Health watchdog the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has criticised a centre for children in care, claiming staff were sometimes “overwhelmed” by the challenging behaviour of the young people staying there.

Indications from polling stations last night suggested that a record number of people cast their vote in yesterday’s referenda on marriage equality and lowering the age of eligibility to run for the presidency.

Senior Labour figures have ruled out expressing support for €1.36bn offer to buy Aer Lingus until after the general election.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has appointed chief executives to the six new hospital groups, with all the appointments taken from within existing health services.

New figures show there was just one inspector per 21,000 children in crèches for the Dublin North East region last year.

Over-spending by hospitals is running at twice the rate it was this time last year. And there’s little sign the trend is going to change, writes Claire O’Sullivan

The new Child and Family Agency has said it will not be able to detail how many foster carers have been the subject of complaints or how many have been the subject of an investigation until a new database is up and running.

More than 70 of the country’s top-earning doctors shared €34.37 million from payments received through the medical card system in 2012, new figures show.

The HSE’s bid to cut costs has seen it fill 172 JobBridge intern posts in just 12 months.

Medical card holders accounted for the majority of patients treated at 57 acute public hospitals across the country last year.

The Taoiseach said he was “annoyed” by top-up payments made to senior hospital management over and above agreed salary scales.

A report carried out by Health and Information Quality Authority has found that a HSE support unit for children is unsafe for them to live in.

Dublin City Council is to take ownership of the Priory Hall complex and refurbish it.

The final Dáil vote saw 31 TDs oppose the X case legislation as numbers were swelled by left-wing deputies protesting that the new law was not liberal enough.

Four Fine Gael TDs who voted against legislation allowing abortion in limited circumstances were last night expelled from the parliamentary party and told they would be stripped of their membership on Oireachtas committees.

The initial debate on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill gave a good indication of just how big a revolt the Taoiseach faces over the issue.

The body representing hospital consultants is seeking a meeting with the Health Minister after he announced that almost 50 hospitals will be headed by six independent groups under plans to reform Ireland’s acute hospital system.

The Minister for Health James Reilly has said no acute hospital will close as a result of the reorganisation of hospitals.

Frances Fitzgerald, the children’s minister, will today launch a new advocacy service for children in care amid calls for an overhaul of the guardian ad litem service in the courts.

Anti-abortion Fine Gael TDs have expressed concern at the inclusion of suicidal intent as grounds for termination but a party meeting passed off without “war”, sources said.

The State spent almost €17m last year keeping 27 troubled children in specialised residential care.

Dublin sees some of the most far-reaching changes of the shake-up which will provide re-election headaches for many sitting TDs.

A new HSE review of its child and family services shows the Tipperary South area had the highest level of child neglect in the country although Dublin South East had the highest percentage of sexual abuse.

Voters in just five of the country’s 43 constituencies rejected the referendum, with strong divisions between urban and rural areas.

Social workers in north Dublin say the welfare of their clients could be at risk if a plan to relocate them to a new office is implemented.

Crunch talks are set to be held between senior HSE management and national nurse representatives today over the impact hundreds of imminent retirements will have on maternity services.

THERE were more than 2,000 formal referrals between gardaí and the HSE in relation to child sex abuse during 2010, figures have revealed.

MORE than 2,000 elderly people were subjected to physical, financial and psychological abuse at the hands of their loved ones last year — but at least 20,000 others could still be suffering in silence.

Tommy Broughan has been a thorn in the leadership’s side for some time and few in Labour will lament his loss, writes Political Editor, Paul O’Brien

First count results in the Presidential election are expected to start coming in from around the country in the next hour or so.

MORE than 450 people have each been admitted to hospital at least 10 times due to deliberate self-harm in a seven-year period, a conference on mental health heard yesterday.

THE HSE’s emergency cost-cutting drive has resulted in managers at one of the capital’s busiest hospitals being warned they are “personally” liable for any agency worker costs exceeding a newly imposed cap.

THERE were 2,517 young people on a waiting list to access mental health services at the end of the first quarter of this year — 346 of whom have been waiting for more than a year, official figures have shown.

THE Gay Men’s Health Service has expressed concern at the high rate of illness among the Irish gay population.

Labour’s Séan Kenny has claimed the final seat in Dublin North East.

Fianna Fáil's Avril Power has been eliminated in Dublin North East.

Terence Flanagan of Fine Gael has been elected in the first count in Dublin North East with 12,332 votes.

A COHORT of independent candidates have banded together to form a political alliance which pledges to vote as a unit on four national issues if elected.

LABOUR’S justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte faced accusations of being sexist and discouraging women from politics after claiming that Fianna Fáil’s new spokeswomen were plucked out for photographs like extras in a film.

MENTAL health services will be “impossible to maintain” if the HSE’s own analysis of staffing levels is borne out and a further 1,000 nurses leave their jobs this year, documents have revealed.

AN Taoiseach Brian Cowen was among the TDs who met with artists, arts workers and their supporters yesterday in anational day of action, staged by the National Campaign for the Arts.