Victims of sex abuse will welcome measures to spare them the pain and embarrassment of having deeply personal details disclosed to the perpetrators. 

As President Michael D Higgins returns home today after his week-long State visit to China, it has to be acknowledged that it was a resounding success. 

Former president Mary Robinson is right to be critical of how little progress was made in Lima towards slowing the frightening pace of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

This morning every retailer in the country will wake early, stirred from their fitful sleep by a mixture of optimism and anxiety.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s report that 38 of the Republic’s largest sewage treatment plants are defective will cause a flurry of concern but it is unlikely to lead to the kind of immediate response this dangerous, health-threatening situation demands.

It is more than unfortunate that Taoiseach Enda Kenny and British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday morning felt they had no option but to leave the struggling Northern talks after the parties failed to agree a range of issues such as the past, flags and parades.

The inhuman, criminal abuse uncovered by RTÉ at Áras Attracta in Swinford, Co Mayo, focuses on a small group of workers entrusted with the care of a number of vulnerable people. However it shames us all and is an appalling indictment of our health service, especially those responsible for its management.

It is not surprising that Israel has criticised the Dáil decision to recognise the right of right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

The CSO figures that show a 9.3% increase to €2.8bn in spending by visitors to Ireland over the first nine months of 2014 are a credit to all concerned and a vindication of the decision to reduce Vat for the hospitality sector.

Any hope the Government might have harboured that reductions in water charges would mollify the public at large has been surely dashed by the tens of thousands of people who took to the streets of Dublin yesterday.