One of Ireland’s largest hospitals was criticised today for being grossly understaffed after a backlog of almost 58,000 X-rays was uncovered.

PATIENT campaigners have called for the speedy release of the Tallaght X-ray inquiry report after health chiefs confirmed the report would not be finished until at least September.

DOWN manager James McCartan will not need to travel far if he wants advice about how to beat Kerry.

PATIENTS embroiled in the Tallaght Hospital X-ray review scandal have called on the HSE to immediately confirm whether the crisis is being repeated in any other facility.

The Health Service Executive has published the terms of reference of the inquiry into the mishandling of X-rays and GP referral letters at Tallaght Hospital in Dublin.

The terms of reference for the quality improvement plan at Tallaght Hospital will be announced later this morning.

A FORMER senator who was heavily involved in the North’s Patten Commission policing report will chair a three-month inquiry into the Tallaght Hospital crisis.

Dr Maurice Hayes is to chair the review into failures at Tallaght hospital.

GARDA Commissioner Fachtna Murphy has rejected suggestions that the force was not up to pursuing clerical child sex abuses cases.

MACRA na Feirme’s national debating competition is again being supported by the National Forum on Europe.

A SENIOR Fianna Fáil TD has warned the Government it would be “foolish” to hold a second referendum on the Lisbon treaty.

The Forum on Europe is an elitist talking shop that isn’t getting its message across to ordinary people, a MEP today told an Oireachtas Committee.

The board of Independent News and Media has again rebutted criticism of the company by one of its biggest shareholders, Denis O'Brien.

Sinn Féin will today launch its first phase of the party’s campaign against the Lisbon Reform Treaty.

THE expert group on Garda reform has criticised the manner in which the Department of Justice appointed the new commissioner Fachtna Murphy.

IT is sad that many Unionists see Irish language legislation for the North solely as a Sinn Féin project.

WHEN reporting on the appointment of Eoghan Harris to the Seanad to replace Maurice Hayes as the sole non-Fianna Fáil member among the Taoiseach’s 11 nominees, it was surely worth noting that while Mr Harris is a journalist with the Sunday Independent, Mr Hayes is a director of Independent News and Media, the group which owns that particular newspaper.

NINE defeated general election candidates were yesterday appointed to the Seanad in a line-up which produced many unexpected winners and losers.

ONE of the country’s richest entrepreneurs, Denis O’Brien, continued his assault on Independent News & Media (IN&M) at the group’s annual general meeting held in Belfast yesterday.

The political progress that has been made in the North could be undone by raking over its bloody past, a former senator has warned.

INDEPENDENT News & Media, which is in the process of shedding jobs from its Dublin newspapers, rewarded its executive directors with an 18% pay rise last year.

A NEW deputy garda commissioner was appointed yesterday with the brief of driving reforms within the force.

DESPITE the apparent euphoria at the news that the gardaí are to recruit more civilians, it seems to be a case of more chiefs and not enough Indians.

Ostensibly, the reports of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate and the Management Advisory Group, which recommend radical reform of garda management, should be welcomed, both from a garda and public perspective.

THE European Constitution was the right choice for Europe and for Ireland, Bertie Ahern has stressed.

THE Garda Ombudsman, and not the Government, should determine the level of resources and staffing that it needs, a top-level expert group said yesterday.

The new Garda Ombudsman Commission will have the staffing and the budget to match the Police Ombudsman in Northern Ireland, it was claimed tonight.

A report out today is expected to chart the way forward for the establishment of local policing committees across the country.

THE National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has accused Justice Minister Michael McDowell of operating a separate system of justice for himself in his campaign against journalist Frank Connolly.

THE PROMOTERS of a statue to commemorate the late writer Bryan MacMahon (1909-1998) have appealed a planning decision by Listowel Town Council so they can retain the height of the monument in the interests of “the status of the statue.”

Two Irish senators have joined calls for an explanation why convicted IRA bomber Sean Kelly was sent back to prison on Sunday.

Gardaí should not be appointed to the new Ombudsman Commission to investigate complaints against fellow gardai, it was claimed tonight.

THE man responsible for overseeing the setting up of the new three-person police Ombudsman Commission here last night said some of their powers were “nonsense” because they would have to get permission to enter a garda station.

The Government and Garda Commissioner will urgently examine the future of officers implicated in the latest damning Morris Tribunal report, Finance Minister Brian Cowen said today.

THE directors of Independent News & Media (IN&M) were paid €8.1 million last year, a 10% rise on the 2003 figure.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday said there was no place for those with “a ballot box in one hand and a money-laundered bank draft in the other”.

An All-Ireland Championship winning gaelic footballer today escaped a jail sentence after being convicted of breaking the jaw of another player during a challenge match.

RUC reformers Chris Patten and Maurice Hayes should be recruited to review An Garda Síochána and devise an alternative to the proposed Garda Ombudsman, the Labour party said yesterday.

SENATOR Maurice Hayes was yesterday presented with the European of the Year Award at a ceremony in Dublin yesterday.

European of the Year Senator Maurice Hayes has voiced his concerns at plans to push ahead with a "two-speed Europe" by some of the EU's larger countries.

Independent Senator Maurice Hayes has won this year’s European of the Year award.

POLITICIANS drawing up a draft constitution for Europe yesterday admitted divisions over Iraq have dealt a major blow to plans for a common foreign policy.