Latest

• EU wants banks to seek capital before tests13 Jul 2010 08:22European officials want banks to try to raise money themselves before seeking state support if stress tests by regulators reveal "vulnerabilities."

News

Election News

• 11-vote win by Fianna Fáil for last Laois seat12 Jun 2009FOLLOWING SIX days of count and re-count, Fianna Fáil has managed to hold the last seat on Laois County Council. Catherine Fitzgerald beat Fine Gael’s Paddy Buggy by 11 votes on the 11th count following a recount and a fresh manual count of ballots from the Portlaoise Electoral Area.
• Taoiseach insists he has voters' mandate to stay in office10 Jun 2009CONFIDENCE DEBATE: THE TAOISEACH rejected Opposition calls for a general election and insisted that he had a mandate to lead the Government.
• Cowen goes on attack over economy10 Jun 2009TAOISEACH'S SPEECH: THE GOVERNMENT has valid authority so long as there is a majority in the Dáil to support it, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has insisted, describing the Opposition as “disingenuous and not very democratic” for suggesting otherwise.
• Kenny challenges Cowen's suitability to lead Yes vote10 Jun 2009LISBON TREATY: THE FINE Gael leader challenged the Taoiseach’s suitability to lead the Yes campaign in the next Lisbon Treaty referendum following last Friday’s elections.
• Taoiseach vows to modernise FF party10 Jun 2009TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen told Fianna Fáil TDs and Senators last night that the party required radical modernisation to make it “fit for purpose” for the 21st century.
• Taoiseach made 'wrong choices, not hard choices'10 Jun 2009LABOUR: THE ELECTORATE voted no confidence in the Government because it made “the wrong choices” and “provided bad leadership”, not because it made “hard choices”, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has told the Dáil.
• Losses should spur reform - O'Toole10 Jun 2009SEANAD: SETBACKS SUFFERED by Fianna Fáil in the council elections should provide an incentive for Seanad reform, Joe O’Toole (Ind) suggested.
• Maureen O'Sullivan and George Lee welcomed into Dáil10 Jun 2009NEW TDs: BYELECTION WINNERS Independent Dublin Central TD Maureen O’Sullivan and Fine Gael Dublin South TD George Lee were formally welcomed into the Dáil yesterday as family and friends watched from the public gallery.
• Opposition says FF-Green Coalition has lost mandate9 Jun 2009OPPOSITION LEADERS last night renewed their call for an early general election in response to the collapse in support for both Government parties.
• Kenny rules out coalition with Labour and Greens without general election9 Jun 2009FINE GAEL POSITION: FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny last night ruled out any question of forming a rainbow coalition with Labour and the Greens without going to the country to allow the people vote for an alternative government.

European Elections

• Harkin tops poll after dramatic recount10 Jun 2009NORTH WEST: SITTING INDEPENDENT MEP Marian Harkin topped the poll in the North West constituency after a lengthy count and a dramatic recheck of ballot papers.
• Pratt to chair European Movement Ireland10 Jun 2009EU GROUP: THE EUROPEAN Movement Ireland (Emi) has announced the appointment of businessman Maurice Pratt as its new chairman. The move was “one of several initiatives designed to highlight the profile and work of the organisation over the next few months”, a statement from the organisation said.
• Complaint to gardaí over 3,000 stray votes10 Jun 2009NORTH WEST: AN UNSUCCESSFUL candidate in the European elections has complained to gardaí that 3,000 of his first-preference votes were initially counted as votes for Declan Ganley of Libertas.
• Ganley says he will not take part in a second anti-Lisbon Treaty campaign9 Jun 2009LIBERTAS: LIBERTAS LEADER Declan Ganley says he will not be involved in a campaign against the second Lisbon Treaty referendum.
• Alan Kelly makes it a hat-trick for Labour9 Jun 2009EUROPEAN ELECTIONS: SOUTH LABOUR SENATOR Alan Kelly last night made it a hat-trick of wins for the party in the European elections when he held off a late challenge from sitting Independent MEP Kathy Sinnott to take the final seat in the Ireland South constituency on the eighth and final count.
• Harkin, Higgins and Gallagher set to be elected9 Jun 2009NORTH WEST: OUTGOING INDEPENDENT MEP Marian Harkin, former MEP Pat “the Cope” Gallagher TD and current MEP Jim Higgins of Fine Gael looked certain of victory in the North West constituency last night.
• Higgins wins third seat on transfers from McKenna and McDonald9 Jun 2009EUROPEAN ELECTIONS: DUBLIN THE SOCIALIST Party candidate Joe Higgins struck a significant blow against Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin by clinching the final European Parliament seat in Dublin ahead of outgoing MEPs Eoin Ryan and Mary Lou McDonald.
• Childers and Aylward join poll-topper McGuinness9 Jun 2009EUROPEAN ELECTIONS: EAST LABOUR CANDIDATE Nessa Childers and Fianna Fáil’s outgoing MEP Liam Aylward were yesterday elected on the seventh count in the Ireland East constituency, joining Fine Gael poll-topper Mairéad McGuinness.
• Sinn Féin tops EU poll for first time as DUP splits9 Jun 2009EUROPEAN ELECTIONS: THE NORTH SINN FÉIN headed the poll for the first time in the European elections in Northern Ireland while the DUP, poll-topper at every other European election, had to be content with taking the third seat behind the Ulster Unionists/ Conservatives.
• MEPs: list of replacements9 Jun 2009EAST

