More news in brief
The Dáil will debate a motion today and tomorrow on people with brain injuries.
The motion, proposed by Deputy Kathleen Lynch, is expected to highlight the acute shortage of facilities to deal with those who acquire brain injuries.
About 10,000 people in the Republic acquire such injuries every year. According to Headway, an organisation which represents those who acquire brain injuries, there is only one rehabilitation hospital in the State, with just 110 beds, for those who suffer from such injury.
Charity praises John Prescott
A British children's mental health charity has welcomed John Prescott's revelation that he was suffering from bulimia when he became deputy Prime Minister in 1997.
YoungMinds said the confession highlighted that bulimia affected men as well as women and hoped it would encourage more people to ask for help.
Sarah Brennan, acting chief executive of YoungMinds, said: "Many of us will be unhappy with our body size or shape at some point in our lives, but when eating patterns become unhealthy . . . you should seek personal and professional support."
Britain performs first eye implants
New hope has been given to sufferers of a hereditary disease affecting the retina after the first British operations were carried out to implant "bionic eyes" into patients.
Surgeons at Moorfields Eye Hospital have carried out successful operations to implant an artificial retinal device into the eyes of two blind patients as part of a clinical study.
The trial aims to restore a basic level of useful vision, in the form of spots of light and shapes of light and dark, to people suffering severe blindness due to retinitis pigmentosa (RP).