THOSE campaigning against plans to overhaul the way acute services are delivered in the north-east are “scare-mongering and acting in their own self-interest,” Health Service Executive chief Prof Brendan Drumm insisted yesterday.

CONSULTANTS are optimistic that stalled negotiations with the Health Service Executive on a new contract could be back on track within weeks.

People who abuse or threaten nurses or doctors in hospitals across the country should face fines of up to €1,000, a Government TD claimed today.

THE Government was last night accused of giving into publicans in the new "compromise" deal on café bars to be unveiled by Justice Minister Michael McDowell in the Dáil on Tuesday night.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney admitted yesterday that a key part of her 10-point plan to solve the Accident and Emergency crisis - the provision of three acute medical units in major hospitals - will not be delivered this year.

Catherine Shanahan

IT will come as no surprise to hear that the Government is going to axe the 100 people receive from the President on reaching the remarkable milestone of 100 years of age.

THE head of one of the countries largest fast-food chains has described proposals to introduce a ‘fat tax’ as ‘another example of the Government taking the American situation to an extreme’.