Under-resourced public health services have asked the Society of St Vincent de Paul to help out.

DRACONIAN health charges being considered by the Government will cost lives, a prominent patient advocate has warned.

SOCIAL Protection Minister Joan Burton says she will do her best to ensure that the burden of resolving the financial crisis does not fall disproportionately on those in the lowest part of the economic spectrum.

The Saint Vincent de Paul has said it is relieved that the Government has helped pensioners out of the poverty trap by raising both the contributory and non-contributory pension.