A senior Fianna Fáil TD has controversially claimed former taoiseach Brian Cowen and the late former finance minister Brian Lenihan “put country before party” in the decisions they imposed during the economic crash.

Sales staff were forced to cancel a firesale auction of repossessed properties in Ireland amid allegations they were racially abused with anti-English remarks.

A firesale auction of repossessed homes and businesses had to be cancelled when protesters took over a salesroom.

A house went for as little as €30,000 in a fire sale auction widely touted to set a new floor for Ireland’s plummeting property market.

A health minister said today he was keeping an open mind on the introduction of a full smoking ban in Northern Ireland by 2007.