THERE are more than 1,000 abortions taking place in Ireland each year. Yes, they are happening every day, right under our noses, and as time goes on that figure is going to rise substantially, writes Alison O’Connor.

The Department of Health’s secretary general failed to tell Health Minister Simon Harris of serious concerns over the independence of the new national maternity hospital when they were raised in May 2016.

The health watchdog, HIQA, have found more than 100 foster carers have not been put through the required repeat vetting.

A controversial alcohol bill has stalled yet again after a number of legal issues were uncovered.

Everybody would like to pay less tax, but at what cost? That is the question, writes Michael Clifford

Questions have been raised about British Government plans to introduce enhanced screening for Ebola at major airports and terminals, after Gatwick said it knew nothing about the measures.

Secretary General of the Department of Health, Dr Ambrose McLoughlin, is to moving to a new role supporting the implementation of the Healthy Ireland initiative ahead of his retirement next year.

At least four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli tank fire nearly two hours after Israel and Hamas began observing a three-day ceasefire, Gaza officials have said.

Families with children who have severe health problems are to picket the Dáil "indefinitely" until laws are re-written to give them an automatic right to medical card help.

A “completely unacceptable” attempt by Health Minister James Reilly to access detailed files on potential primary care sites has been described as a “misunderstanding” by high-ranking officials.

A junior minister has denied the health budget for next year is unworkable despite a warning to the HSE from the heads of four of the country's biggest hospitals over cuts.

Boys who get top results in the Leaving Certificate may be applying in higher numbers for medical degrees because they see it as a safer career in a downturn.

A consultant league table showing which doctors have the highest patient death rates could be set up as early as next year.

Clashes erupted early today in Cairo between security forces and supporters of Egypt’s ousted president Mohammed Morsi, killing at least 38 protesters and overwhelming field hospitals with the wounded, the Health Ministry said.

Care for people with schizophrenia and psychosis is falling “catastrophically short” in the UK, a report has found.

Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy today welcomed the launch of the Health Innovation Hub Demonstrator Project located in UCC by the Minister of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton and Minister for Health James Reilly.

YOU may not know it but most of your life as a citizen is regulated by something called ‘the system’.

Laois Offaly TD Sean Fleming is standing over his decision to walk out of a Public Accounts Committee meeting with Health Officials last night.

Keith Allen has defended a forthcoming Channel 4 programme in which he is seen under the influence of drugs and said it is “insane” to suggest it glamorises their use.

The Government is welcoming a better-than-planned performance by VAT and income tax in the first three months of the year.

Martin Beckett doesn’t consider himself an artist, but he knows he’ll get a lift when he sees two of his paintings included in this year’s Cork Mental Health Foundation’s art exhibition.

HEALTH officials have moved to assure the public about the safety of a vaccine to protect girls from cervical cancer after schools got letters claiming it was contaminated.

Canadian icons Arcade Fire are to make a triumphant return to Electric Picnic this summer after their seminal 2005 performance at the festival, it was confirmed today.

An attempt to legalise cannabis in California has prompted some to ask if it is time for a fresh debate about the issue, writes Kerrie Kennedy .

AT LEAST 142 people have died in a cholera outbreak, and aid groups were rushing in medicine and other supplies yesterday to combat Haiti’s deadliest health problem since its devastating earthquake.

PLANNING permission has been given for a €40 million private hospital on the outskirts of Ennis after councillors overwhelmingly voted through a rezoning to accommodate the proposal.

HEALTH authorities have issued a warning about a head shop product called Whack, which has led to severe and difficult to treat psychosis in users.

HEALTH inspectors have raised concerns about the ability of the operators of a large Co Clare nursing home to run the facility which provides a home to 54 elderly patients.

A cooking show host who shocked viewers by saying he enjoyed cat stew and had eaten it many times was suspended by Italian state TV today.

THE Government has come under renewed pressure to deliver on its own document for mental health services, after Amnesty International said it was time for politicians to deliver on promises.

THE country’s already struggling finances are being drained of at least €1.5 billion every year as a direct result of poor public nutrition standards and related conditions.

ABOUT 4% of the population have been infected with swine flu, the country’s public health watchdog has confirmed. And it looks as if the initial wave of the pandemic has peaked, the Health Protection Surveillance Centres said.

Palestinian officials say an Israeli air strike on a smuggling tunnel between the Gaza Strip and Egypt has killed three people and wounded seven.

The Department of Health has today confirmed another three cases of Influenza Type A (H1N1), or swine flu, in Ireland.

The Department of Health has confirmed a third case of swine flu in Ireland.

SWINE flu could claim nearly 2,700 lives here if worst-case predictions for the spread of the disease come true, Europe’s top disease detectives have calculated.

The release of a Health Service Executive report into child protection practices and allegations of clerical child sex abuse in all dioceses, to be published today, is expected to reveal that bishops failed to give details of individual abuse cases.

A DEPRESSED teenage girl who overdosed on two occasions cannot get the treatment she needs because of a six-week waiting list for a hospital bed.

SURGING obesity and diabetes rates are set to fuel kidney disease at a time when overcrowding at dialysis units is forcing patients to travel excessive distances three times a week for life-saving treatment.

THE head of the health service is to be quizzed by a powerful Dáil committee tomorrow about why a €5 million A&E unit has lain idle for almost a year.

A HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) fostering service in Meath is in breach of national standards for foster care by failing to ensure all children in the service have a designated social worker.

OPPOSITION parties have rounded on the Government following revelations that plans to roll out a network of radiotherapy services are almost four years behind schedule.

HEALTH Service Executive workers who will staff Ireland’s first cocaine treatment clinics in Dublin and Cork are to be given intensive training in the best intervention methods at Waterford Institute of Technology.

The news that the north-east is to lose up to 1,000 hospital beds over the next five years has been described as 'obscene'.