Victims of the CervicalCheck scandal are pleading for other women to be spared the ordeal that a terminally-ill cancer patient was put through, to win her landmark compensation case.

Cervical cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan says HPV vaccine campaigner Laura Brennan’s legacy will be that she saved thousands of lives.

A look back at the biggest news stories 2018 had to offer.

Even in death, Emma Mhic Mhathúna would not be silenced.

Here's all you need to know this lunchtime.

Here's all you need to know this lunchtime.

Here's your morning bulletin.

Emma Mhic Mhathúna was one of the key figures at the centre of the Cervical Check controversy.

Ms Mhic Mhathúna passed away aged 37 on Sunday morning.

Women and families affected by the CervicalCheck scandal have said they are heartbroken that that sections of the Scally review had been leaked to the media.

It was all a bit last-minute but Pope Francis had something important to do before saying Mass in the Phoenix Park. He had to go to confession.

Being handed a diagnosis of lethal cancer together with the promise that it will radically shorten your life rarely provokes — in the person hearing the deadly prognosis — the desire to be funny.

Catch up on all the headlines this lunchtime...

Catch up on all the headlines this lunchtime...

Update 4.32pm: Emma Mhic Mhathúna has today urged those affected by the CervicalCheck scandal to continue the fight.

Magnificently heroic despite a savage prognosis, Emma Mhic Mhathúna, victim of mis-read smear tests, has revealed that her cancer has spread to her brain.

“Check, check and recheck.” That was the message from Emma Mhic Mhathúna for those dealing with the cervical smear tests of Irish women.

Emma Mhic Mhathúna came to the Four Courts a victor not a victim.

Kerry mother Emma Mhic Mhathúna and her five children who sued over CervicalCheck smears have settled their legal action for €7.5m.

What the Government really fears is the voice of a dying woman blaming them for her plight, writes Victoria White

Kerry mother Emma Mhic Mhathúna and her five children are to seek exemplary and aggravated damages when their case over alleged delays relating to CervicalCheck smears goes ahead in the High Court in a few weeks time.

Junior minister John Halligan has called for the “toxic” HSE to be broken up and for an independent review to recommend a new authority.

Two women with cervical cancer “who do not have time on their hands” have been refused their own medical records, the Dáil has heard.

Thirty five of the country’s top health officials need to be removed from their posts while an inquiry takes place into the smear tests scandal, terminally ill mother Vicky Phelan has said.

Up to 400 people, most of them women, turned out in the Square in Tralee yesterday evening in a show of support for Emma Mhic Mhathúna, the 37-year-old mother of five whose smear test failed to detect cancer warning signs and who now has terminal cancer.

Paul Dingivan and Paul Reck, two men who lost their wives to cervical cancer, are the latest people to go public with their grief in order to get to the truth about the smear test scandal.

The Taoiseach and the Health Minister have defended the Department of Health’s chief medical officer, despite the fact that he kept details of the cervical smear scandal from them for two years.

Emma Mhic Mhathúna’s story started off a day during which the HSE boss made jaw-dropping revelations, writes Political Editor Daniel McConnell.

Tony O’Brien, the embattled director general of the Health Service Executive last night bowed to mounting political pressure over the smear test scandal and resigned.

A mother-of-five who experienced a delayed cervical cancer diagnosis has spoken of her experience after her case was uncovered as part of a recent HSE review.