The application has been made in respect of Kevin Rabbitte who was the director of a company called Westman Plant and Civils Limited, which was put into liquidation in 2017.

Catherine Murphy has never been backwards about coming forwards on dodgy political dealings.

Katherine Zappone said that she is calling for an extra €150m per year over the next five years to intensify investment in the sector to make it affordable for families and children.

Thousands of parents are set to be left without childcare from January as creches close their doors because of an insurance crisis.

Children's Minister Katherine Zappone says that past abuse in Scouting Ireland has ruined, and continues to ruin lives.

The Government has delayed introducing new fire safety regulations for crèches over fears it could lead to facilities closing down.

A TD is calling for mobile networks to block under 18s from accessing pornography on their phones.

Sinn Féin TD for Limerick City Maurice Quinlivan told RTÉ radio’s Today with Miriam O’Callaghan show that the issue is not being taken seriously and that public representatives are entitled to respect and privacy.

Katherine Zappone was also told at the time that the centre wasn't registered with Tusla.

Nearly 600 children in state care are waiting for a social worker to be assigned to them.

There are calls on the Department of Children to reveal the 37 childcare facilities on Tusla's 'critical' list.

It also emerged that the Department of Children and Youth Affairs is not aware of the identity of the 37 facilities.

Ireland’s child protection watchdog can give no “cast iron guarantee” the RTÉ creche scandal is not being repeated in other services after it emerged 37 other creches are on a high-risk safety register.

A family who removed their child from the Hide and Seek creche service at the centre of an RTÉ exposé raised concerns about the facility with politicians and child protection services more than a year ago.

Fianna Fáil is calling for Tusla to have powers to immediately close childcare facilities.

Independent MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan is set to be re-elected this morning — but a neck-and-neck race lower down the pecking order last night saw Peter Casey come within a few hundred votes of an upset.

Ms McHugh, a 28-year-old environmentalist from Achill Island in Mayo, is in real contention to squeeze out both sitting MEP Luke Ming Flanagan and Fine Gael's celebrity candidate Maria Walsh for a seat in Midlands North West.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has insisted it was not a mistake for the party to run two candidates in some MEP constituencies amid poll fears the tactic may see the party lose out on a seat.

Fianna Fáil's two candidates in Ireland South deny that the party's decision to divide the constituency has caused tension between them.

Galway manager Tim Rabbitte wants to see his side hit new heights against Cork in the Lidl National Football League Division 1 final after they eased past Donegal in the last four.

Presentation College Athenry are back in the Croke Cup final, back to try and topple the undisputed kings of colleges hurling.

The incoming Chairperson of Tusla has said the post of chief executive will be advertised on March 8, but warned that the pay on offer and the shorter duration of the contract may prove obstacles to a swift appointment.

Dublin manager Mick Bohan praised his squad’s experienced players as they got back to winning ways in their Lidl NFL clash with Tipperary.

Sponsorship of RTÉ’s Big Big Movie by McDonald’s does not breach the rules on children’s programming, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Politicians across the political divide have claimed there is “more than meets the eye” to the growing Scouting Ireland scandal after the head of the group refused to answer questions at a public Dáil meeting tomorrow.

Former communications minister Pat Rabbitte has said his retired garda driver told him of rumours on the Garda “grapevine” about Maurice McCabe, including that he could not be trusted with children.

Parents who groom or coerce their children to commit crimes, including shoplifting or theft, could be jailed for up to 10 years, new legislation proposes.

There is a proposal for the Revenue to take over collecting the TV licence fee from An Post.

New laws to create a national gambling control office to clamp down on addiction, restrict advertising, and tackle alleged money-laundering in the sector could be introduced before Christmas under plans being pushed by Fianna Fáil.

LATEST: Former Minister Pat Rabbitte has criticised those responsible for letting the sub-standard accommodation.

Fianna Fáil’s grassroots members have strongly backed a motion opposing “any attempt to diminish the constitutional rights of the unborn” despite party leader Micheál Martin calling for a free vote in any referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment.

Children's Minister and prominent pro-choice campaigner Katherine Zappone has warned Government must ensure the eighth amendment vote takes place before the next election and does not suffer delays or it could be postponed for "a long time".

Latest: Early Childhood Ireland says it supports its members who are hiking fees this year.

More than 40% of the country’s childcare providers have not signed up to the new affordable childcare scheme meaning tens of thousands of children could miss out on the support.

The recent release of new economic growth measures has again prompted a debate on regional — from which we can generally read urban versus rural — development in Ireland.

There are calls for TUSLA to reach out to the HSE and other agencies to fill gaps in their services.

Thousands of middle-income families won’t get promised childcare supports because the Government “botched” the scheme’s rollout.

A staggering 82 posts remain unfilled across community mental health services that cater for children and adolescents with severe mental health disorders, including suicidal youngsters.

Enda Kenny’s approach has been to treat the whistleblower as if he had the equivalent of a political plague, writes Alison O’Connor.

Gardaí have been urged to produce a guide for parents on the code being used by their children to hold highly-sexualised interactions with their friends by text or on social media.

Five years after the Government said it was to “immediately” start modernising the country’s 50-year-old gambling laws, legislation has still not been implemented.

It has been claimed vulture funds that have spent millions purchasing Irish loans are using tax loopholes to cut down on the amount they pay here.

A Fianna Fáil TD believes she and thousands of other families are efficiently classified as criminals because of a lack of regulation around au pairs.

With the amount of stepping in and stepping out again, they could have reinstated the dance floor in the chamber of Leinster House.