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Two investigations are currently underway into the death of a woman at University College Galway who was 17 weeks pregnant.

Savita Halappanavar was found to be miscarrying when she presented at the hospital but died a week later from septicaemia.

Her husband has told this morning’s Irish Times that Savita asked for a termination to be carried out over a three day period after she was admitted but, he said, this was refused. She died a number of day later at the hospital.

Pat was joined by Simon Mills who is a barrister an author of Clinical Practice and the Law and by Dr. Muiris Houston.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be looking at different aspects of what is coming up in the Budget 2013 on December 5th. Whatever the outcome, when Brendan Howlin and Michael Noonan give their speeches, one thing is certain - it will impact very hard on those in receipt of benefits. A large social welfare overspend and high unemployment figures will be in the fore of their minds as they attempt to balance a budget that, we are told, promises no increase in income taxes.

So how will social welfare cuts impact people and is it the right course of action? Pat was joined by Ian Martin, Chairman of the Small Firms Association; Niamh Ui Cheallaigh of Parents Against Child Benefit Cuts; Brendan Dempsey of Vincent de Paul; economist, Jim Power and from London, Mark Hennessy to give us the lowdown on controversial proposals to change child benefit in the UK.

A recent US study on motherhood during adolescence found a girl’s chances of obtaining a high school diploma is reduced by up to 10 per cent if she becomes a mother when she’s of school going age. It’s a startling statistic and is just one of the case studies included in the State of World Population report 2012 which is being launched later this morning. One of the speakers Alanna Armitage, Director of the United Nations Population Fund Office joined Pat in studio.

Ireland take on Greece this evening in a friendly, but after a poor performance at the much anticipated European Championships which continued into this season, many fear that if things don’t improve, the Irish side will not qualify for the World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

My next guest is one Ireland’s best-known football pundits and in his latest book, The Great and The Good, he looks back at the football players and managers that stood out from the rest over the last 50 years and tries to establish what separates the ‘exceptionally good from the great’. Let’s hope he has come up with a formula for greatness that can help the Irish team qualify for the World Cup as he joined us in studio today.

It has been a difficult decade for the country’s post office network, with more than 900 offices shutting down since the turn of the millennium.

Up until now, it was a cull that was largely concentrated on rural communities – but the Irish Postmasters’ Union is warning that the network as a whole may collapse if vital government contracts, such as the contract to handle social welfare payments is taken from them.

To counteract any further closures, the Postmasters’ Union commissioned an independent report to identify banking and local authority services that could be brought into their remit.

For details of what those proposed new services are, Pat was joined in studio now by Sean Martin who is Treasurer of the Irish Postmasters’ Union.