The Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Heart Foundation are calling for a 60 cent increase in the price of a packet of cigarettes in the upcoming Budget.

People living in disadvantaged areas of Ireland can be twice as likely to die from cancer as the well off, according to the Irish Cancer Society.

The Irish Cancer Society says it is worried some cancer patients may stop getting treatment - because many hospitals are now charging €75 for each round of chemotherapy.

Michael D Higgins has said there are limitations to the office of the President, but tackling Ireland's reputation is an achievable feat.

Michael D Higgins will represent Labour in the forthcoming Presidential Election.

David Norris is the favourite to become Ireland's next President, according to a new opinion poll.

Former Senator Kathleen O'Meara is to seek the Labour Party nomination for the Presidency.

The campaign to introduce a 50c levy on a pack of 20 cigarettes on Budget day is gathering momentum.

The Irish Cancer Society has congratulated Gardaí and Customs Officers in the wake of another massive cigarette haul, but believes Ireland is a "target" for organised crime.

THE needless death of a patient in Monaghan General Hospital (MGH) has caused national outrage. The current trawl for a scapegoat is misconceived, however.

DEMANDS for a press watchdog to rein-in “sensationalist reporting” intensified last night after the way Liam Lawlor’s death was covered in some newspapers provoked outrage.

Labour have proposed a new payment of €50 a week for every parent with a young child as part of their childcare policy published today.

MEDICAL and nursing staff at a Tipperary hospital are to join with a local hospital action group to develop and fund a €50,000 blueprint on how their hospital should be developed.

THE Labour Party will publish a major childcare policy document within a matter of weeks, leader Pat Rabbitte promised yesterday.

IT was every parent’s nightmare. When Denise McGrane went to collect her three-year-old son from the crèche she was told Nathan had been taken on an impromptu trip to the local park.

WORKING parents are paying up to €10,000 a year per child in crèche fees and have been totally ignored in the Budget, unions and opposition parties claimed last night.

PLANS by the Progressive Democrats to privatise cancer services have angered health campaigners.

Local hospital groups are meeting today to co-ordinate their campaign against the Hanly health service reforms ahead of the local and European elections.

WITH horse racing now mired in scandal and allegations of race-fixing, wise punters might be diverting their attention to politics.

A FURIOUS row has broken out between the Government and critics of its plans to centralise acute hospital care with both sides accusing the other of lying.

THE birth of a baby in an ambulance while in transit between hospitals in Monaghan and Cavan yesterday highlights major flaws in the Hanly Report.

Opposition to the Hanly report on hospital services has stepped up a notch with the creation of a national steering committee to campaign against proposals in the report.

THOUSANDS of protesters opposed to plans for the downgrading of local hospitals are expected to converge on Nenagh, Co Tipperary, today.

Labour Senator Kathleen O'Meara is accusing the Government of applying stalling tactics in its plans to establish create an Ombudsman for Children.

The Labour Party has accused the Government of abandoning the rights of children.

The Labour Party has vowed to oppose the Government's proposed restrictions on the 1997 Freedom of Information Act.