All patients are being evacuated from Wexford General Hospital and a major emergency has been declared after a fire broke out in the building yesterday. The National Ambulance Service is working with the hospital to treat patients and transport them to hospitals in Kilkenny, Cork and Dublin.

More than 10,000 patients spent time waiting on trolleys in hospitals across the country during the month of February, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO). The INMO’s TrolleyWatch figures show that a total of 10,040 patients were admitted to hospital without a bed including 426 children under the age of 16.

Universities are calling for Government-imposed controls on staff and salaries to be lifted on foot of research indicating that the sector in Ireland faces some of the greatest restrictions anywhere in Europe. This follows after a European University Association (EUA) report stated that Irish universities face greater controls and a lack of flexibility, with the country ranking 24th out of 35 European higher education systems.

In other news, an initial estimate from the Central Statistics Office shows the annual rate of inflation went back up to 8% in February, compared to 7.5% in January. Today's CSO figures show that Ireland has become the latest euro zone country to record a surprise increase in inflation last month. More on that here.

PayPal has announced it is set to close its Dundalk office in March and cut 62 staff from its Irish workforce, while Bank of Ireland has announced 100 new technology jobs.

And this piece looks towards recent pay rises as a sign that collective bargaining may be on the way back.

Zen
Amy Winehouse's Grammy Award-winning album 'Back to Black' went to No.1 on the UK album chart on this day in 2008, so here is one of her best.