FOR A number of days spread over a couple of years, I’ve had reason to be lying on a hospital bed staring at the wall opposite me. Nothing life-threatening involved, but there all the same. Try as I might, I can’t remember seeing any crucifixes or religious paintings on any of the walls I’ve had to stare at.

A 40-day deadline set for a mammoth review of the Department of Justice is "ridiculously short" and belies the fundamental review needed, a leading expert has said.

AN INDEPENDENT expert group has been set up to review staffing levels in Cork City Council and to make recommendations about further staff cuts.

MOST of the HSE files regarding the deaths of children in the care system have been passed to the experts charged with reviewing their deaths, it is understood.

THE mother of a troubled teenager who was found dead in a derelict house a week after he went missing from care has pleaded with the Minister for Children to review the way vulnerable children are cared for by the state.

The HSE is to begin the process of handing over case files on children who died in its care to the Independent Review Group.

THREE people were arrested yesterday in connection with the murder of teenager Daniel McAnaspie.

THE family of Danny Talbot, a young man who died of a suspected drugs overdose shortly after leaving the care system, yesterday accused the HSE of failing him “from the cradle to the grave”.

THE family of Danny Talbot, a young man who died of a suspected drugs overdose shortly after leaving the care system, yesterday accused the HSE of failing him “from the cradle to the grave”.

THE family of one of the 37 children who died while in HSE care has contacted the executive asking that the death not be reviewed.

AN AVERAGE of 18 children per year have died over the past 10 years while being supported by or having just finished contact with social services, the HSE has admitted.

CHILDREN’S charity Barnardos has expressed its “shock and dismay” at the revelation that 188 children, known to child protection services, had died over the past 10 years.

SENIOR HSE figures are to be asked to meet Children’s Minister Barry Andrews to explain why the number of deaths of children in care is substantially higher than previous figures provided to the Government.

The Health Service Executive has said it is seeking legal advice on how to disclose files in relation to children in its care without breaching data protection laws.

THERE were fears last night that an estimate of 200 deaths of children in care in the past decade could be exceeded at the same time as an expert panel awaits files from the HSE.

LOW-PAID public servants were the victims of deliberate double standards which saw a “gilded elite” earning six-figure salaries escape the same wage cuts, Fine Gael said last night.

CHANGES were made to the internal report into the death during childbirth of Garda Tania McCabe and her baby at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital two years ago after the manager of the HSE’s acute hospitals in the North East said he had “issues” with “nuances” in it.