Dáil visitors, including schoolchildren on class tours, will be forced to undergo scanner checks on any bags or items they bring into Leinster House within months under beefed up security measures.

Leo Varadkar, the health minister, has fired the first shots of the next general election campaign and warned that Sinn Féin’s failure to tell the truth about its past means it cannot be trusted in government.

European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton has apologised in the High Court to Cork-based property developer Michael O’Flynn and described him as an upstanding developer.

Sinn Féin's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness has said the issue of policing in the North can only be solved if the DUP agree to power-sharing by the November 24 deadline.