Ireland’s health watchdog uncovered serious issues about how residents were treated at a HSE-run facility for adults with intellectual disabilities after being informed by whistleblowers of a death at the unit.

Pregnant women are being subjected to a “geographic lottery” as a direct result of “outdated, patently unsafe” standards in Ireland’s maternity service.

Ireland’s health watchdog has acknowledged that billions of euro worth of cutbacks to the health service over the coming years could cause another hospital crisis like that seen at Tallaght.