The Director of the new Insolvency Service of Ireland has said the scheme is not designed to force people out of their jobs.

THE family of a woman who died while her test results lay unopened in a consultant’s pigeon hole battled for a year to get the hospital to explain the oversight, it has emerged.

PATIENTS in the north-east will die because the Health Service Executive will continue to cut back on services even if plans to develop a new regional hospital are shelved, a doctor warned yesterday.

THE Government has filed a Dáil motion on last week’s cancer reports that does not contain one single word of criticism of the Health Service Executive — despite the fact the reports were damning of the organisation.

THE Health Service Executive has denied it has made a final decision on a wholesale cut to services in the north-east.

IRISH child protection workers must get out of the office and into children’s homes if they are really to protect children from neglect and abuse, a leading social worker has said.

The Ulster Defence Association was today given 60 days to disarm and protect £1.2m (€1.77m) earmarked for the redevelopment of their neighbourhoods.

A handful of Sunni mosques were attacked or burned today, but curfews and increased troop levels kept Iraq in relative calm a day after suspected al Qaida bombers toppled the towering minarets of a revered Shiite shrine.

The Irish Medical Organisation has criticised the attitude being adopted by the Government and the HSE in relation to negotiations on new contracts for hospital consultants.

A 16-year-old boy who is in care has ended up in custody in St Patrick’s Institution because the Health Service Executive (HSE) has not been able to provide him with suitable accommodation.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney says she will not set up a judicial review nor compensate the victims of the MRSA super-bug despite requests from patient activists.

The Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney has rejected criticism of the Government's failure to tackle the ongoing A&E overcrowding crisis.

Guidelines that aim to help combat discrimination in the health service were launched today by the Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Mary Harney.

SEVEN people have died from the MRSA superbug in the past 10 days according to the support group for families affected by the deadly organism.

A NURSING representative at Ireland’s dirtiest hospital yesterday blamed overcrowding and lack of infection control resources for its failure to meet minimum hygiene standards.

Staff cuts in the nation’s health service may include culling nurses, it was claimed today.

An Oireachtas Committee has summoned Bank of Ireland executives to appear before it after it heard today that lack of information on a cost-cutting plan had made up to 12,000 staff fear for their jobs.

Evelyn Ring

SOME prisons may be closed following the breakdown of talks last night between the Prison Service and the Prison Officers’ Association on the abolition of overtime which stands at €60 million per annum.

A car bomb in Birmingham city centre would have caused ‘‘very serious loss of life’’ if it had detonated fully, police said tonight.