The current deficit means the health service will likely require another large bailout, despite being given a record budget in 2019.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin received a €30,000 pay bump though an allowance claimed by the party last year, bringing his salary up to €124,353.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has wished a speedy recovery to his predecessor, Brian Cowen, who is seriously ill in hospital.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has wished a speedy recovery to his predecessor, Brian Cowen, who is seriously ill in hospital.

Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen is being treated in the Beacon Hospital in Dublin after falling seriously ill last night.

Further cost overruns during the development of the national children’s hospital are "highly likely", an Oireachtas committee has been told.

The Department of Public Expenditure’s top civil servant looks likely to snub an Oireachtas broadband investigation until after the local elections.

The Government has been urged to set up a national relocation scheme to take hundreds of families out of homelessness each year.

The event, at Lahinch Golf Club, the venue for the forthcoming Irish Open, is attended by members of the Oireachtas past and present, as well as staff and the media.

Health Minister Simon Harris has formally asked opposition parties to allow the bill establishing the tribunal to be sped through the Oireachtas just days after the cabinet agreed on the details of the plan.

From April 1, there will be a €10 reduction in the monthly drugs payment scheme threshold from €134 to €124.

The two other worst-hit hospitals were Cork University Hospital that had 41 patients waiting and University Hospital Galway that had 34.

Efforts to clampdown on and control negative publicity around the spiralling costs of the National Children’s Hospital began last August, when the scale of the overrun became apparent to those responsible for delivering it.

The chair of the Public Accounts Committee wants BAM to appear before them to answer questions on the rising cost of the National Children’s Hospital.

The Government has been told to "do the right thing" and engage without preconditions with striking nurses.

Ministers have been asked to explain why they did not sound alarm bells earlier about the spiralling costs for the national children's hospital, amid growing questions about the scandal.

Government spending agencies have been quizzed about the massive cost overruns in the planned build for the national children's hospital as pressure mounts to explain the €1.5bn project spend.

The country’s top official for public expenditure has been sharply criticised for snubbing a request to appear before the Oireachtas Health Committee which is investigating cost overruns at the National Children’s Hospital.

Just one of the proposed 180 amendments to the proposed abortion legislation was accepted after a marathon debate.

Fianna Fáil must agree to a full confidence and supply deal or bring on a general election, Fine Gael has demanded.

After a dramatic week the Government will face another challenge to secure a vote to appoint a successor to former minister Denis Naughten.

Communications Minister Denis Naughten is set to be grilled over the planned closure of rural post offices as TDs threaten to pull support for the Government.

It will be another two years before a new Fair Deal-type scheme for people in their own homes is up and running, it has emerged.

A mother has offered her house as collateral in a desperate bid to raise €100,000 to sponsor her daughter’s life-saving operation in Spain

Women will be able to access abortions here from January, the Taoiseach has said.

CervicalCheck refused to provide information to two concerned women who directly contacted the service in 2016, it has been revealed.

Cervical cancer victim Vicky Phelan and the widower of Irene Teap, who lost her life due to the same scandal, will attend a special Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting today to highlight what questions they still have over the crisis.

Latest: The Health Minister has cancelled his St Patrick’s Day trip due to the trolley crisis.

There are calls to cap hospital car parking charges for people who are long-term sick and their relations.

A fertility expert has warned that plans to permit surrogacy in Ireland are too restrictive and that people would continue to seek surrogacy abroad even though it remains a grey area.

A fertility expert has warned that plans to permit surrogacy in Ireland are too restrictive and that people would continue to seek surrogacy abroad even though it remains a grey area.

Ireland’s spiralling rental crisis is failing to be addressed because one in every five TDs are landlords and have a clear conflict of interest on the issue, campaigners have warned.

Health Minister Simon Harris has asked the HSE to conduct an “evidence-gathering” exercise with state-funded organisations providing health and social care to establish a factual position on pay reductions and pay restoration.

Stronger enforcement of the rules limiting private practice in public hospitals is needed, an official from the Department of Health told the Oireachtas health committee.

Former Fianna Fáil senator John Hanafin and a handful of Independent TDs have held talks about setting up a new political party before the next general election.

Former Fianna Fáil senator John Hanafin and a handful of Independent TDs have held talks about setting up a new political party before the next general election.

The Taoiseach has confirmed that the Government has abandoned plans to scrap the HSE board and is now drafting legislation to re-establish it.

The HSE has paid over €540m to GP practices and out of hour services in fees and allowances last year, for treating medical card patients and providing services for other State health schemes.

A HSE-run facility for older people which is at the centre of court proceedings “appeared institutional and hospital-like”, with some residents spending large parts of the day in bed and eating meals at their bedside, according to a report by health watchdog Hiqa.

Judges’ misgivings about the Government’s Judicial Appointments Bill are “misplaced”, the Dáil heard last night.

Latest: Leo Varadkar has warned that there will be "more disappointments than appointments" as he puts together his cabinet.

The Independent Alliance is demanding more free votes within Government if Leo Varadkar is to secure its members’ votes to become taoiseach next Tuesday.

The Independent Alliance are demanding more free votes within Government if Leo Varadkar is to secure their votes to become Taoiseach next Tuesday, write Daniel McConnell and Elaine Loughlin of the Irish Examiner.

Rural Independent TDs have called for the Government to cancel plans to build a new national children’s hospital in Dublin city centre, warning the location will fail to help children and teenagers in genuine need.