PATIENTS going blind while waiting for treatment; women in particular being left in pain while they wait for a hip replacement; those with inherited conditions unable to get the lung or liver transplant they need.

TOYS and products designed for children, such as baby walkers, cots and soothers, accounted for by far the largest number of dangerous items withdrawn from sale last year in EU member states.

A PLAN to revitalise Europe’s fish farming industry after years of stagnation says the business could be a golden opportunity for jobs and production, but red tape must be reduced and planning restrictions eased.

THE European Commission will not object to Ireland’s massive budget deficit this year, but will hold the country to reducing it dramatically over the next four years

THE European Union must not overreact or under-react to the current weakness of the dairy market, according toFarm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel.

TOMORROW’S budget will signal a major redesign of the country’s entire tax system, needed after the collapse in tax receipts from sectors such as development and the huge increase in unemployment, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has indicated.

THE finance ministers of the 15 euro countries told Ireland in no uncertain terms that it must act immediately to cut the burgeoning public debt, putting further pressure on the Government to make cuts in next week’s budget.

WHILE global leaders struggled in London to agree on policies that would let each do their own thing, Bill Clinton had a simple message for the alternative globalisation event in Brussels: “Just do it.”

IRELAND increased its transport emissions more than any other country in Europe, up by a massive 165% from 1990 to 2006, compared with an average of 28% among 28 European countries surveyed.

THE patient is not at the centre of Ireland’s healthcare system, an international survey has found, and patients here are among the least empowered in Europe.