Eighteen children are at the centre of a contamination scare at Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin in Dublin.

It's emerged this evening that they underwent colonscopies with a damaged scope in the Children's hospital.
Tests on the equipment found the presence of a bug in a crack in the damaged scope.

In a statement this evening, Crumlin hospital has confirmed that it's made contact with the parents of 15 out of 18 of the children involved in this contamination scare.

The problem came to light after a crack was found in a colonoscope that was used during procedures on children between the 17th of May and the 5th of July.

Tests indicated the presence of ESBL bugs, microbiological growths that can live harmlessly in the body - however the bug can also interfere with antibiotics and stop them from working.

The hospital says an information pack and a sample kit to test for the bug is being sent to each of the affected families.

It says results will be returned to immediately - and full support given to any family whose child tests positive.

The hospital has apologised for the incident - and is emphasising that there is no immediate impact on children's health.