As the country’s hospitals continue to battle chronic overcrowding, the HSE has admitted it is years behind schedule in creating surgical hubs that would help ease the pressure. First announced in 2022, the hubs were meant to be up and running by the end of 2024. However, it has now emerged that in Limerick, where the overcrowding is at its worst, the HSE only bought the former school that is to house the hub in the last couple of weeks. The building has yet to be demolished. In Cork, which had 87 patients on trolleys on Tuesday, the hub will not open until at least mid-2026 The delays come despite a government commitment in December 2022 that the hubs would be open within 18 months. They are expected to help relieve congestion at those hospitals worst affected by overcrowding, including University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and Cork University Hospital (CUH). These...

A Garda unit’s night out ended with one of them having his nose broken by a colleague during an after- hours drinking session in a pub just under three years ago, a judge heard on Tuesday. The Circuit Civil Court was told a group of gardaí from Lucan Garda Station had arranged a get-together after work on March 28, 2022, and there had been a romantic break-up between two of them, Garda Ronan O’Shaughnessy and his girlfriend, Probation Garda Aisling Walsh, while the group was having drinks in Cassidy’s pub, on Camden Street, in Dublin. Judge Michael Walsh heard disputed claims alleging Garda Denis Lordan had pulled Garda Walsh’s ponytail while the group was having drinks around tables in the pub, and Garda O’Shaughnessy and Garda Walsh, who are now living together and expecting a baby, had a lover’s tiff and break-up on the night. The party had moved on...

Is your teen getting enough shuteye? Recommended guidelines are eight to 10 hours of sleep nightly, but experts say many are struggling to get this. This represented a downward shift from 2018, when half of this age cohort got the right amount of sleep. But with 50% “not sleeping OK” at that point, Planet Youth coordinator Emmet Major says: “We could see sleep was an issue.” Planet Youth’s 2024 survey concluded just before Christmas, results have not been fully analysed yet but Major reports a glimmer of hope — 45% are now getting eight hours plus sleep per night compared to 44% in 2022. But it doesn’t take from the fact that the teen sleep picture, as Major puts it, “is not good”. And yet adequate, quality sleep is vital for adolescents because it underpins a lot of the physical, cognitive and emotional growth that needs to happen in this...

Donald Trump plans to issue a flurry of executive orders and directives after he is sworn in as US president on Monday to put his stamp on his new administration on matters ranging from energy to immigration. Two sources familiar with the planning said more than 200 such orders and directives could be released starting on Day One in what is known internally as a “shock and awe” effort. Here is what we know about the executive orders so far: IMMIGRATION  Trump plans to take a flurry of executive actions aimed at cracking down on legal and illegal immigration and ramping up deportations after he enters the White House on Monday, an incoming Trump administration official said. Trump intends to declare illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border a national emergency to support the construction of a border wall and send additional troops to the border, the official said. Trump will...

An increasing number of parents are seeking help to deal with children viewing pornography, according to national helpline Parentline.  Parents are also increasingly concerned about the negative impact social media is having on children as young as nine. Calls relating to social media jumped tenfold in 2024 while more parents than ever are also calling about the easy access to pornography. Concerns about pornographic videos and photographs that children viewed on phones or other smart devices increased from 28 calls in 2023 to 80 in 2024. The other issue parents are increasingly worried about is vaping, with the issue accounting for 3% of calls in 2024 compared to just 1% the year before. The figures are due to be officially released later this month, but overall, 2024 was another record year for Parentline. It saw a 5% increase in calls to its helpline to 6,461 compared with 6,147 in 2023...

The ceasefire in Gaza has officially begun following an almost three-hour delay, after Hamas named the hostages it plans to release on Sunday. Israel had earlier said it was continuing to fight in Gaza until the names were handed over in accordance with the agreement, and at least eight people were killed in an air strike on the territory on Sunday morning, according to Palestinian officials. Hamas blamed a delay in handing over the names on “technical field reasons”, but later published them on social media. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (PA)Nearly three hours after the ceasefire was originally supposed to start at 8.30am local time, officials said it had begun. Celebrations erupted across the war-ravaged territory, and some Palestinians began returning to their homes, even as the delay underscored the fragility of the agreement. The deal sets in motion a long and uncertain process aimed at ultimately ending the...

General expectations about this duel should be fulfilled – it will be tight. Source link

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will go into effect at 6.30GMT on Sunday, Qatar’s foreign ministry has said. Early on Saturday morning Israel’s Cabinet approved the deal for a ceasefire in Gaza that would release dozens of hostages and pause the 15-month war with Hamas, bringing the sides a step closer to ending their deadliest and most destructive fighting ever. Under the deal, 33 hostages are set to be released over the next six weeks, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The remainder, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second phase that will be negotiated during the first. A child sits outside a tent at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Hamas has agreed to free three...

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If our rugby columnist selected three memories from a stellar career with Munster, the Twickenham aftermath 25 years ago will always be one of them Source link