A RETIRED health board official was yesterday granted leave by the High Court to bring a legal challenge to aspects of the HSE report into Leas Cross nursing home.

A RETIRED health board official has applied to the High Court for leave to bring a legal challenge to aspects of the HSE report into Leas Cross nursing home.

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) rents more than 100 premises around the country from private landlords at prices ranging from €50,000 to €1.5 million, the latest figures reveal.

CONTROVERSIAL nursing home Leas Cross was bankrolled to the tune of nearly €5 million by the Department of Health, figures obtained by the Irish Examiner reveal.

LEAS CROSS was being used as an “overflow” facility for hospitals with a high number of admissions, the nursing home’s owner has claimed.

There is a hollow ring to the belated promise by Health Minister Mary Harney that new legislation would set up a strict inspection regime for nursing homes so a Leas Cross scandal can never again happen.

Relatives of elderly patients who died in Leas Cross nursing home today hit out at their treatment by authorities who investigated abuse at the facility.

CONTROVERSIAL nursing home Leas Cross ran up losses of nearly €1 million last year.

INSPECTIONS of Leas Cross show that there was a “consistent pattern of deficits in care” at the home, according to Professor Des O’Neill’s investigation.

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) will have to fork out over €6 million in back rent for a health centre which has lain idle for more than two-and-a-half years.

A report into the death of a 61-year-old man at Leas Cross nursing home in north Co Dublin is due to be published today.

Harry McGee, Political Editor

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has rejected criticism of the nursing homes inspection regime in the wake of this week's Prime Time documentary.

FORTY-TWO food businesses were forced to close all or part of their premises last year because standards there posed immediate danger to public health.

ONLY half of foster careers who look after a relative have been properly assessed or approved, a new audit has shown.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today announced that five enforcement orders were served by Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) during the month of August.

ALL nursing home staff should be properly trained in the use of restraining devices, an inquest jury recommended yesterday after hearing how an elderly woman strangled on a strap as she struggled to get out of her bed.

Catherine Shanahan

WHAT began as a mini revolt was last night threatening towards widespread rebellion as publicans around the country opened their doors to smokers.

A CHARITY centre catering for dozens of voluntary groups in Dublin has been saved from imminent closure.

A charity centre which was due to close in two weeks has been rescued by a €200,000 emergency grant.

IT was incredible that a charity centre for 45 voluntary groups, opened a month before the elections by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, was now declaring that it had to close, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs said yesterday.

JUST over a month ago Taoiseach Bertie Ahern opened a centre for 44 voluntary groups.

MORE than one-in-three asylum seekers who attended a medical screening service last year was pregnant, figures from the Northern Area Health Board reveal.

THERE are at least €460 million worth of hospital facilities lying idle across the country because the Government has failed to provide funding to open them.

WHILE most of the mothballed hospital facilities can be attributed to a simple shortage of funds at the Department of Health, the fiasco of the vacant health centre in the €60 million civic building in Ballymun exposes a glaring lack of co-ordination between the various health authorities.

New hospital wards are being built across the country, only to stay idle because of a lack of funding to staff them, writes Paul O'Brien.

A CARDIAC ward at a new Dublin hospital remains closed after sewage from toilets seeped into the room for the fourth time last weekend.

The Northern Area Health Board has issued an appeal for foster parents in the north Dublin area.

Five Enforcement Orders were served by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland last month due to breaches of food safety, it was revealed today.

SOME 20% of people across the country have taken illegal drugs in their lifetime, but only 3% are classified as regular users, the most comprehensive survey of narcotics use ever carried out has revealed.

Mary Dundon, Political Reporter

A HEALTH board which spent €3,000 conducting interviews in Canada for childcare staff has been accused of wasting taxpayer's money and ignoring suitably qualified Irish staff.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has announced details of its enforcement orders for February 2004.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has announced details of its enforcement orders for January 2004.

The ongoing nurse shortage in Irish hospitals has reached the stage of critical condition, according to Labour's spokeswoman on Health, Liz McManus.

THE State is paying over €22 million each year to keep less than 100 children in health board high support and special care units.

DUBLIN’S O’Connell School was honoured by Lord Mayor Royston Brady yesterday for its effort to forge ties with children from many countries who live here.

ONE of the country’s busiest family planning clinics has had to cancel services for medical card holders due to lack of funding.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today confirmed two food businesses were served with Closure Orders under the FSAI Act, 1998 in October.

A NEW type of medication used to help heroin users kick the habit has actually resulted in addicts taking more heroin because the medication is too weak, according to a new report.

ONE of the country’s busiest family planning clinics has been forced to cancel services for medical card holders for the rest of the year because of a lack of funding.

The Irish Family Planning Association has suspended the provision of services to medical card holders at its main clinic in Dublin's Cathal Brugha St.

HEALTH care facilities worth up to €150 million are lying idle around the country because of government funding shortages.