Finance minister Peter Robinson has said some members of the executive broke the ministerial code by backing a vote on free care for the elderly. Mr Robinson said the executive had unanimously agreed not to vote for high-spending measures unless all ministers supported them.

Almost 140,000 prescriptions for tranquilisers were issued by doctors in the Western Health and Social Services Board area last year.

One child in three in Omagh District is living in poverty, putting it at the highest level in the whole of the North. That’s the shocking revelation of new government figures released this week, which show the council areas of Omagh and neighbouring Strabane as having child poverty rates of up to 35%.

Mental health specialists, community workers and clergy have held talks to tackle a mental health crisis facing young people in a Londonderry estate.

The community and voluntary sector in the West is currently working closely with the Western Health and Social Services Board to host two major workshops this spring.

A County Londonderry priest has been acquitted on two charges of sexually abusing a teenager almost 30 years ago. But the jury failed to reach a verdict on another two charges of indecent assault against Father Patrick Crilly, 63, from Desertmartin.

One of Northern Ireland’s health and social care trusts has launched a search for “caring, committed people” to offer placements for children who have experienced a trauma or are unable to live in a normal foster care setting.

Ireland has been criticised in an Amnesty International report for a lack of child trafficking legislation and inadequate treatment for mentally ill children.

Nurses have voted in favour of accepting proposals to end their work-to-rule. The result of the ballot of over 35,000 members of the Irish Nurses Organisation was 54% in favour and 46% against.

Police have issued warnings to parents following the fourth in a series of approaches to children this month. In two of the incidents, strangers tried to abduct children. In a third, a man thought to be in his 40s, asked a 14-year-old girl for sex.