The State’s investment in the proposed €300m national maternity hospital will be protected and it will be free of religious interference, according to Health Minister Simon Harris.

FOLIC FACTS: A new Safefood campaign is urging women who could become pregnant to take a folic acid supplement daily, irrespective of whether or not they are planning a baby.

Graham Dwyer told gardaí he was not an innocent person but was innocent of murder, during questioning following his arrest on suspicion of murdering Elaine O’Hara.

Hours before she was last seen alive, Elaine O’Hara is alleged to have texted the man the State claims was Graham Dwyer to tell him she was scared of him and knew her life was in his hands every time they met.

The Moriarty Tribunal has failed to get a High Court order requiring former Communications Minister Michael Lowry to produce to it certain documents used in proceedings brought against him by his former accountants.

The High Court has granted an injunction against the Master of the High Court, Edmund Honohan, following his decision to refer papers on a case to the DPP for a perjury investigation.

SAVITA Halappanavar was just 11-years-old when the X case judgment was handed down. Today, she’s a martyr to the political cowardice that, for two decades, refused to implement that ruling.

Olympic gold medallist Katie Taylor has won this year's Irish Tatler Woman of the Year Award.

Cigarettes worth €2.9m have been seized at Dublin Port, it has emerged.

Rowan Williams is to step down after 10 years as Archbishop of Canterbury to take up a new post as Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Clive Smith is not living in false hope over the chances of Master Minded racing again – although the owner feels it is not an impossibility just yet.

THE Aidan O’Brien-trained Imperator Augustus looks the banker bet at Dundalk tonight.

A LEGAL action by the relatives of Celine Cawley against her husband and convicted killer Eamonn Lillis disentitling him from any interest in his wife’s estate has been adjourned for three weeks.

Connections of Master Minded anticipate the dual Champion Chase winner to make a full recovery from a stress fracture to a rib.

IAN BAILEY, twice arrested and released without charge in connection with the investigation into the killing of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, is to seek damages for wrongful arrest.

Masterofthehorse has become the latest Aidan O’Brien inmate to attract hefty support for the Investec Derby on Saturday week.

THERE has been a dramatic decrease in the number of repossessions orders granted in the Dublin High Court over the last month.

Master Minded will be the star of the opening day of the Punchestown Festival as jump racing’s outstanding two-miler faces just five rivals in the Kerrygold Champion Chase.

Voy Por Ustedes could bypass the totepool Game Spirit Chase at Newbury on Saturday in favour of the Betfair Ascot Chase a week later.

THE recession was given a rest in Limerick last night as thousands of Irish and French rugby fans saturated the city for Munster’s first Heineken Cup game at the new €40 million Thomond Park.

THE High Court yesterday adjourned for three weeks an application for discovery of documents in an action for libel brought by Wayne O’Donoghue, the 23-year-old engineering student who was convicted of the manslaughter of Midleton schoolboy Robert Holohan.

British MP George Galloway – favourite for eviction from the Big Brother house – was spared a Big Bill today when the Daily Telegraph newspaper lost its appeal over a libel action.

THE number of expectant non-national mothers presenting to one of Dublin’s three maternity hospitals in the very late stages of pregnancy has increased since last year’s citizenship referendum.

Master surfboard designer Dale Velzy, who helped popularise surfing along the California coast and at one time was the world’s largest maker of surfboards, has died. He was 77.

A former health board chief and a solicitor were among six Northern Ireland judicial appointments today.

THE State has been accused of having a history of not co-operating with the legal representatives of Frank McBrearty Jnr, who is suing in connection with his detention for alleged murder eight years ago.

GIVING birth naturally is better for the health of both the mother and baby rather than opting for a caesarean section, research indicates.

WOMEN arriving to Ireland on the verge of giving birth are “a tragedy waiting to happen”, according to the master of one of the country’s largest maternity hospitals.

NURSES are being used to prevent a crisis in midwifery care at some of the country’s largest maternity hospitals, the Irish Nursing Organisation said yesterday.