Almost 2.3 million prescriptions were written for anxiety and depression drugs in 2012, enough to cover more than half the population.

Ireland has just half the number of speech and language therapists it needs, with 3,000 children waiting more than a year for therapy and another 2,000 children waiting the same period of time for an assessment.

THE director of the Clare Crusaders Clinic in Ennis yesterday claimed that vital services from the HSE are not there for children requiring speech and language therapy.

OVERSTRETCHED public health nurses drafted in to deliver the swine flu vaccine have called for an end to the ban on staff recruitment before the national roll-out of the cervical cancer vaccine (HPV).

THE independent watchdog tasked with inspecting services for more than 5,000 children in care has just half a dozen inspectors and no enforcement powers to prosecute those who breach the law.