Fine Gael party chairman Charlie Flanagan has compared anti-abortion extremists to the Ku Klux Klan is response to Fine Gael TDs being personally targeted by the campaigners.

Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore may face a threat to his position after the Meath East by-election which saw Helen McEntee win her late father Shane’s seat.

Two new opinion polls have offered differing views of the current state of the government parties in Ireland – with one suggesting as many as 50 Fine Gael and Labor Party deputies would lose their seats in a snap election.

Fine Gael wants to remain in power for the centenary of the 1916 Rising – and is planning a general election date to ensure it stays is government.

Support for Fianna Fail is way up according to the latest Sunday Times/Behaviour & Attitudes opinion poll.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny has told Europe’s power brokers that Ireland may be over the worst of the recession.

A new Millward Brown poll in Sunday’s Independent has found that only 11 percent of people polled would choose a Fine Gael / Labour coalition should a general election be called.

The Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has said the New Year will bring hope, possibility and confidence to Ireland as the country enters its presidency of the European Union.
 
Kenny said the presidency will bring hope and confidence to people of Ireland by delivering jobs, stability and economic growth.
 
He said “We all know too well here in Ireland the huge sacrifices the crisis has meant. The people of Europe and Ireland need to know and need to see there is progress being made. That there is a next step to recovery.”
 
The Irish leader was joined by the Deputy leader Eamon Gilmore and Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton at a special flag-raising ceremony at Dublin Castle, to mark the beginning of Ireland's six-month term.
 
Kenny insists that stronger relations with EU member states would lead to a brighter future for Ireland.
 
He said “The Irish presidency in 2013 will be about three crucial words: stability, jobs and growth.
 
"There are real actions to back up those three words. We will be in the business of solution, a recovery country, driving recovery in Europe."
 
The ceremony at Dublin Castle marked the beginning of Ireland’s seventh presidential term, honored the incoming European Year of Citizens and celebrates 40 years since Ireland entered the EU in 1973.
 
Kenny said “Let this presidency and the new year, this European year of the citizen, bring new hope, new possibility and new confidence to our peoples…And above all, may it find that, together, this family of Europeans, we are making a richer and more sustainable future for all our peoples.”

The brother of Irish government minister Shane McEntee who committed suicide, allegedly after receiving withering criticism in social media over comments he made defending the Irish budget ,has slammed those who attacked him. Over 3,000 attended his funeral.

Over 2,000 attended the removal of the remains of Irish government minister Shane McEntee from his home to the church on Sunday as politicians discussed means of dealing with abusive behavior aimed at politicians. McEntee was buried on Monday.

Minister for State Shane McEntee will be buried in his native Meath on Monday – as friends and colleagues continue to claim cyber bullying and criticism aired on radio shows contributed to his suicide.

Irish leader Enda Kenny has praised the people of Ireland for their efforts to get the country back on track following the recession.

To those of us looking in from the outside, Shane McEntee was a real larger than life character. Shane was Minister of State for Agriculture in the Irish government when he passed away on Friday.

The family of government minister Shane McEntee are preparing to bury Ireland’s latest suicide victim.

The government has confirmed that Ireland’s Minister for State Shane McEntee has died suddenly. The County Meath East representative at the Department of Agriculture, with the responsibility for food, horticulture and food safety, died just two days after his 56th birthday.