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IrelandIrish GPs reprint prescriptions as Microsoft explains outage
Microsoft blames a network upgrade problem, while the Irish report follows the disruption from healthcare email to classrooms.
Why this story? One of RTÉ News's most watched videos since yesterday, with 5,333 views.
RTÉ News: The news division of RTÉ, Ireland's public broadcaster. 257K subscribers and 185M views.
Microsoft says outage caused by network capacity upgrade | RTÉ News
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Things we can learn from the video
Press to jump
- 0:15Microsoft attributes the worldwide service disruption to a network upgrade problem rather than malicious activity.
- 0:48HSE email and Healthmail go down; GP Austin Byrne describes reprinting and reorganising repeat prescriptions.
- 1:25Brian Honan urges companies to review their dependence on major cloud providers.
- 2:28Ken Donnelly explains how server strain spread across regions, causing cascading failures.
- 3:50National Cyber Security Centre advice warns that criminals can use outages as opportunities for scams.
Repeat prescriptions had to be reprinted and reorganised in Irish GP surgeries after Microsoft's global outage disrupted Healthmail, the email system used for prescriptions, Ireland's Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) News reports.
Austin Byrne, a GP in Tramore, describes the extra work involved in sorting out repeat prescriptions for people taking multiple medications. The report says email at the Health Service Executive, Ireland's public health and social services authority, also went down. Schools and financial firms were among the other organisations affected.
Microsoft says the underlying problem arose during an earlier network capacity upgrade and surfaced following a subsequent network change. The company says it has addressed that issue and is restoring services across customers and regions. It says the fault was not related to malicious cyber activity or AI agents.
The disruption extended beyond Outlook email to Teams, Copilot and other Microsoft 365 services. One person interviewed describes being unable to communicate with students or other teachers. David Murphy's report says services began slowly recovering from noon on Friday.
In the studio analysis, correspondent Ken Donnelly explains how strain on servers across regions produced a cascading failure. Brian Honan of BH Consulting argues that businesses should review their reliance on major cloud providers, naming Microsoft, Amazon and Google.
The report ends with a separate security warning: even when an outage is not a cyberattack, criminals can exploit the confusion. Donnelly relays National Cyber Security Centre advice to remain vigilant for scams during the disruption.
Ireland’s publicly funded body responsible for providing health and personal social services.
More on Wikipedia ›Ireland’s government cybersecurity organisation. It protects government networks and critical national infrastructure and helps businesses and individuals secure their systems.
More on Wikipedia ›Published on Trari
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- Channel
- RTÉ News
- Subscribers
- 257,000 ▲ 1,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 1,896,571
- Channel views, pace per day
- 400,787 (on a normal day: 251,668)
- Video published
- November 13, 2026
- Video views so far
- 5,333 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 9,169
The numbers
The report drew about 5,300 views since yesterday, placing it among Ireland's most-watched new news videos.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which Irish system used for prescriptions was disrupted in the report?
The report identifies Healthmail as the prescription-related email system affected by the outage.