Local Elections

• Councillors who lost seat in line for windfall10 Jun 2009GRATUITIES FOR LOST SEATS: ALMOST 200 councillors who lost their seats in the local elections are eligible for a retirement gratuity of €3,520.80 for every year of service since 2000.
• Coalition slumps in capital as Greens lose all nine seats9 Jun 2009BALANCE OF POWER: DUBLIN THE DROP in support for Fianna Fáil in the local elections was greater in the four local authorities in Dublin than in most of the other 30 city and county councils.
• Fianna Fáil left controlling just four of 34 councils9 Jun 2009BALANCE OF POWER: REST OF THE COUNTRY FIANNA FÁIL remains the largest political party in only four of the 34 county and city councils following the local elections.
• Workers' group stages comeback in Clonmel9 Jun 2009SOUTH TIPPERARY: THE LEFT-WING Workers Unemployed Action Group (WUAG) has staged a spectacular comeback in South Tipperary by winning a total of eight council seats and attracting more than 43 per cent of first-preference votes cast in the election for Clonmel’s Borough Council.
• Gender Balance9 Jun 2009THE LOCAL elections have not been particularly notable in terms of the numbers of women elected.
• Fianna Fail set to take just six seats8 Jun 2009DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL: FIANNA FÁIL faced the likelihood last night that it would only have half a dozen of Dublin City Council’s 52 seats.
• Green wipeout after losing four seats8 Jun 2009DUN LAOGHAIRE- RATHDOWN: THE GREEN Party in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council was wiped out following Friday’s local elections when the party’s four sitting councillors lost their seats.
• All three Green councillors lose seats8 Jun 2009FINGAL COUNTY COUNCIL: ALL THREE sitting Green councillors on Fingal County Council failed to retain their seats.
• Labour and FG solidify control as Greens exit8 Jun 2009SOUTH DUBLIN COUNCIL: LABOUR AND Fine Gael consolidated their dominance in South Dublin County Council, while the Green Party lost both its seats in the constituency.

Dublin Byelections

• Burke resigns from party days after losing byelection10 Jun 2009SNN FÉIN: SINN FÉIN’S longest-serving councillor in the Republic has resigned from the party days after losing the Dublin central byelection.
• Story of the Count: Dublin Central9 Jun 2009INDEPENDENT MAUREEN O’Sullivan topped the poll in Dublin Central but it was transfers from Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin that secured her the byelection seat. Fianna Fáil’s vote was expected to fall but the shock drop to 12.25 per cent (3,483 votes) for Cllr Maurice Ahern left him trailing in fifth place, when he hoped to get 20 per cent.
• Profile: Maureen O'Sullivan9 Jun 2009“GREGORY’S GIRL” began Saturday at St Mary’s school in Baldoyle, north Dublin, where her Leaving Certificate students sat the rescheduled English paper.
• Story of the Count: Dublin South9 Jun 2009GEORGE LEE’S election on the first count, with a spectacular 27,768 first preferences, had not been achieved in a byelection since Taoiseach Brian Cowen first entered the Dáil 25 years ago.
• Profile: George Lee9 Jun 2009FOUR YEARS ago Fine Gael won an extra seat in Europe with the farmers’ favourite Mairéad McGuinness. This time the party’s celebrity candidate was George Lee, or just “George” as his election posters read.
• Fifth place a dismal showing, FF admits8 Jun 2009DUBLIN CENTRAL BYELECTION: FIANNA FÁIL in Dublin Central has accepted that finishing fifth in this weekend’s byelection represented a dismal performance by the party, in a constituency dominated by former taoiseach Bertie Ahern for 30 years.
• O'Sullivan dedicates her victory to Tony Gregory's legacy8 Jun 2009THE COUNT: ALMOST 10 hours after the tallies predicted her victory, Independent candidate Maureen O’Sullivan was finally declared elected TD for Dublin Central late on Saturday night, maintaining the left-wing seat in the constituency.
• Kenny rejoices in 'spectacular' Lee result but has no plans for reshuffle8 Jun 2009DUBLIN SOUTH BYELECTION: THERE WOULD be no reshuffle of the Fine Gael front bench in the near future, party leader Enda Kenny said at the weekend. “We’ll consider these things in the times ahead,” he told The Irish Times .
• Government's power slipping away, says Lee8 Jun 2009THE COUNT: THE ELECTION of George Lee in the Dublin South byelection on Saturday means Fine Gael now holds three of the five seats in the constituency.
• Final appeals made to 62,000 Dublin Central voters4 Jun 2009BYELECTION: CANDIDATES HAVE made their final appeals to the 62,000 voters in the Dublin Central byelection.