Helen O’Callaghan learns about the Roots of Empathy scheme, in which babies and their parents visit schools to help foster ‘emotional literacy’.  

Concerns that up to 1,000 children may have been “trafficked” to the US from the Tuam mother and baby home in “a scandal that dwarfs other, more recent issues with the Church and State” were raised by the HSE in 2012.

A man who insisted on eating an out-of-date fruit cake choked on the crumbs.

Groups makes radical call as HSE vows to punish care home abuse

Nine workers at a centre for people with intellectual disabilities, which is being investigated by gardaí after the sudden death of a resident in 2012, have been taken "off duty" after separate serious abuse allegations.

A report on pre-schools, nurseries, creches, and day- care centres has found that children had access to dangerous materials, that some centres were damp and rodent-infested, and that there were several instances where staff did not receive Garda clearance to work with children.

Over-spending by hospitals is running at twice the rate it was this time last year. And there’s little sign the trend is going to change, writes Claire O’Sullivan

Mental health service reform has "ground to a halt", with three out of five units failing to meet basic staff levels, one in four not having enough beds and half still using controversial patient restraints.

The HSE is now dealing with 40,000 incidents of child abuse or neglect annually, with the figure described by one local representative as "staggering".

A health lab has warned priests of the dangers of ‘overcooking’ holy ashes after several mass-goers were scorched during Ash Wednesday ceremonies.

Ireland’s bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023 would not be damaged if a proposed ban on drinks companies sponsoring sports event was imposed.

The bill to the taxpayer of providing round-the-clock security for one psychiatric patient at one HSE-run unit now tops €2m.

It is costing over €400,000 a year to provide security for a single patient at a psychiatric unit in Co Clare.

The HSE is paying solicitors €207 an hour to tell courts it can’t afford to compensate patients for damage caused to them in hospitals.

The HSE’s bid to cut costs has seen it fill 172 JobBridge intern posts in just 12 months.

Gardaí suspect a mother at the centre of a search operation for her children may have feared the HSE was about to take the children into care.

An incident response team has been put in place after an outbreak of Cryptosporidiosis was identified in south Roscommon.

Thousands of patients whose prostate cancer tests have to be reviewed on foot of a fault with the test kit will not be billed for repeat tests and biopsies — but just who will foot the bill remains unclear.

Inspections of foster care services in Co Mayo have found that watchdogs had to issue an immediate action plan due to a number of serious failings in the area.

The HSE has been ordered to pay €70,000 compensation to an employee after the Equality Tribunal ruled it had failed to take reasonable steps to accommodate her disability.

A private British company contracted by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to provide a hearing screening to newborns has refused to clarify why its employees wear uniforms bearing the HSE logo.

In 2005, a 74-year-old woman in West Clare was put on a list to a see a specialist at the Mid-Western Regional Orthopaedic Hospital in Croom, Co Limerick.

Over 5,600 patients in Limerick are waiting four years or more for an outpatient appointment to see a doctor, figures from the HSE show.

One of the country’s leading psychiatrists said the Mater Hospital has a “zero tolerance” approach when it comes to illicit drug use at its psychiatric wing — staff immediately kick the offender out.

Complaints have been made to gardaí about illegal drugs being smuggled into a hospital in the West for use by patients in the psychiatric wing.

Four employees were sacked by the HSE West over the past year for abusing the sick leave scheme.

One taxi firm was paid more than €1.8m by the HSE last year, as the overall spend by the health authority on taxi services totalled €24.8m.

The State spent almost €17m last year keeping 27 troubled children in specialised residential care.

The HSE plans to significantly ramp up its use of the State’s JobBridge scheme — at a time when it is creating five €158,000 top-level posts.

A husband has demanded an inquest into the death of his wife who lost her life after giving birth to their first child.

Almost a thousand young children in North Cork are being put at risk of serious illnesses due to an extremely low take-up of the potentially lifesaving MMR and 4-in-1 vaccines.

The HSE has been accused of putting managers before patients after revealing plans to appoint 35 “leadership coaches” to help senior managers in their “personal transition” into higher jobs.

HSE West officials have again told a judge they do not have the funding to provide specialist residential treatment to a brain-damaged teenager who had been terrorising women in Galway City.

The HSE is spending over €2,600 per week on taxis ferrying staff between two hospitals in Limerick city.

The make-up of the HSE’s investigation team probing Savita Halappanavar’s death, including its independent expert, will be announced today.

A circuit court judge has given the HSE two weeks to compile a written report of its proposals to provide a regime of continuing care for a brain-damaged teenager.

A circuit court judge has said it is amazing how the HSE claims to have funding shortages and yet has no problem in paying €800 an hour to legal teams to represent it in court.

Public hospitals have spent over €3.2m on debt collectors to hunt down failed patient payments in just seven years.

The HSE has refused a request by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation to carry out an external review into the high absenteeism rates at Ennis General Hospital.

Up to 60 newly qualified public health nurses due to take up roles in a range of vital primary care services are in “no man’s land” over fears their promised jobs may no longer exist.

A senior member of the HSE West Forum has urged dampening the sex life of couples on medical cards in order to addressing the HSE’s €500m shortfall for the year.

Dozens of schoolchildren, their teachers and families at two primary and secondary schools are being tested for TB after separate outbreaks of the life-threatening condition.

A public health emergency is under way after a student was diagnosed with drug-resistant TB, an extremely aggressive form of the disease which has mutated to effectively outgun existing treatments.

Gardaí say they are concerned for the welfare of a mother after a 13-week-old foetus was discovered.