Homebirth death
Tributes have poured in for a mother who died after giving birth at her home in Co Limerick.
The tragedy has lead to a suspension of home birth services pending a HSE review.
The mother, named locally as Laura Liston, who was aged in her 30s, died after giving birth to her first child in Croom on June 5th.
A statement released Friday by UL Hospitals Group, which did not identify Ms Liston, read: “We can confirm that we have temporarily suspended the home birth service in the Midwest following a recent maternal death.
UHL overcrowding
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said the level of overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) is having a "significant impact on the retention of nurses" and "safety and safe care" at the hospital.
The comments follow the publication of the Health Information and Quality Authority's (Hiqa) report on an unannounced inspection of UHL's Emergency Department (ED) which found there was "insufficient" nursing staff numbers.
The report added the staff shortages were "having an impact on the safe provision of care" and that the hospital's "overcrowded and understaffed Emergency Department posed a significant risk" to patients.
Heatwave in Europe
A blanket of hot air stretching from the Mediterranean to the North Sea is bringing much of western Europe its first heatwave of the summer, with temperatures forecast to top 30C from London to Paris on Friday.
Experts said the unusually early heatwave is a sign of what is to come as global warming continues, moving up in the calendar the extreme temperatures that Europe would previously have seen in July and August.
“In some parts of Spain and France, temperatures are more than 10 degrees higher — that’s huge — than the average for this time of year,” said Clare Nullis, a spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organisation in Geneva.
Garda assault trial
A member of Gardaí told a court on Friday that he lives every day with the memory of the night when two brothers tried to “butcher” him “like an animal”.
Garda Alan Murphy was responding to reports that a man had been stabbed in Inchicore, Dublin 8, when he was attacked by Gavin Quinn (28) and Lee Quinn (27).
During the incident, Gavin Quinn pinned Gda Murphy to the ground as his younger brother Lee tried to stab the uniformed officer in the eye with a six-inch kitchen knife, the Central Criminal Court was told.
Convicted rapist
A convicted rapist has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for the assault of his former partner and their child.
The sentence will not begin until 2029, when the Dublin man has completed the prison sentence he is currently serving for previous sexual offending, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard on Friday.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child victim, was found guilty after a trial earlier this year of assaulting his partner and their then 12-year-old child during an argument in April 2018. He had denied two counts of assault causing harm and one count of criminal damage.
