A crisis is looming at University Hospital Waterford over Christmas as up to 100 shifts will have no staff cover, it has been claimed.

Why has the country with the worst breastfeeding rate in the developed world just axed its international breastfeeding development programme?

Almost one in seven mothers who gave birth at Cork University Maternity Hospital last year experienced what is classified as a “clinical incident”.

A national campaign by the Irish Cancer Society failed to persuade hospitals to offer cancer patients free or subsidised parking.

A 27-year-old brain-damaged woman who had sued over the circumstances of her birth has settled her action against the HSE for €4m.

The new director general of RTÉ has pledged to invest in and support investigative journalism as the state broadcaster strives to earn the nation’s trust in everything it does.

A major fundraiser is being planned to make up a shortfall in money needed to operate a charity-run home in Cork, which currently caters for 128 residents and 100 day care patients.

They’re as much a part of Cork’s Christmas tradition as spiced beef, the Holly Bough, and the Share collectors.

The work of St Luke’s Home, a care facility for the elderly located in the Cork suburb of Mahon which has operated in the city since the 1870s, was celebrated yesterday at the launch of its annual fundraising campaign.

St Luke’s walls have witnessed more intrigue than a box-set of House of Cards, writes Michael Cifford

Nurse union leader urges ‘radical action’ to address overcrowding

The Menu returns once again with his Yuletide roundup of the very best of 2014 to fill the Christmas Hamper as well as his food awards, The Munchies, a tip of the hat to those who labour long and hard to make local, sustainable Irish produce to a world-class standard.

A charity for children with life-limiting conditions has given its complete backing to a new petition calling for all seriously-ill children to automatically receive medical card help.

A couple who bought a sofa from a charity shop got an extra surprise when they found a cat trapped inside it.

Almost €150,000 in cancer charity donations has instead been given to senior hospital chiefs already receiving six-figure publicly-funded salaries.

St Luke's Hospital in Dublin has officially become a smoke-free campus.

Mystic Menu, once again, lays out some predictions and identifies trends for the coming year in Irish food.

Eddie Nolan, one of the best known figures in the Irish motoring industry and the early force behind the Ford Cork Week sailing regatta, died at the weekend.

One of the country’s most dynamic care facilities for the elderly faces a funding shortfall of €1m a year, in part due to the Government’s Fair Deal scheme for those in nursing homes.

Health Minister James Reilly may have to rethink the controversial €100 emergency department charge after it emerged up to half of the bills are sent to patients who are exempt from payment.

A boy who was under attack from a “monster cancer” and given only a 30% chance of survival, has beaten the odds after doctors gave him the all-clear.

The future was his.

An 11-year-old girl honoured for her bravery in battling cancer has lost her fight against the disease.

I am sick of the radio news announcing every hour our country’s desperate financial situation.

Fianna Fáil will not take any action against Albert Reynolds, despite the Mahon Tribunal making adverse findings against him.

The infamous house once served as Bertie Ahern’s political power base, but now as the keys are handed over to Fianna Fáil, it stands as a lasting reminder of a period of dishonesty and corruption, writes Michael Clifford

ST Valentine’s night is peak season for dinner à deux and I’ll be looking at some smoochy wine ideas next week.

THE row over the Taioseach’s pre-election commitment to Roscommon Hospital and the subsequent action of his government contrasts with his lack of a firm commitment to St Luke’s Cancer Hospital.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney has criticised the protesters who threw eggs and cheese at her car for failing to use reasoned debate and democratic methods to further their aims.

ONE of the country’s largest care homes for the elderly is operating at a significant loss because of controversial new Government funding arrangements.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney justifies her decision to choose St James’s Hospital as a cancer centre of excellence over St Luke’s in Rathgar on the grounds that “experts” advised her to do this.

ST LUKE’S Hospital in Dublin which has been caring for cancer patients from all over Ireland for 56 years will be retained as a public health facility when its cancer services close in 2014, Health Minister Mary Harney said.

CANCER patients at a Dublin hospital could face long delays for radiation treatment because almost a third of the treatment staff may not have their contracts renewed when they end in June.

HEALTH Service Executive boss Prof Brendan Drumm has confirmed the health authority is to spend €20 million on modernising mental health services in south Tipperary.

A €2 MILLION training centre for people involved in pastoral work and care of the elderly is to be built in Cork.

YES, I too would like a referendum on our health service as Dr Christine O’Malley and Dr Bertie Daly suggest (Letters, June 27).

THE HSE has refused to comment on plans for a €12 million windfall its due to receive from the sale of a landbank in Clonmel.

Campaigners opposed to the closure of a top Dublin cancer hospital will today take their protest onto the streets of the capital.

FORMER Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has defended telling the Mahon Tribunal earlier this year that he was unaware when his former partner, Celia Larkin, repaid a £30,000 loan to Fianna Fáil, even though he was in direct contact with her on the issue.

FORMER EU commissioner and attorney general David Byrne said yesterday that he had absolutely no doubt that Bertie Ahern’s constituency office in Drumcondra was bought for the benefit of Fianna Fáil.

THE HSE has been accused of letting down the “most unfortunate” patients in society as it emerged that not a cent of the €2 million-plus raised from the sale of former psychiatric hospital property in 2006 and 2007 went back into mental health services.

A FIANNA Fáil fundraiser has told the Mahon Tribunal that he cannot remember the identity of up to 30 people who agreed to fund the purchase of Bertie Ahern’s constituency office in 1987.

IMPORTANT documents relating to five bank accounts linked to Bertie Ahern’s constituency organisation were destroyed sometime after 2001, it emerged during yesterday’s hearing of the Mahon Tribunal.