Children who see their parents or carers drink heavily are more likely to grow up with a drink problem themselves, a new campaign has warned. Health promotion specialist Ed Sipler said it was about telling parents they had a role to play and that help was there if they asked for it.

An Ulster professor has urged parents to consider buying organic after new tests revealed potentially cancer-causing chemicals were found on fruit given to millions of children each day.

A meeting of 450 consultants passed a motion of no confidence against Minister for Health Mary Harney and agreed to ballot members on a campaign of action. The Irish Hospital Consultants Association action would include a ban on meetings with top Health Service managers and a withdrawal from some administrative duties.

A former solider has received one of the heaviest sentences ever handed down in Northern Ireland for child abuse. He was jailed for 20 years for abusing girls as young as seven while based in Northern Ireland, including his own nine-year-old daughter.

The two nursing unions involved in a dispute with the Government over pay and conditions are due to announce plans for further work stoppages later today.

A 40-year-old man who faked his own suicide in a bid to avoid justice over the rape and abuse of his stepdaughter, has been jailed for 10 years. Belfast Crown Court heard he subjected his victim to horrific assaults over an 11-month period when she was 13.

The man who led one of Northern Ireland’s biggest St Patrick’s Day parades for 10 years has pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a young girl. John Linton Corry received a two-year suspended jail sentence for two counts of indecent assault on a child.

Northern Ireland has the worst record in the UK for patients failing to turn up for hospital appointments, it has been revealed. And the problem has been costing the NHS here millions of pounds a year – as well as putting people’s health at risk.

The Health Service Executive has begun inviting tenders for the construction of private health facilities in the grounds of six public hospitals across the country. The move is part of Health Minister Mary Harney’s controversial “co-location” scheme, which is designed to free up beds in public hospitals.

The two nursing unions involved in a dispute with the Government are preparing a major escalation of their campaign. In the row for better pay and shorter working hours, the unions are planning to hold one-hour work stoppages at around 50 hospitals and mental health facilities.