The Taoiseach has addressed the Dáil and has made a formal State apology for the "the humiliation, the disrespect and the deceit" to the women and families impacted by the CervicalCheck controversy.

Anti-anxiety drugs are far more widely prescribed in parts of Cork’s inner city and some of its satellite towns than in West Cork, according to a new report on the quality and safety of healthcare.

Professor Anthony Staines of the Department of Nursing and Human Sciences in DCU has called for a more complete system of reporting on services in the health system.

It follows weeks of uncertainty, with slides put into storage as there were no labs to process them.

Access to health services based on need should be a constitutional right, the Irish Patients' Association has urged.

Over €109,000 was spent last year by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) on an external human resources investigation of a disciplinary matter.

Latest: The Minister for Health, Simon Harris, has criticised the failure of some hospital consultants to comply with their contracts.

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service has praised blood donors who rallied to boost donations after faulty testing equipment left 90,000 donors in limbo over their ability to donate.

Nothing in the environmental impact statement (EIS) accompanying Indaver Ireland’s planning application to build an incinerator in Ringaskiddy adequately explains the health impact it could have, according to a specialist in public health.

More than 45,000 people in Ireland have a form of autism and the figure may be as high as 50,000, a study shows.

A number of healthcare decisions made by previous governments were incoherent, contradictory, and incompatible with a strong outcome, said HSE director general Tony O’Brien.

Plans to financially penalise hospitals that do not cut waiting times have been branded “simplistic” because they do not take account of staff shortages.

Hospitals that fail to meet ambitious new targets on waiting times will suffer cuts to funding under a new scheme to be rolled out by Government.

One hundred and sixty four "super-donors" were honoured at the Rochestown Park Hotel last night at the Irish Blood Transfusion Service’s annual awards.

In one of his last proposals in office, outgoing health minister James Reilly has called for the removal of a controversial lifetime ban on gay men giving blood.

Gardaí have gone to great lengths this week — the entire country, to be precise — to show how a little blood, sweat and tears can go a long way.

A leading Irish expert on human disease has said there is “reasonable evidence” that high-voltage overhead powerlines increase cancer risk in children — but also warned that car accidents pose a far greater risk.

ELECTRICITY pylons are set to stretch out across the landscape in 2014. The issue is embedded in the political culture of this country.

As opposition to Eirgrid’s pylon project grows it has emerged the Minister for Health sent a letter to two ministers expressing concern about health risks posed by electromagnetic fields.

New evidence has revealed underground electricity cables running through a seaside town could increase the risk of childhood leukaemia, campaigners claimed today.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney has insisted plans to impose deep cuts on frontline services in the upcoming budget will not “cripple” the system, despite the fact health funding is set to be reduced by at least €1 billion.

A PATIENTS’ rights group has said it is concerned over the timing and motivation of last week’s decision to halt proceedings of a medical inquiry into two surgeons responsible for the removal of a wrong kidney from a young boy.

THE amount of health funding allocated per head of population varies widely depending on where you live, from more than €4,500 per capita in west Cork to less than €600 in Co Meath, a report shows.

All two-year-olds should be screened for autism to give children with the condition the best chance in life, it was claimed today.

I WAS flabbergasted at Environment Minister Dick Roche’s assertion that Indaver’s incinerators are passing through “one of the most open and rigorous physical planning and environmental licensing regimes in the world” (January 5).

EPA director Larry Stapleton (Irish Examiner letters, November 11) said that in my letter (Irish Examiner, October 31) I ignored the fact that dioxin levels in Ireland were low compared with the EU limit.

THE country’s first toxic waste incinerator must not be built before a proper Health Impact Assessment is carried out, a leading public health specialist warned yesterday.

IRELAND has insufficient resources to carry out adequate risk assessments for proposed waste management facilities, a report revealed yesterday.