Disabled people in a care home had to use their own money to buy bedroom furniture and extra snacks and drinks for a special diet, inspectors have revealed.

When Paddy McConigley was growing up kicking football for his local Fanad Gaels club at Triaghalough in north-west Donegal, little did he know where the wind on the gusty peninsula would take him.

MAYBE it’s because we have too easily tolerated light-touch regulation for generations that the litany of negative Hiqa reports on residential homes for those with intellectual disabilities is making such an impact.

Waterford company Zolk C was the first to enter the market with an electronic hand-held tourist guide, bringing heritage sites to life and is now turning its attentions to the lucrative North American tourism market, writes Trish Dromey.

AN asylum seeker centre where standards were severely criticised by Oireachtas committee members last week had recently received a ‘Q’ mark for quality from a private inspection firm.