The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) – in correspondence marked “urgent and confidential” – has confirmed the “potentially significant” patient safety issues caused by the use of non-medical grade springs in surgery at Temple Street Children's Hospital.

The Ditch can reveal that a county Westmeath man pleaded guilty this month to possession of a shotgun last year that should’ve been in garda custody.

“Prime minister Netanyahu, let me say this to you this evening, the Irish people couldn’t be clearer: we are repulsed by your actions – ceasefire now and let the aid flow safely,” said taoiseach Simon Harris at Fine Gael’s Ard Fheis.

The garda press office changed a contradictory statement about alleged garda involvement in the midlands drug trade.

An old joke: asking what’s the difference between apples and oranges, the answer being there’s no such thing as apple bastards. An acquaintance once told it to my family and was embarrassed when he found out my father’s a Protestant.