Martin Wall

Martin Wall

Public Policy Correspondent

Martin Wall is Public Policy Correspondent of The Irish Times. He is the former Washington Correspondent and Industry Correspondent and has written and broadcast extensively on industrial relations, particularly public-service reform. He has also extensively covered developments in the health service over the past 25 years.

Safety of gardaí abroad part of reason for State chartering return deportation flights

Public Accounts Committee is told more than €3m spent so far under a contract to transport people from Ireland

Saturday hospital unit staffed by consultants saw just five patients over three months

Weekend pilot of acute medical assessment unit reports no improvement in ED patient flow

Overspending health regions to be asked to slow hiring after headcount surge

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said there had been ‘extraordinarily high’ recruitment in the HSE

MetroLink to build housing for up to 2,000 workers

Business plan for 19km rail line includes budget of up to €500m for the provision of accommodation for construction workers

Dozens of consultants offered posts without start dates due to health cost overruns

‘Growing and ageing population requires realistic budget ... to deliver timely and appropriate care,’ says Irish Medical Organisation

HSE spending controls have ‘not had sufficient impact’, says Minister

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill says scale of projected HSE overspend ‘cannot be explained by demand pressures alone’

Four HSE regions to lose power over day-to-day spending

Jack Chambers criticises ‘completely ineffective management of the control system’ and ‘really poor performance by certain regions’

Move to strip four HSE regions of spending powers is a dramatic Government policy shift

Regionalisation of health administration was a key Government reform but within months financial challenges began to emerge

Fisheries staff got €40,000 in ‘bounties’ for collecting salmon tags, Comptroller says

Payments were made to Inland Fisheries Ireland personnel by State research body, the Marine Institute, as part of research programme

Irish hospitals’ income ‘severely impacted’ by move to public-only contracts, notes confidential HSE report

Internal Health Service Executive paper indicates shortfall of nearly €56m

Dispute over failed Irish Rail IT project could end up in court

Delays introducing system by Spanish IT multinational Indra Sistemas leaves train operator holding €50m write-down

Irish Rail fires IT firm behind much-delayed project and prepares to seek damages amid €50m writedown

But software specialist Indra says critical information on railway network was not shared with project team

HSE team set up to address overspend at Naas hospital amid fears of possible €41m deficit

Spending from January to March 2026 suggests a deficit for the year of €41m

Ukrainian deputy prime minister airs Aughinish concerns with Ministers in Dublin

Vsevolod Chentsov insists EU should stop trading with Russia no matter how painful to member states

Ireland and Spain only EU countries to increase development aid last year

State spent about €1.88bn in official development assistance last year, including a record €807m under the Irish Aid programme

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