The Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae has declined to comment following a report he was attending a funeral in South Kerry in June 2018 while signed into the Dáil for a key address by EU leader Jean-Claude Juncker.

Ms Doherty said the clarity on Mr Healy Rae's movements is needed after it emerged the Kerry TD was a five-hour drive away in Sneem on the same day as he was signed into the Dáil for a key EU Brexit debate.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said Oireachtas officials may need "a reflection on" the Leinster House fobbing-in system amid claims some are claiming expenses on days they do not turn up to vote.

A Government TD has recused herself from the investigation into voting irregularities in the Dáil after admitting she did the same thing.

The Committee on Members Interests will get also legal advice about whether complaints about the TDs - who voted in the Dáil on behalf of colleagues - are genuine and admissible.

We’ve learned in the past few days that all sides have engaged in button pushing for colleagues during Dáil votes, says Alison O’Connor.

Demoted Fianna Fáil TDs Timmy Dooley and Niall Collins look set to remain stripped of their frontbench jobs after scathing criticism of their parts in the Dáil voting scandal.

The Dáil’s internal report into voting irregularities has been branded a “complete whitewash” by several Fine Gael ministers.

After a torrid week, the Fianna Fáil benches were noticeably downbeat.

Senior Fine Gael figures have launched stinging attacks on Fianna Fáil TDs who voted on behalf of their colleagues in the Dáil, deeming their actions “cavalier” and “arrogant”.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has suggested a two-step process for parliament votes, used in Germany, should be examined for the Dáil.

The speaker of the Dáil, Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl said the voting scandal of a week ago was a “political failure,” which eroded public confidence in politics.

The internal Dáil report into the voting irregularities included testimony from the two TDs at the heart of the scandal - Timmy Dooley and Niall Collins- and this is what they had to say.

A report into the voting activity of a number of Fianna Fáil TDs in the Dáil last week will be published today.

Although it deserves to be treated as a serious issue, the recent voting saga in the Dáil is distracting from more important issues, writes Political Correspondent Elaine Loughlin.

Four Fianna Fáil TDs will be given an opportunity to make statements along with parties tomorrow over the Dáil voting controversy.

The problem for Timmy Dooley and Niall Collins is that they are denied the status of knaves because they have been certified as fools instead, writes Gerard Howlin

One of the very first lessons in the How To Get Along In Politics Handbook (Haughey, Mandelson et al, 1978) is how to run down the clock in a television or radio studio.

The Dáil's Ceann Comhairle has formally launched an investigation into the Leinster House voting controversy, warning the scandal is "very grave" and "goes to the heart of the democratic process".

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin had told his leading TDs that "discipline is important" in the wake of the Dáil voting scandal that has rocked the party.

Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty is the latest minister to be subject to scrutiny about voting in the Dáil.

Minister of state Damien English and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen are the latest politicians to be dragged into the ‘phantom voting’ controversy.

The duo have said they were in the Dáil on occasions when their button was pressed but they were not in their seats.

As it was put to me yesterday - the Maria Bailey fiasco was such a Fine Gael type of scandal, while the 'Vote-gate' row is a classic Fianna Fáil one.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has insisted a full investigation into the "illegal act" of TDs voting for colleagues while they are physically absent is needed - claiming some votes could be cast while TDs are out on "a skite".

Daniel McConnell explains how the Dáil's electronic voting process works, and how this controversy has arisen.

There are mounting calls for the Dáil's electronic voting to be suspended pending the outcome of an inquiry into TD's voting on behalf of colleagues.

The Referendum Commission started printing its guide to last year’s blasphemy referendum a week before the Government had announced the polling day - because it feared it would not have enough time to produce the leaflets due to the delay in declaring the date.

American Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke raised an unprecedented $6.1m — €5.38m — during the first 24 hours of his official run for the White House. It is spectacular and says many things.

IRELAND’S long-awaited Electoral Commission is to be established finally in the new year. Let us hope it will prove worth the wait, but, more importantly, let us hope that it has more teeth than its UK equivalent.

The 1918 election saw women over the age of 30 extended the right for the first time, as well as men over the age of 21 who did not own property.

The voting age should be cut to 16, the Convention on the Constitution has said.

The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, has revealed that she has a personal preference for the manual voting system that is due to be replaced by electronic machines in the local and European elections in June.