In briefings, officials said a €44 cut on jobseeker payments had not been changed in over a decade and should be doubled at a time of full employment

The two party leaders hit the campaign trail on Monday to vie for votes.

Harris said the funding will see important upgrade works carried out in community centres in towns, villages, and parishes across the country.

When asked if she had really left public life, the Monaghan TD said: ‘There’s other things to do in life.’

Over 600 TidyTowns volunteers were present at the SuperValu TidyTowns awards ceremony at Croke Park in Dublin with the event live-streamed to more online.

Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris made the appointment following Ms Humphreys announcement that she will not be standing in the general election.

Taoiseach Simon Harris made the appointment after the 64-year-old’s shock decision to step down from the role and not stand in the general election.

The Fine Gael deputy leader is the latest senior figure in the party to step away from front line politics.

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said parents in Co Monaghan have fought a long campaign for a special school in the county

The budget will take place on Tuesday.

Three projects have been successful in securing the Peaceplus investment.

Coalition leaders and senior Ministers were engaged in high-level negotiations on Sunday night, ahead of the Budget on Tuesday.

Heather Humphreys said she wanted to expand the qualification for the fuel allowance.

The Minister for Social Protection has been told of the difficulties people who receive disability payments have as they call for an increase in the payments

Heather Humphreys and Roderic O’Gorman both said more can be done, but politicians are limited by budgetary constraints.

Minister Heather Humphreys said that a €20 increase for all social welfare payments would cost €1.5 billion

The government funding will kick in next year due to increased demands for dog control and the need to ensure resources on the ground to enforce the pending ban on XL Bully dogs from February

The ban comes after a number of recent attacks by XL Bullies, which included the death of a young woman, Nicole Morey, in Limerick.

XL Bully dogs are to be banned in Ireland under planned legislation

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys was launching a charter aimed at encouraging businesses and employers to hire young people

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys confirmed the changes will take effect in June

Independent TD Michael Lowry said there are 100 special needs schools across Ireland ‘but the reality is that number is failing to meet demand’.

The extended payments, announced in Budget 2024, will be made until the student’s 19th birthday

Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys has announced a funding allocation of €40 million for repairs and improvement works on non-public rural roads and laneways

Disability activists had criticised proposals in a recent Green Paper.

The party will hold its Ard Fheis this weekend in Galway

Employees who are not enrolled in a pension scheme and are aged between 23 and 60 will be automatically enrolled.

The opposition parties have been pushing for a general election to be called after Leo Varadkar’s resignation.

Mayo TD Alan Dillion, who is chair of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, said that while Leo Varadkar's resignation had caught everyone off-guard, he respected the decision

auto enrolment would mean that for every €3 a worker puts towards their pension, their employer would also put €3 into the pension plan and the State would add a further euro.

The measure was previously scheduled to kick in from September this year.

Introducing the measure, Heather Humphreys said the new arrangements will allow people to work longer in return for higher payments.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys announced the details of the payments on Monday

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said the measures would be brought to Cabinet on Tuesday

The package is worth around €230 million

Heather Humphreys visited business owners and householders in Carlingford on Friday.

The three coalition leaders are due to meet with the Finance and Public Expenditure ministers on Sunday afternoon.

The announcement was made at Croke Park by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys

The Department of Socia Protection said the changes will benefit approximately 16,000 lone parents

However, the Department of Rural and Community Development said any link between Ms Heather Humphreys and the generous allocations to her constituency counties of Cavan and Monaghan was coincidental.

Kiea McCann and Dalava Mohammed were killed in a car crash on Monday night as they travelled to a Debs

The teenage girls killed in the N54 crash have been named as Dalava Mohammed, 16, and Kiea McCann, 17.

An extra €100 per child will be added to child benefit payments on Tuesday in a measure aimed at helping families with the cost-of-living crisis

Simon Harris made the comments after Fine Gael ministers called for a tax cut of €1,000 for full-time workers earning €52,000.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said other extensions of the hot school meals programme would be prioritised first

The Labour leader called for a scaling-up of efforts to source accommodation for migrants as she condemned the targeting of makeshift camps in Dublin

Heather Humphreys said a ‘suite of measures’ to tackle the issue was being considered.

The Minister for Social Protection said a decision will be made in the coming weeks

Ministers are set to meet on Monday to finalise a package before it is formally signed off by Cabinet on Tuesday

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys shared updated figures from her department on Thursday