As journalists awaited the resignation of Uachtarán Fhianna Fáil last Saturday, many asked where it all went wrong for Brian Cowen. His downfall could not have contrasted more with the ecstasy of his inauguration as party leader in 2008, a united Fianna Fail fully behind Bertie's 'chosen one'. The first Lisbon Treaty of that year was cited as the beginning of his descent in public opinion: Brian Cowen admitted to not reading the Treaty in full. (It would have been more worrying had he indeed read the impenetrable legal document, but it looked bad.)

Fianna Fail TDs who publicly support candidates for the party leadership outlined this morning the reasons behind their choice. They were speaking on the Today with Pat Kenny programme on RTE Radio One. A new party leader will be elected from the four candidates on Wednesday afternoon. 

The four contenders for the Fianna Fail leadership, Mary Hanafin, Brian Lenihan, Michael Martin and Eamon O' Cuiv have been lobbying party TDs, but the favourite to succeed is Michael Martin. So who's backing whom?

The Green Party salvaged some political standing on Thursday in forcing Brian Cowen to backtrack on a proposed Cabinet reshuffle and also set a date of 11 March for the general election. But by resigning from government this afternoon but stating their intention to support the Finance Bill from opposition benches, the Greens have cast further uncertainty on the date for an election. They also place the Dail in a Constitutional quandary and may have nullified whatever modest gains they made politically. By Malachy Browne

It was persistent questioning by Sinn Fein's Caoimhgin O Caolain in the Dail last week that wheedled out of Brian Cowen the revelations that not only did he play golf in Druids Glen with Sean Fitzpatrick in July 2008, but that he spent the evening in the company of Fitzpatrick, another senior Anglo banker and Alan Gray, a board member of the Central Bank. It was a "long-standing" engagement, Cowen said, and he took the opportunity to discuss the economy with the trio.

• Cowen resigns, but intends to run in the general election
• Election date now in Greens’ hands
• Lenihan and Martin frontrunners in leadership contest
• Full audio of conference below

Malachy Browne reports on the banks and investors keeping the loan pyres burning. 

Following two days of consultations with party colleagues Taoiseach Brian Cowen announced today that he will continue as Fianna Fail leader. However, Mr Cowen will table a motion of confidence in his leadership to establish "what is the settled view of the party [on the party leadership]". The vote will be cast by secret ballot at a meeting of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party on Tuesday. 

Brian Cowen will make an announcement this evening about his leadership of Fianna Fail. Two leading political correspondents believe that the Taoiseach will remain as party leader, despite the protestations of several senior party members, including three Ministers.   

Stanford school of journalism made this video report demo'ing some great tools for online journalists and bloggers to present data in cool ways. They talk about Moodle, Swivel and a new tool that non-techies can customise for deep data analysis such as election results. 

After 1,011 days as party leader, Brian Cowen's position has become untenable. Following drip-fed revelations of a cosy occasion with senior Anglo bankers and accusations of making representations to the NTMA on behalf of Anglo, the perception is now of a Taoiseach tied to big business. By Malachy Browne