Michael Lowry

From Seanad election latest to the neverending Dáil speaking rights row, it's your essential end-of-week politics catch-up

Government plan is ‘total arrogance’ on the back of a ‘grubby deal’, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald says

Women junior Ministers were placed in the front row at the Leinster House photocall but it fooled no one, as just six of the 23 appointees are women

Committee to consider wording of a new amendment to Dáil rules to break gridlock over ongoing row around Regional Independent Group

The case taken by Pa Daly points to article 28 of the Constitution, which limits the number of government members to 15

Losing bidder for country’s second mobile-phone licence has sought High Court order for disclosure of information

Row over speaking rights in Dáil continues with Regional Independent Group claiming TD involved in programme for government can speak for Opposition

There are disputed accounts also as to whether Independent TD Michael Lowry and Sinn Féin’s Pádraig Mac Lochlainn shook hands over a claimed ‘deal’

‘Unprecedented’ is overused, but even veterans were hard-pressed to find another way on Wednesday to describe the chaotic scenes in the Dáil

Late-night wrangling produced a compromise over the Regional Independents - but whether it holds remains to be seen

European leaders are bracing themselves as Trump’s return to the White House has plunged the Continent into a precarious era. Evidently, the memo has failed to reach Dáil Éireann

Dáil approves Micheál Martin's new Cabinet by a margin of 97 votes to 72

Opposition deputy says senior figure in Regional Independents Group gave false evidence to tribunal

Political wounds may take some time to heal in 34th Dáil after acrimonious 24 hours

Chaotic scenes in the chamber unfold around coalition of Tweedledum, Tweedledee and Tweedledeal

Surprise that Murphy, a robust contributor who rarely took a backwards step in her days as an Independent TD, did not nip Dáil conflict in the bud

Inside Politics podcast with Hugh Linehan

The solemnity of the occasion contrasts with the unseemly manner in which ithas been assembled

Micheál Martin stands over his criticism of Michael Lowry when the Moriarty tribunal’s report was published in 2011, and said what was revealed by the tribunal was ‘shocking’

Plus: Defence Forces spending on Pilates sounds like a bit of a stretch, Michael McGrath discusses European master plan in Cork and Independent TDs take us back to the past

Oireachtas has said it is a matter for Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy, who said legal advice allows for Regional Independent Group members to also ask questions from Opposition benches

Verona Murphy said that there is precedent for any non-party member who is not a minister or minister of State, and has agreed to support government to get speaking time

It is not clear why it took the gardaí 14 years to complete their file arising from the 2011 Moriarty report, but the passage of time raises the question of the fairness of now bringing charges against anyone

The bulk of the six-week negotiations happened between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, but the Regional Independent Group played a vital role in forming the new government

The Healy-Rae brothers refer to working in government, even if Danny wants to be able to bark questions at that government as if still sitting on the opposition benches

In the independent TD’s Thurles political heartland some say they don’t believe the findings against him, others feel he made forgivable mistakes that are now in the past, and some subscribe to both theories at once

Inside Politics podcast with Hugh Linehan

Arrangements underpinning the support of Independents seem to be based on constructive ambiguity

How can our new government claim to be an international referee of political integrity when it has shamelessly thrown away its moral compass?

Backlash after Michael Lowry proposes that he and other Independents supporting next Coalition sit on Opposition benches

Full text of new programme to be made available today in advance of meetings of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parliamentary parties

Across the different parties and groups, more than 20 negotiators have been working hard to hammer out a deal

Dáil vote in 2011 called on Tipperary TD to voluntarily resign but he refused, later telling The Irish Times he would not be run out of politics by ‘the media’

In the News podcast: Colm Keena reported on the Moriarty tribunal from its inception in 1997 to 2011. He explains what it did and why

Negotiators continue to work through policy areas with rolling sessions raising the possibility of imminent agreement

Regional Independent group and two Healy-Rae brothers set to join new government if negotiations are successful

Group of eight Independent TDs will submit a position paper to the two bigger parties setting out its preconditions for entering government

Tánaiste and Taoiseach both reject suggestion that independent TD will be a ‘kingmaker’ in government formation talks

Fourteen years is an extraordinary length of time for a criminal investigation

Decision to forward file will exert pressure on FF and FG as parties negotiate with Independent TD Michael Lowry to form coalition