One in three people in parts of Northern Ireland have used cocaine, a new report reveals. With men especially lured to the Class A drug, the vast majority are combining it with drinking binges. The startling findings depict cocaine as easier to buy and more readily taken by greater numbers, according to a charity battling to halt its spread.

A wide ranging review will be held into whether Northern Ireland should continue to have prescription charges, Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has announced. Mr Gimpsey made the pledge as MLAs urged him to consider following Wales` example of scrapping the fees.

A prescription drug has been withdrawn from sale following liver failure in nine people, three of whom died. The osteoarthritis drug Nimesulide, also known as Aulin and Mesulid, was ordered to be taken off the shelves by the Irish Medicines Board.

An Irish priest lavished thousands of pounds on a predatory paedophile to allow him to groom an 11-year-old girl for sex, Liverpool Crown Court was told yesterday. Father Jeremiah McGrath, 62, of Roselea, Co Fermanagh, was a Roman Catholic priest, but a lucrative shares portfolio gave him independent means.

{mosimage}He was also a successful gambler and had befriended William Adams, 38, a convicted paedophile, while he was in his teens.

The priest visited him in prison in Ireland while he served a 12-year sentence for raping an eight-year-old girl.

On his release Adams went to Liverpool, where he used the priest’s money to target a child and buy her gifts. They included a three-week holiday in Blackpool, during which he posed as her father, shared a bedroom with her and repeatedly raped her.

Andrew Menary, QC, for the prosecution, suggested to the jury that the relationship between the priest and paedophile was a physical one. It is alleged that Father McGrath not only knew the nature of Adam’s abusive relationship with the child but abused her himself on one occasion. Mr Menary told the jury:

“Adams worked his way into this girl’s affections. He gave her time, attention and gifts. He gave her money and holidays, all things this little girl had never experienced. He bought her mobile telephones, paid for hairstyling, let her bunk off school and generally encouraged her to believe he was her friend and that he loved her.

Child poverty has a devastating impact on health and education and limits life chances, according to a new study. The charity, Save the Children, said Northern Ireland was entering a critical phase in tackling the problem.

Nurses are due to embark on another day of work stoppages at four hospitals around the country today as part of their long-running campaign for more pay and a shorter working week.

SIPTU has accused the Health Service Executive of trying to privatise the country’s Ambulance Service. The claim was made after an expression of interest notice was posted on the government’s e-tender website on Friday.

The community and voluntary sector in the west of Ulster is currently working closely with the Western Health and Social Services Board to host two major workshops. The first of these workshops organised by Fermanagh Rural Community Network and Omagh Forum for Rural Associations was held recently in Killadeas.

A community project to provide vital support and training for the families of people with autism in Omagh has received a massive boost from the Big Lottery Fund. The National Autistic Society received a grant of £345,114 to provide support, advice and information to local parents of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and raise awareness and understanding of autism amongst professionals in order to improve access to services.

Nurses and midwives staging a work-to-rule have until 5.30pm this evening to call off their action or face having 13% deducted from their pay. The HSE said it planned to take the action in a bid to recoup the €2m a week which it claimed the dispute was costing.