Four of the 3,500 Irish patients fitted with allegedly defective DePuy orthopaedics hip joints have been given leave by the High Court to serve personal injury summonses on the US company.

THE Dublin city coroner has decided to take the “unusual” step of recalling witnesses who have already given evidence at an inquest into the death of a baby delivered by water birth in Cavan General Hospital to allay concerns raised by the baby’s family, an inquest has heard.