rural Ireland.

By far the biggest message to emerge from the results is simply that people are no longer willing to just go along with politics as usual, says Michael Clifford.

History was made in Cork South West with the election of the constituency’s first female TD, with Margaret Murphy O’Mahony’s win also matching the national pattern of a resurgent Fianna Fáil vote.

After topping the poll in the local election, Michael Collins is looking to the Dáil, writes Noel Baker

An autistic general election candidate and her autistic children have been targeted by vile online abuse which branded them “inbred mongolians”.

Ray Kinsella asked an extremely important question about the parties who are fighting the election - “how many political parties are fighting the general election on the grounds of the common good”.

Fears of a school’s pupil and staff numbers being slashed by half saw more than 250 parents, teachers, and national politicians attend a public meeting on proposals to reduce bus services for students.

The outgoing mayor of Co Cork is preparing to leave the Fianna Fáil party and run as an independent candidate in the next general election.

The leas-chathaoirleach of the Seanad has announced that he won’t be running in the next general election, which means for the first time in a generation a new face will appear on the Fianna Fáil ticket in Cork South West.

The inability of the Children’s Ombudsman to investigate most complaints about schools has prompted a call for a dedicated ombudsman for education.

The death of former agriculture minister and long-serving Fianna Fáil ex-TD Joe Walsh has prompted tributes from all sides of the political divide.

Former Minister for Agriculture Joe Walsh has died at the age of 71.

The country said no — but Munster said yes, with the province narrowly voting in favour of scrapping the Seanad.

The Taoiseach said he was "naturally, personally disappointed" by the defeat of the referendum to abolish the Seanad, as attention now turns to the need for political reform.

Voters in just five of the country’s 43 constituencies rejected the referendum, with strong divisions between urban and rural areas.

THE referendum on the fiscal treaty has exposed growing divisions among groups of voters.

TDs and senators claimed more than €600,000 in expenses in December, the latest figures show.

TRIBUTES have been paid to a circuit court judge whose great loves, apart from his family, were the law, politics and the GAA.

FINE Gael TDs and senators expressed anger and confusion over the possible downgrading of small hospitals during a fraught parliamentary party meeting with Health Minister James Reilly.

FLOOD campaigners will plead with a Government minister today for emergency funds to carry out vital dredging to protect a west Cork town from disaster.