The number of cases of people infected with hepatitis B rose by 9% last year, although the health authorities said infection levels of the potentially fatal disease remain low.

Twenty years on, the women at the centre of the hepatitis C scandal are still being treated poorly by the State that poisoned them, writes Special Correspondent Michael Clifford

A support group for women given contaminated blood products by the State has been wound up with debts in excess of €107,000.

Labour’s health spokesperson Liz McManus said that the young adults at the centre of the screening controversy should be given counselling and support.

Up to 100 people who attended Crumlin Children’s Hospital in the early 1990s are reportedly being recalled for tests amid a Hepatitis C scare.