Video: Hospitals under 'unprecedented strain'; cold snap continues
Hospitals under 'unprecedented strain'
The State's healthcare system is under "unprecedented strain" due to record emergency department attendances, an ageing population, the after-effects of Covid restrictions and a shortage of GPs in the community, the health watchdog has said.
Patients in hospital emergency departments often have to wait 80 to 90 hours to get a bed, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) warns in the report published on Wednesday.
Inspections of seven emergency departments by Hiqa found the number of patients presenting is "significantly higher" than in previous years.
Temperatures could drop to -11
Temperatures are set to drop even further as the day progresses with minus 7 degrees Celsius "widely" in the forecast on Wednesday night, according to a Met Éireann meteorologist.
Joanna Donnelly told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that it is going to be much colder in isolated areas.
"I have a minus elevens showing up in my chart here. It went down to minus 7.5 overnight in Mount Dillon... That was a lowest temperature there last night.
"Typically the temperatures last night were about minus four or minus five degrees. The thing is that it is not going to get much warmer than that today. Temperatures this morning aren't likely to rise above freezing for much of the country for much of the morning."
Four dead in English Channel incident
Four people have died after a small boat incident in the English Channel and 43 others were rescued, according to British government sources.
The British navy, French navy, UK coast guard and RNLI lifeboats are all involved in a major operation.
RNLI lifeboats were launched from Dover on the south coast of England at 3.07am, followed by vessels from Ramsgate and Hastings.
The boat is likely to have been carrying migrants risking the crossing from France, a day after British prime minister Rishi Sunak unveiled a package of new measures to “stop the boats”.
Mortgage rates fall below euro zone average
Mortgage rates in Ireland fell below the euro zone average in October, according to the Central Bank.
It comes as the rest of the single currency area saw mortgage costs rise as the European Central Bank raised interest rates from 0 per cent to 2 per cent to combat runaway inflation.
The average interest rate on a new mortgage in Ireland was down slightly to 2.57 per cent in October.
Ireland now has the fifth-cheapest mortgage rates in the euro zone, behind countries such as Germany, Finland and Austria.
