Dublin welcomed its first baby of the new decade this morning.

RTÉ lied to us. The theme of this year’s ‘Toy Show’ wasn’t ‘Frozen 2’, but inclusion.

A report examining the scale of outsourcing of smear tests by laboratories contracted to do the work by the HSE will be brought to the Cabinet today.

The health authority's national director of screening services, Damien McCallion, said there is currently a backlog of 79,500 slides, with some samples taking up to 33 weeks to be reviewed.

Here's your lunchtime bulletin.

Coombe Hospital’s theatre company in residence is to stage WOMB , a play which imagines birthing 100 years from now, writes Marjorie Brennan

Just build the damn thing.

The two external labs at the heart of the CervicalCheck controversy were paid a total of €12.4m in the past two years for their services.

At least 10 more women have begun taking legal action against the HSE and testing labs after their cervical smear tests were bungled.

The Eighth Amendment is nothing more than a straightjacket for women who continue to face crisis pregnancies, writes Josepha Madigan.

The first baby born in Ireland in 2018 arrived in Limerick at just seven seconds past midnight yesterday.

A Meath dad unexpectedly delivered his new baby in his own sitting room last week, while his four year old was adorably shouting 'Be Brave Mammy' through the door.

The High Court has approved a €15m settlement for a boy who suffered irreversible brain damage during his birth at the Coombe Hospital in Dublin.

Irish babies born to obese mothers are more likely to be born premature.

Last week a former master of the Coombe Hospital, Prof Chris Fitzpatrick, complained that people are “firmly pro-choice or pro-life; nobody seems to live in the space in between”.

The parents of a baby girl who died two days after birth have welcomed a coroner’s recommendation for more frequent examinations for women in high risk pregnancy.

Two sisters of Ibrahim Halawa, an Irish citizen who has been detained in Egpyt without trial for almost four years now, are suing the Minister for Justice over a delay of more than 18 months in deciding applications to have their husbands join them here.

The Government is considering a long-term lease, with a nominal rent, for the site of the proposed new National Maternity Hospital.

The problem is we all know the Church plays a very long game, and sticks, religiously, to its beliefs, writes Alison O’Connor

A woman who was 39 weeks pregnant collapsed and died from an extremely rare condition for which no cause is known, an inquest heard.

A mother planning to deliver naturally following a C-section 14 months previously, lost her baby two days after birth.

Few Irish expectant mothers are eating the right diet during pregnancy, according to a new study.

A mother who lost her baby following a mismanaged delivery has spoken of her heartbreak following a 25 year ordeal.

Pregnant women are consuming too much saturated fat, not enough vitamin D, and only one-in-three are taking the required amount of folic acid, a new study has found.

A woman’s claim there was “no justification whatsoever” for a symphysiotomy carried out on her in a Dublin maternity hospital in the 60s when she was 24 years old and 12 days before her first baby was born, has been unanimously rejected by a three-judge Court of Appeal.

The parents of a baby girl who suffered a spinal injury during a forceps-assisted delivery and died 24 years ago have questions about her end of life care.

The failure to report the death of a baby girl at the Coombe Hospital to the coroner’s office 24 years ago has been described as a “travesty”.

The president of the High Court yesterday said it was “really shameful” legislation has not yet been introduced for a system of periodic payments for the catastrophically injured who settle their medical negligence actions.

The President of the High Court today said it was "really shameful" legislation has not yet been introduced for a system of periodic payments for the catastrophically injured who settle their medical negligence actions.

9am

A pregnant mother of nine has launched a desperate appeal after her house was set on fire and she was left homeless.

Staff embroiled in the Portlaoise Hospital baby deaths scandal are facing serious charges by their professional regulatory bodies while the HSE is considering taking disciplinary action “against some individuals in management positions”.

The High Court has approved an €8.5m final settlement for a 12-year-old boy who suffered catastrophic birth injuries at the Coombe Hospital.

Gardaí are hopeful that forensic tests and technical examinations will glean some clues as to the identity of a mother who abandoned her newborn baby on a remote road in west Dublin, over a week ago.

The make-up of a review team to examine at least 12 cases of questionable care of newborns at Portiuncula Hospital which left some babies dead and others brain damaged has been announced.

A 71-year-old woman, who claimed there was no justification for the symphysiotomy she underwent after the birth of her first baby more than 50 years ago, has settled her High Court action.

A baby who deteriorated during a four-minute transfer between Dublin hospitals died two days later, an inquest heard.

A 60-strong cycling charity group, comprising gardaí and their friends, will take on their most gruelling fundraising race yet when they tackle the east coast of the US.