Waist circumference is the most accurate obesity measure, Irish researchers have found.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Finance Minister Michael Noonan have publicly stated there will be no increase in income tax in 2014. They have not kept this promise as a vulnerable section of society discovered in January of this year.

A key feature of the new agreement between the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, the HSE, and Department of Health, announced last week, is the promise of faster access to medicines once they have been proven to be cost-effective.

The Minister for Social Protection says cutting social welfare payments will do more harm than good to Ireland's economic recovery.

IRELAND will need at least an extra 1,000 GPs to facilitate Government plans to overhaul the health service, a major conference on health reform heard yesterday.

UNIVERSAL health insurance has moved a step closer after the Government confirmed it has agreed to establish a group to implement the measure.

THERE is no silver bullet to increase passenger traffic at Shannon Airport and it will be a hard slog.

THE Labour Party proposals for reform of the health system were released yesterday and reaffirm the party’s long-standing commitment to universal health insurance.

DOING the politically correct thing is never easy, and the latest PC dilemma arises in the European biofuel industry.

EVEN tougher measures to ensure that biofuel crops do not replace forests, and push up food prices, are expected this year in the EU.

Dublin: A seminar to launch the publication of Ireland’s Tax Expenditure System: International Comparisons and a Reform Agenda by Dr Micheál L Collins of Trinity’s Department of Economics in conjunction with accountant Mary Walsh will take place next Tuesday in Áras an Phiarsaigh, TCD.

WITH so many strong and conflicting views on how to tackle the budget deficit in circulation this issue is getting massive attention.

IRELAND’s ailing banking system is rated the “least sound” in the 139 countries assessed in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual rankings.

AS our little country feels the bony fingers of the IMF on our shoulder and the cold winds of financial oblivion against our grubby face, we are often lectured – throughout the media – by so-called ‘self-made men’.

FOOTBALLERS born earlier in the year are more likely to be picked to play at an elite level.

IRISH rugby supporters’ long wait for the Grand Slam goes on, following the late defeat by Scotland last weekend in Cardiff.

A leading Irish economist has said that the Government has no option but to implement systematic cost-cutting in the public service in next week’s budget, stating that “in the current circumstances we have no option but to cut our cloth to match our means”.

A CENTRE for Investment Research has been established in UCC.

A Celtic supporters’ chief has sparked fury after she defended the singing of IRA songs by fans.

PROFESSOR Frances Ruane has been appointed as a director of the Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI).

THE Government yesterday insisted that planned legislation, aimed at giving the National Consumer Agency (NCA) powers to tackle the rip-off Ireland culture, remained on track.

POWER, not jobs, should be decentralised by government and vested in regional institutions, a business conference in Waterford heard yesterday.

IRELAND has slipped from 11th to 24th in the last year in terms of growth competitiveness, the latest World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2002-2003 shows.