The presidential candidate also said she had been energised by a visit to the Electric Picnic music festival.

The final decision on the nomination will be made by the party later.

The independent TD for Galway visited Belfast.

Fine Gael is set for a contest for the party's presidential nomination, with party figures starting to come out in support of former minister Heather Humphreys and TD Seán Kelly

Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher has said that a meeting of his party’s parliamentary party should be "convened urgently" to discuss the forthcoming presidential election

It comes after Mairead McGuinness withdrew from the race for Áras an Uachtaráin.

The poll also found she is the most popular in a list of potential candidates for Áras an Uachtaráin

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 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

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

I have been sort of housebound this past while with the result that I have been re-introduced to the wonders of the radio. There are, as I have mentioned previously, programmes where Alexa is called into action to switch off the nonsense.

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.