Crisis threatened life support for cancer patient, 7

While Irish workers, those on welfare, and pensioners have been badly damaged by the Ulster Bank crisis, their problems pale into insignificance compared to those faced by one seven- year-old cancer sufferer.

Olivia Downie, from Aberdeenshire in Scotland, is currently being treated at the Hospital Angeles in Tijuana, Mexico, for a rare and highly aggressive form of cancer called neuroblastoma.

The hospital was due to be paid thousands of euro through a Natwest account affected by the wider RBS Group crisis — of which Ulster Bank is one part — on Friday.