Former Mayor of Kilkenny, David Fitzgerald will represent Fine Gael in the Carlow-Kilkenny Bye-Election.

Fine Gael Longford/Westmeath TD, Gabrielle McFadden, has welcomed a statement issued by the HSE which has put an end to the ill-founded speculation that the Hospice in Athlone is facing closure.

Fine Gael, Cork North Central TD and Minister for European Affairs, Dara Murphy TD, has warmly welcomed today's announcement by DAA Cork Airport, that UK airline Flybe will operate a new Cork – Cardiff route.

Fine Gael TD for Cork South Central and Chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, Jerry Buttimer, has welcomed the announcement of a new twice-weekly all year round Cardiff service to Cork airport with FlyBe.

“Rural communities are set to benefit most from the recent significant investments in the dairy industry”, says Fine Gael TD for Cork North West, Áine Collins.

Senator Catherine Noone has today called on the Government to consider making it mandatory to have food and drinks manufacturers display “traffic light” calorie labels. Her comments come after it was revealed that a major soft drinks manufacturer will be tailoring their products to include the “green, amber, red” system on all of their Irish beverages later this year.

I welcome the Bill and support its provisions generally. I will deal first with the two clarifications provided for in section 3 in respect of qualification for carer's benefit, carer's allowance and the carer's respite care grant.

Brian Hayes MEP today (Wednesday) said that the European Banking Authority's decision not to run stress tests on banks is a big risk to the financial stability of the European banking system.

Fine Gael Senator for Sligo Leitrim, Michael Comiskey, has welcomed the announcement by the Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring, that the Government will provide €43, 500 to support festivals in Sligo this year. This follows the announcement that funding of €564,000 has been approved by Fáilte Ireland to support 187 regional festivals and events taking place this year. Today’s news follows earlier announcements of almost €2.3m for 27 large national festivals throughout Ireland in 2015.

Fine Gael Senator for Kerry and Government Chief Whip in the Seanad, Paul Coghlan, speaking in the Seanad today, has highlighted the increased risk of online gambling as a result of recent interruptions to the National Lottery services.