A chronic heroin addict whose baby son was found with burns, cuts and bruises while lying in a bedroom that had “evidence of drug use” has had a State application to reactivate her suspended sentence adjourned.

Relatives have expressed disappointment with yesterday's report into the treatment of patients at Leas Cross nursing home in Dublin.

The report into the operation of Leas Cross Nursing Home has found that the principal cause for the decline in care was a lack of staff, considering the number of residents at the North county Dublin facility.

The jury in the trial of a Sligo man accused of murdering 14-year-old Melissa Mahon has heard that a picture of the accused was found under the schoolgirl’s pillow at the care home she had been placed in.

A chronic heroin addict whose 15-month-old son was found with cuts, bruises and burns to his body while lying in a bedroom that had "evidence of drug use" has been given a suspended sentence.

A multi-agency investigation has been launched in the North into a suspected case of rabies.

A court has heard that an "extremely anticlerical" social worker investigating alleged sexual abuse at a Galway school was eventually taken off the case by the former Western Health Board.

A chronic heroin addict whose 15-month-old son was found with cuts, bruises and burns to his body while lying in a bedroom that had "evidence of drug use" has been remanded on bail pending sentence.

An Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) review of staff and bed numbers in specialist palliative care in Ireland, released today, has revealed continued and major shortages of hundreds of vital staff and beds.

A High Court action brought on behalf of a 11-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, who requires constant care and attention as a result of the injuries she sustained during his birth at Monaghan Hospital, has been settled today for €3m.

An appeal by a Connemara man against his conviction for raping and abusing his daughter will be heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday.

An appeal by a Connemara man against his conviction for raping and abusing his daughter will be heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday.

A woman who was 15-years-old when caught with 1,000 "ecstasy" tablets she was holding for her boyfriend has received a one year suspended sentence from Judge Frank O’Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

A €3.5 MILLION settlement was approved by the High Court yesterday for a 24-year-old woman who suffered severe brain damage and cerebral palsy as a result of alleged negligence in the circumstances of her birth at Limerick Regional Maternity Hospital.

A 61-YEAR-OLD father of three who was left a paraplegic following an operation to remove a tumour from his spine could have been treated without surgery, the High Court heard yesterday.

The Children's Minister has asked the HSE to investigate the case of a department head at the Athlone Institute of Technology who resigned last week.

It has emerged that the Gardaí told the Midland Health Board about allegations of sexual assault involving a department head at Athlone Institute of Technology as far back as June 2004.

An African man who raped a teenage Zambian girl he claimed he had married has been given a 15 years prison sentence by Mr Justice Barry White at the Central Criminal Court.

An African man who faces sentence for raping a teenage Zambian girl he claimed he had married has told the Central Criminal Court he wishes to fire his third legal team.

A teenage boy who has committed a series of sexual offences has been jailed for five years for sexually assaulting a 14 year-old girl.

A state vetting system for people who work with children should be implemented to protect youngsters in Ireland, the Catholic Church said today.

A CO SLIGO priest who stood aside pending an investigation into allegations of sexual assault is believed to have been the subject of a civil action in the United States.

AN Irish mother-to-be suffering from a pregnancy-related illness was not entitled to be treated differently to anybody else, the European Court of Justice has ruled.

A seven-year-old boy has been left behind in Ireland after his parents and four-year-old brother were deported to Romania, it emerged today.

ASYLUM-SEEKING minors are being placed in the care of unsuitable guardians who claim they are their relatives, creating a host of child protection difficulties, according to a member of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.

The first two pubs to be successfully prosecuted for breaching the smoking ban in the mid-west region have each been ordered to pay almost €2,000 in fines and legal costs.

The Pope has dismissed two Irish priests who were convicted in the courts of sexual abuse, it was confirmed today.

President Mary McAleese today paid a private visit to teenagers who arrived unaccompanied from war torn countries.

The Mid-Western Health Board today denied reports it may have to turn expectant mothers away from Limerick's only public maternity hospital because of staff shortages.

AN expert committee established by the Government to prepare an action plan in the event of a bioterrorist attack has not met for over a year, despite ongoing doubts about the State’s ability to deal with an outbreak of a highly infectious disease like smallpox.

The Minister for Health, Micheál Martin, has announced the new locations for administration offices in the new Health Service Executive.

The High Court today rejected an application to shut down a Dublin nursing home which a health board claimed had breached several regulations.

THE opening of a €10.5 million, orthopaedic unit in Castlebar due to employ 78 people has been cancelled by the Western Health Board just three weeks before it was scheduled to open.

The North Eastern Health Board is planning to hold a special meeting on Thursday to discuss the Bonner Report with its author, a former civil servant.

A CASH-STRAPPED council has been warned not to expect land for free — or even at a reasonable price — from the Southern Health Board.

THE lives of mothers and babies are put at risk every day because one of the country’s busiest regional maternity hospitals doesn’t have enough midwives, nurses warned yesterday.

Gardaí have warned people to be on the lookout for bogus charity collectors in the Dublin area.

UNREST brewing at one of the south east’s busiest hospitals could bring to 10 the number of industrial disputes at hospitals around the country.

UP TO 100 psychiatric patients face a dreary Christmas in bleak wards after their transfer to a more suitable hospital yesterday was halted by industrial action.

A member of the South Eastern Health Board is laying the blame for the current junior doctor's dispute firmly at the door of management at Waterford Regional Hospital.

It has been confirmed that a seven month old baby from Co Kildare who died almost two weeks ago died as a result of meningitis.

The Irish Nurses Organisation has described the North Eastern Health Board's decisions on Monaghan General Hospital as 'Machiavellian'.

One of the Nurse's unions is to go on strike this morning in three mid-western hospitals.