An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was challenged in the Dáil today over Merlin Park and the promised elective hospital for Galway.

Galway West TD Catherine Connolly asked the Taoiseach about the new hospital, and criticised the length of time it is taking to resolve issues in relation to Merlin Park.

“My specific question Taoiseach, is can you stand here in the Dáil over a situation where six months later, the two main orthopedic theatres in Merlin Park remain closed?

“We are still looking at a tender process for modular theatres – and tied in with that, you’ve made an announcement on Friday in relation to an elective hospital. Is that elective hospital based on the options appraisal that’s still underway and won’t report til May, or has it been picked out of the sky?” asked Deputy Connolly.

The Taoiseach said that those matters were discussed in the Programme for Government.

“I did give a detailed response to deputies on the question of Merlin Park specifically last week, on questions of promised legislation so I’d refer deputies to that answer,” he said.

On 7 February, Varadkar gave the following response to a question put to him by Roscommon-Galway TD Eugene Murphy.

“I sought information from the Minister for Health. He assures me that the HSE is committed to ensuring that a full elective orthopaedic service is restored in Merlin Park.

“In September 2017, the leaks in the roof of the building which houses the orthopaedic theatres occurred, necessitating the closure of both. There has been a full repair to the membrane of the roof which is required to secure the integrity of the building and these works are now complete.

“The theatres, notwithstanding the roof repair, date from the 1950s and do not meet current clinical standards. An independent clinical assessment has been undertaken to assess the feasibility of returning these theatres to use.

“The Saolta University Health Care Group management team has advised that the best way to restore effective capacity at Merlin Park is through the provision of two modular theatres on the Merlin Park site. The tender process for these modular units is at its final stages and it is expected that a contract will be awarded in coming weeks,” said an Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Midlands North-West MEP Matt Carthy has called on MEPs and national parliamentarians from across the EU to work together to pressure the Commission and the Council to improve public transparency and accountability.

Carthy was addressing MEPs and representatives from the Commission and national parliaments at a conference on the European Semester in Brussels yesterday, Monday.

Addressing the representatives, the Sinn Féin MEP said: “All of us who were members of the European Parliament’s Panama Papers inquiry into corporate tax avoidance experienced the obstacles put up by the Commission and the Council when it came to MEPs having access to relevant documents, particularly from the Council’s Code of Conduct group on tax issues.

“Time and time again we were met with stalling, foot-dragging and redactions. There is a real sense of frustration among MEPs about this as these obstacles keep us from doing our job of representing our constituents effectively.

“It’s not only the PANA committee that has experienced this problem. MEPs working on dangerous EU trade deals such as CETA, TTIP & Mercosur, on environmental regulation – on practically all of our work as legislators – have experienced this secrecy in the institutions.”

This Sunday February 25 will see a touching tribute to Dolores O’Riordan at a special event in Róisín Dubh, all for a very worthy cause.

This celebration of Dolores’ life and music will feature live performances of Dolores’ songs from some of Galway’s finest musicians, and all proceeds will go to Chernobyl Children International which the singer supported for many years.

Dreaming Her Dreams: A Night in Memory of Dolores O’Riordan will include some of The Cranberries’ best-loved songs; Zombie, Linger, Dreaming my Dreams, When You’re Gone and many more.

The live set will feature Tracy Bruen, Anna Mullarkey, Barbara Vulso, Steven Sharpe, Orlagh De Bhaldraithe, The Flying Head ft. Therese McManus, Niceol Blue, Paul McManus and Coili Mullins and many more.

Organiser of the event, Elena Toniato, commented on the legacy she left behind and the influence she has had on many of our musicians.

“Dolores has left a rich and wonderful legacy of songs and we would like to honour her, and her exceptional talent, with this tribute,” she said.

“Galway has a wealth of skilled musicians, many of whom were inspired by Dolores, and I am deeply grateful to them all for being a part of this. I have been a fan of The Cranberries ever since they shot to fame in the early 90s and I invite all her fans to join us for what will be a very special night in Dolores’ memory.”

The event will take place on Sunday February 25 in Róisín Dubh from 7.30pm.

Tickets €8/€6 are available on the door and all monies raised on the night will go to the charity, Chernobyl Children International.

Donate directly to Chernobyl Children International HERE.

A visit to the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe has been called off by Maynooth University due to concerns surrounding the deaths of two GMIT students in 2014 and a former Director of the Institute, Malachy Vallely.

Sara Gibaldo (19) from Oranmore and Dace Zarina (22) were on placement at the Belgian college to gain experience in hotel management.

In January 2014 they were killed in a fire at the apartment they were staying in which Malachy Vallely rented to the Leuven Institute.

According to the Irish Times 30 students from Maynooth were due to visit the Institute in January.

However the trip was cancelled after the university was unable to acquire assurances the Mr. Vallely was no longer associated with the Institute.

Mr. Vallely was convicted in September last year and given a one year suspended sentence and fined €6,000 euro after a trial in which he was accused of multiple safety violations at his property and was called a “slum lord” by the prosecution.

The Leuven Institute was also fined €60,000, half of which was suspended, and Shane Bracken (22) from Offaly, who was also resident at the apartment, was found guilty of causing involuntary death with a lit cigarette.

He was given a three month suspended sentence and fined €600.

A study carried out by marine scientists at NUI Galway found that 73% out of 233 deep water fish from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean had ingested plastic particles.

The research was published today, Monday, 19 February, in the international peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

As part of the study the NUI Galway scientists participated in a transatlantic crossing on-board the Marine Institute’s Celtic Explorer research vessel.

During this research cruise they took dead deep sea fish from midwater trawls in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, such as the Spotted Lanternfish, Glacier Lanternfish, White-spotted Lanternfish, Rakery Beaconlamp, Stout Sawpalate and Scaly Dragonfish, from a depth of up to 600 metres using large fishing nets.

The fish ranged in size from the smallest species, the Glacier Lantern at 3.5 centimetres to the largest species, the Stout Sawpalate at 59 centimetres.

Upon return to Galway the fish were then inspected at the University’s Ryan Institute for microplastics in their stomach contents.

Microplastics are small plastic fragments that commonly originate from the breakdown of larger plastic items entering our oceans.

Other sources may be waste water effluents carrying plastic fibres from clothing and microbeads from personal care products.

Due to their low density, most of these microplastics float at the sea surface.

Alina Wieczorek, lead author of the study and PhD candidate from the School of Natural Sciences and Ryan Institute at NUI Galway, said: “Deep water fish migrate to the surface at night to feed on plankton (microscope animals) and this is likely when they are exposed to the microplastics.”

“One of the inspected Spotted Lanternfish, which was 4.5 centimetres in size, had 13 microplastics extracted from its stomach contents.

“The identified microplastics were mostly fibres, commonly blue and black in colour. Some only measured 50 microns in length. In total, 233 fish were examined with 73% of them having microplastics in their stomachs, making it one of the highest reported frequencies of microplastic occurrence in fish worldwide.”