Standing on the balcony of the hospitality building at Killarney Racecourse yesterday evening, Frankie Dettori addressed the gathered media and punters with the charisma and panache that has endeared him to the public since moving to England in 1985.

“Granny dumping” in nursing homes, pilfering from pensions, and lack of clear obligation on the State to protect vulnerable adults are among the reasons adult safeguarding legislation was needed, an Oireachtas committee heard.

The HSE has been forced to admit that two of the senior officials directly involved in the 1996 decision to leave 'Grace' in her abusive foster home are still working for State child protection agency Tusla.

The HSE owes thousands of hospital patients and nursing home residents, who were wrongly charged a combined €450m for free public services, tens of millions of euro, officials have admitted.

Five senior HSE officials and six more Tusla employees directly involved in the Grace foster abuse scandal are set to be the subject of disciplinary investigations which could potentially result in their sackings.

Disabled people in the Aras Attracta care home were subjected to a bleak life of widespread control and conditioning, an official investigation has found.

Yesterday morning the racing world woke to the sad news that John Thomas McNamara had passed away. The 41-year-old former leading amateur, who suffered a horrific fall from Galaxy Rock in the Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival of 2013, lost the one battle he could never win.

The annual Kildorrery point-to-point meeting, run under the auspices of the Duhallow Foxhounds, took place at Rockmills Stud yesterday and the Jimmy Mangan-trained Coole Cody vindicated the promise of his excellent fourth-placed debut effort at Dawstown last season by taking the five-year-old geldings’ maiden.

The HSE’s most senior official has said “only a complete fool” would believe the serious abuse claims against a Waterford foster family are not being repeated elsewhere after revealing he expects multiple law suits over the case.

A Limerick man who sexually abused his daughter while she was aged between 13 and 16 years old has been jailed for seven years.

Today’s meeting at Listowel has been called off due to a waterlogged track.

It was billed as a potential classic and Saturday’s Qipco Champions Stakes certainly lived up to the hype. Before, during and after.

In an industry struggling to reinvent itself, the freelance photographer gets squeezed more than most. All the more so, when it’s a sports-specific effort, like Healy Racing in Listowel. As the local September festival kicks off this weekend, Pat Healy reflects on the trade, characters, and moments he’ll remember — and the ones he can’t forget.

There have been cross-party calls for an investigation into the HSE’s handling of claims that up to 40 intellectually disabled children were sexually abused by a foster care family over two decades.

The Pat Doyle-trained Six Gun Serenade gave ample indication that a bright track career lies in wait by winning the four-year-old geldings’ maiden at yesterday’s well-attended Killeady Harriers point-to-point at Ballyarthur outside Fermoy.

As hospitals brace themselves for industrial action, the country’s largest nursing union has called on the public to join in a major protest outside the Dáil today to highlight emergency department (ED) overcrowding.

The HSE has been investigating two serious claims of physical abuse against adults and foster children with intellectual disabilities in the south-east since 2012 — but has failed to publish any reports on the matter.

Senior HSE officials are set to hold a major summit on Tuesday over concerns the Áras Attracta scandal could be repeated in more of the country’s 900-plus residential institutions.

Nine people have been suspended on full pay at the HSE-run Áras Attracta care home in Co Mayo after a Prime Time report showed shocking treatment of residents.

The HSE has announced plans to set up a network of “safeguarding” teams to stamp out abuse of vulnerable adults in care on a week overshadowed by allegations of such behaviour.

Nine workers at a centre for people with intellectual disabilities, which is being investigated by gardaí after the sudden death of a resident in 2012, have been taken "off duty" after separate serious abuse allegations.

Michael Noonan announced a 40c increase in the price of an old reliable — at the same time 260km away, a muffled groan went up in the Old Reliable.

The country is to be divided into 90 "primary care networks" of 50,000 people each in a move which, the HSE believes, will see the public receive more integrated healthcare in the community.

The rare sight nowadays of an old-style cattle fair on the street distracted attention from the goat at Puck Fair yesterday.

The need for equal access for all children with disabilities who need therapy services in school needs to be addressed urgently by the HSE, TDs and senators urged yesterday.

As part of a change in policy, a Health and Wellbeing Division was established last year as part of a shift from simply treating sick people to keeping them healthy in the first place.

Health chiefs have insisted they will be able to run services on less money this year without affecting patient care.

A Cork nursing home, which closed earlier this year, has been sharply criticised by the Employment Appeals Tribunal for its bullying of a worker who was fired after allegedly stealing a mug.

The Eugene O’Sullivan-trained Pocket Reader showed that tenacity is his definite strong suit by winning the open lightweight at yesterday’s United Foxhounds point-to-point fixture at Ballindenisk.

Funding has finally been secured to open 20 beds at a Cork hospice which have lain idle since the facility opened 18 months ago.

A young woman who lost all her teeth during epileptic seizures, and has undergone plastic surgery for facial injuries, has been refused funding for treatment abroad despite the fact that she cannot get it here.

The HSE has inadvertently highlighted how it manages upcoming negative news after accidently including the Irish Examiner in a group email to senior officials.

When racing first came to Listowel, back in 1858, the meeting provided a platform for the celebrations of local farmers, whose harvest toil had just come to an end.

In response to Sean O’Riordan’s excellent article on “waiting list in Cork and Kerry for amputees” (May 14) as an amputee of many years I’m appalled at the HSE and, in particular, the throwaway comment by Pat Healy, HSE South regional director of operations, that he would address “smaller issues” like replacement socks.

Aidan O’Brien is optimistic that Qipco 2000 Guineas winner Camelot possesses the stamina necessary to win the Investec Derby.

A new urgent care treatment centre will open in Cork today which will deal with minor injuries such as scalds and broken bones.

Up to 2,000 Cork and Kerry children suffering from serious orthopaedic problems will no longer have to endure lengthy trips to Dublin to receive the care they need.

With €115 million less to spend in 2012 and down more than 4,500 staff from a peak five years ago, a series of cuts are set to further decimate health services in the south of the country.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation believes the HSE South will end up seeking a supplementary budget later in the year as it struggles to deliver against a backdrop of budget cuts and staff reductions.

It comes with the kind of mod-cons most would associate more with a family home than a community nursing unit, but then innovation is the byword for Cork’s newest residential care facility.

One in eight patients treated on emergency department trolleys across Ireland yesterday were based at Cork University Hospital.

Funding for one of the largest hospitals in Munster is set to be slashed by €22m this year, forcing 30 beds to be closed as part of cost-cutting plans.