Varadkar doubles down on call for HSE to limit staff leave over Christmas
The Taoiseach has doubled down on his call for the HSE to refuse hospital staff annual leave during the Christmas break.
Leo Varadkar said many hospitals are effectively running on a skeleton staff over the holidays – leading to bottleneck of patients in the first week of January.
He said hospital staff should be working 'full whack' throughout what is the busiest time of year for the health service.
Opposition parties have slammed the comments, accusing the Taoiseach of attempting to deflect the blame for hospital overcrowding away from the Government and on to health workers.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions pushed out by Trump
The US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has stepped down from his position.
It reportedly comes after the US President Donald Trump asked him to resign this afternoon.
In a tweet in the last few minutes, President Trump said: “We are pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States.
“He will serve our Country well.
“We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well. A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.”
Garda to be sentenced for possession of child abuse imagery
A Garda will be sentenced later this month after being caught with photos and videos of children, some younger than ten, being sexually abused.
Joseph O’Connor, who was based in Dublin, denied five counts of possessing such material but was convicted of all but one.
It took the jury just over two hours to find Joseph O’Connor guilty of four of the five offences he faced.
He was cleared of an offence relating to copies of two images.
Trump calls for end to partisan politics as House shifts toward Democrats
The US President has warned Democrats against using their Midterm Election gains to launch fresh investigations against him.
The Democratic Party has retaken control of the US House of Representatives, giving it the power to stall the president's policies – and investigate him more aggressively on a range of issues.
The House also has the power to launch impeachment proceedings – however this is unlikely unless the ongoing Mueller investigation finds strong evidence of criminality.
The midterms were not all bad for President Trump – with the Republicans increasing their Senate majority.
WATCH: 'Supervet' Noel Fitzpatrick rescues swan from busy Dublin traffic
Irish 'Supervet' Noel Fitzpatrick has lived up to his name, after rescuing a swan in south Dublin on Tuesday.
The host of Channel 4's 'Supervet' was in the capital for an interview about his new book, when he spotted a swan dodging traffic on a busy road in Donnybrook.
He managed to stop traffic and carry it in his jacket to the canal nearby.
In a tweet, he said: "On route to the next interview in Dublin this afternoon and we came across this poor confused fella who was stuck in the middle of the main road.
