The latest figures to confirm they will seek an MEP seat were Independents Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, who will run in Ireland South and Dublin.

The ballots are set for May's European elections.

The difficulties that public patients have in accessing 20-week foetal anomaly scans, combined with unfeasibly large gynaecology waiting lists, bolster the case for independent governance of Cork University Maternity Hospital.

Homeless children being forced to live out of hotels are being treated like “second-class citizens”, it was claimed yesterday, as the Government, in principle, accepted opposition recommendations on the housing crisis.