A medicine shortage caused by excessive drug price cuts imposed by the HSE is having a negative impact on patient care, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

There have been calls for an audit of the country's ambulance service, after an ambulance broke down while taking a patient to hospital for a lung transplant.

A COMMITTEE of asylum seekers resident in a state-funded direct provision centre have called for the Dáil to consider eight reforms – including the abolition of the direct provision system – to an asylum system deemed unfair and not cost-effective.