Rising employment and a larger collection of taxes could help fund free GP care for adults under a proposal being considered by Health Minister Leo Varadkar.

Researchers in Trinity College Dublin have found a link between the genetics of some forms of motor neurone disease (MND) and a range of psychiatric diseases.

School children got top marks for drenching their teachers in a very special ice bucket challenge tinged with sadness.

It isn’t every day that Trinity College students get the pleasure of seeing their professor endure a head to toe drenching but, then, Orla Hardiman is not your everyday academic.

Environment Minister Alan Kelly has been urged to make an "immediate statement" on how he intends to address the problems faced by 26 voluntary disability and health groups who have lost their state funding.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been asked to intervene to save 26 voluntary organisations in the health and disability sector after it emerged their funding was halted by former Environment Minister Phil Hogan without consulting his colleague with responsibility in the area.

A move to cut funding to a number of charities is being slammed as "short term" and "ill-advised".

The mother of a child with Down syndrome whose discretionary medical card was scrapped has accused the HSE of “bullying” her family into accepting sub-standard care.

Thousands of people with severe brain injuries face dangerously long delays to access “overstretched” services that fall “far below what would be expected in a developed country”.

Half of motor neurone disease patients in need of discretionary medical cards are seeing their applications turned down by the HSE, a top clinician has said.

Highlights include RTÉ documentaries on taxi passengers and nightshift workers.

There has been no change of policy on providing medical cards to the seriously ill, the Taoiseach insisted, after he was accused of a “nasty attack” on people with cancer or terminal conditions.

Two leading GP groups are seeking meetings with the HSE over fears that seriously ill patients are not receiving help under the discretionary medical card scheme.

A third patient group has warned cutbacks are making it increasingly difficult for seriously ill people to access discretionary medical cards — despite the HSE claiming its policy has not changed.

An increasing number of people with motor neurone disease are having their medical cards withdrawn, while many applicants are being refused outright by the HSE.

Colm Murray was honoured by a People of the Year award in September 2012 in recognition of his efforts to further medical research into motor neurone disease, writes Dan Buckley

They may be thousands of kilometres from home but friends and family left behind in Ireland are never far from the thoughts of the thousands of

ORGANISERS of the country’s first week-long golf classic were able to hand over a cheque for €78,000 to two motor neurone disease organisations at the weekend thanks to the success of the project.

SOME of Ireland’s top rugby stars wore black arm bands yesterday as they completed the Irish stage of the cross-channel fundraising cycle for Munster’s former fitness coach Paul Darbyshire, who died on Monday after a long battle with motor neurone disease.

FORMER Munster strength and conditioning coach Paul Darbyshire has died from Motor Neurone disease, less than a day after the start of a fundraising cycle for his family and research into new treatment.

A new clinical trial for a promising new drug for motor neuron disease is underway at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.

PEOPLE with crippling illnesses — including multiple sclerosis and cancer patients, — are among those being forced to break the law by using cannabis for medicinal purposes.

MUNSTER rugby players and supporters are organising a series of charity events to support a colleague and friend diagnosed with motor neurone disease last year and to research into the debilitating condition.

WITH every area of neurological care in Ireland understaffed, the Neurological Alliance of Ireland is warning that time is running out to tackle the crisis.

ALMOST two out of every five people with neurological conditions including stroke, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s have to wait more than half a year before they are diagnosed.

SCIENTISTS studying one of the most baffling disorders of the nervous system have made a breakthrough that could help identify the role some genes can play in increasing the risk of motor neuron disease (MND).

Tens of thousands of people are expected to join a mass rally in Dublin today to demand improvements to the public health service.

THE provision of services for stroke victims has been described as a national disgrace, with just 3% of the country’s emergency care requirement currently being met.

ORGANISERS of a rally for better healthcare being held in Dublin this weekend will be disappointed if at least 70,000 people do not turn up to demand better health services across the country.

ABOUT €700,000 is to be spent on the National Drug Awareness Campaign, due to start in the coming weeks.

WE write in the aftermath of a death foretold, the unnecessary death of a young Kilkenny mother from cancer.

THE director of neurology at Beaumont Hospital has criticised plans to recruit consultant neurologists in parts of the country that she claims are at odds with recommendations in an expert report.

DOCTORS yesterday blamed the acute shortage of hospital beds for the growth in MRSA infections.

Injecting tax incentives into profit-making health service schemes is not in the interest of public health, because it will not fix the problems now besetting our health service, according to consultant neurologist Orla Hardiman, of Beaumont Hospital.

A LEADING hospital consultant has said the Government is wasting money on a ‘for-profit’ healthcare system while the public health sector is languishing because of inadequate funding.

HEALTH chiefs have rejected suggestions that they have allowed public confidence in the health system to plummet by failing to promote the positive side of the services.

THE Oireachtas Committee on Health will be writing to the head of the Health Services Executive (HSE), Professor Brendan Drumm, asking him to explain apparent delays in appointing four consultant neurologists.

REGULATIONS governing the use of controversial stem cell therapies will be introduced within a matter of months, Finance Minister Brian Cowen said last night.

IRISH researchers have discovered new genetic pathways they believe will lead to the development of new drugs for treating Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

ALCOHOL abuse receives more attention from Government than mental illness because of the stigma mental illness carries, former political adviser and learning disability campaigner Fergus Finlay said yesterday.

ADULTS and children with serious neurological conditions are being forced to endure torturous return trips from Waterford to Cork and Dublin because of a lack of local services.

A BED shortage in Beaumont Hospital is impacting hardest on patients from outside of Dublin.

IRISH people with motor neurone disease are dying sooner than those in other countries because of inadequate health services.