President Mary McAleese today insisted Ireland must reject the arrogance of those who restrict the lives of disabled people.

A two-day conference on independent living opens in Dublin today with campaigners claiming the Government has failed to live up to a United Nations treaty on the rights of the disabled.

A dangerous paedophile pensioner yesterday became Ulster’s oldest inmate when he was jailed for six years. Robert Wallace (78) – who twice went on the run from police and was the subject of a country-wide man-hunt – was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court.

The Health Service Executive has said that existing services will be maintained at Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan until they are replaced with more appropriate services.

A Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, Ian Paisley Jnr, was under pressure tonight to apologise for allegedly saying he was repulsed by gays and lesbians.

The Catholic Church’s National Board for Child Protection has appointed the director of the North’s National Society for the Protection of Children as its first chief executive.

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.

The BMA in Northern Ireland is fully in support of free personal care and nursing care. Speaking following the debate in the NI Assembly on free personal care, BMA(NI) Chairman, Dr Brian Patterson, said:

An EU conference in Brussels has heard that Ireland’s services and treatment for multiple sclerosis sufferers are among the worst in Europe. Figures show that Ireland has less than half the recommended minimum number of neurologists recommended to deal with MS patients.

The Northern Ireland Assembly has voted in favour of providing free personal care for the elderly in the 2008-2009 budget and onwards. MLAs passed an Alliance amendment to an SDLP motion which backed the provision of free care, but did not provide a precise timetable for its introduction.