Holding off on election would have meant 'three or four-month campaign' - Taoiseach

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says holding off on announcing the upcoming general election would have meant a 'three or four-month campaign'.

He has confirmed this afternoon that an election will be held on Saturday 8th February.

Mr Varadkar travelled to Áras an Uachtaráin this afternoon to formally dissolve the 32nd Dáil.

Human body parts discovered in bag in north Dublin

Gardaí are looking at the possibility that the remains discovered in north Dublin belong to a teenage boy.

Two arms and two legs were found in bag in a residential area in Coolock on Monday night.

A local resident found the bag outside houses at the junction of Moatview Gardens and Drive.

One dead, several injured after explosion at petrochemical plant in Spain

One person has reportedly died after an explosion at a petrochemical plant in eastern Spain.

Six other people have been injured in the city of Tarragona in the Cataluña region.

Spanish state broadcaster TVE reported a man died after he was hit with an object that fell during the shaking of a building.

Ross says Government may be willing to increase State funding to FAI

The Sports Minister has said the Government may be willing to increase funding to the FAI in order to protect grassroots football.

Shane Ross was speaking after a meeting with officials from UEFA and the associations new independent chairman Roy Barrett in Dublin today.

Describing the meeting as “very constructive,” he said he believes “we are now on a pathway to a possible solution to immediate problems that beset the FAI.

Von der Leyen: UK will need free movement of people if it wants the same for goods

The European Commission president has said Britain will need to have full movement of people post-Brexit - if it wants full movement of goods.

Ursula von der Leyen's comments come ahead of her visit to Ireland on Wednesday.

Addressing the European Parliament on Tuesday, she said: "It's the UK's choice to decide on how close or how distant they want to be from the European Union, but that also means from the single market."