It was announced last week that their Respite Care Grant is be reduced by 19% or more than €300.

For the second time since the budget details were revealed in the Dail last Wednesday family carers have taken to the street outside Leinster House to protest.

The €3.5 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts included a decrease in the Respite Care Grant which is to fall by €325 from €1,700 a year to €1,375.

The Taoiseach says he understands the difficulties of those suffering the cut in the respite care grant but has again declared there will be no u-turn. 

Campaigners against last month's Children's Referendum which passed are calling for a re-run.

It comes after the Supreme Court today handed down its full judgment in its ruling that the Government acted wrongfully by spending €1.1 million in public money on an information campaign.

However the Chief Justice Susan Denham says the Government acted in good faith despite failing to hold the scales equally.

The case was taken by Dublin engineer Mark McCrystal.

A Medical Ethics Professor has told the High Court there is no evidence that legalising assisted dying has a disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups such as the elderly and the poor.

Margaret Battin from the University of Utah is testifying via a videolink in the case of Marie Fleming, a terminally ill woman with multiple sclerosis, who wishes to die with her partner Tom Curran, at their home in Arklow, Co Wicklow.

The Professor has studied data from Oregon and The Netherlands, where the practise is legal, and has not found any signs of a slippery slope that could lead to patients being killed against their will.

She has told the court there has not been an increase in the number of assisted suicide cases in these states, among vulnerable groups such as the elderly, the poor, those with low education status or those without medical insurance.

She says safeguards have been put in place to protect abuse so that in Oregon a patient must make two oral requests and a witnessed written request to die and if there is any suspicion of mental incapacity, mental illness or depression, a psychiatric or psychological evaluation will take place.

Asked about alternatives, Professor Battin told the court that palliative care in advanced medical systems generally involves the sedation of a patient without nutrition and hydration so that the patient typically dies within a week.

She agreed that she has no special knowledge of Irish medical practices.

Sean Quinn's children and their of their spouses are going to be asked in court about their bank accounts and other assets.

The Commercial Court today decided in favour of the former Anglo Irish Bank who'd argued that affidavits already lodged by those involved did not provide enough information. 

The five Quinn children along with Karen Woods, Stephen Kelly and Niall McPartland will also face questions on January 24th and 25th about the transfer of assets to off-shore companies.

The judge has insisted though that the cross-examinations should not become a mini-trial in themselves, and will be restricted.

You'll now get penalty points for texting while driving.

It's one of the measures contained in the new Road Traffic Bill that's just been been approved by Cabinet. 

More penalty points for speeding, not wearing a seat belt and using your mobile are just some of the other measures due to become law next year.