The country's only dedicated service for supporting children through the grief of losing a parent through death or parental separation has called on the government to fully fund its services as it has seen demand triple.

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) have refused to say whether all the infant burials discovered in unmarked graves in a Cork city cemetery will be investigated.

The Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) has said it was “not aware” that a formerly accredited adoption agency owned an unmarked grave in which children were buried as late as 1990.

Children from the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, some of whom died as late as 1990, are buried in unmarked graves in a Cork City cemetery.

The sale of convents around the country chronicles the rapidly changing status of the Catholic Church, one of Ireland’s largest and most enduring institutions.

Some survivors of the Magdalene laundries will be paid tax free compensation before Christmas, it has been revealed.

On behalf of We are Church Ireland, I welcome the Sisters of Mercy’s outlining of the contributions made by them to statutory compensation funds.

The Government’s recent tough talk that religious orders should pay compensation to Magdalene survivors is at odds with its stance on the McAleese report, writes Conall Ó Fátharta

The Catholic Church is as imaginative and determined as any fallen Celtic Tiger high roller when it comes to trying to protect assets.

The Cabinet has criticised a refusal by religious orders to pay into a compensation fund for Magdalene Laundry survivors.

The religious orders responsible for running the Magdalene Laundries have told the Government they will not contribute to the fund set-up for survivors.

The former Convent of Mercy in Cappoquin has a price guide of €450,000.

I HAVE long admired the great contribution of the many admirable women religious who have so enhanced the stature of the Catholic Church over the centuries.

THE Sisters of Mercy have offered to contribute cash and properties worth over €127.5m in compensation to the victims of physical and sexual abuse in former industrial schools run by the order.

THE Mercy Sisters are expected to make a decision after next week’s general election which will determine whether or not dozens of girls in Galway and Clare must double their journey to school.

CELEBRATIONS to mark the 150th anniversary of one of the country’s leading medical institutions were launched in Cork last night.

AT first sight, it might not seem that Beverly Flynn and Martin Cullen have a lot in common. She’s from a dyed-in-the-wool Fianna Fáil family and he’s a political waverer.

It’s not easy to come up with an apology when your apple-cheeked daughter is caught dragging naked prisoners around on a dog-leash and pointing gleefully to their exposed genitals.