A trained dog could be able to accompany child victims of sex abuse when giving evidence in a criminal trial thanks to a new pilot project which would be a first in this country.

A mental health centre has received a damning inspection report due to privacy concerns and the standard of its premises.

Political parties are being urged to back €600,000 in funding to clear a year-plus- long therapy waiting list for children who have been sexually abused.

Concerns that indecent images of children shared online are often taken by children themselves have been raised after a UK watchdog found that 30% of these types of images were user-generated.

Magheracloone kicked 15 unanswered second-half points to slay Mattock Rangers and set up a Croke Park final date with Oughterard on Saturday week.

Health Minister Simon Harris said the standards would act as “a powerful tool” to encourage service providers to adopt best practice.

The children's ombudsman has described as “absolutely despicable” the length of time it took to set up the country's first multi-agency centre for sexually abused children.

Delays in providing treatment and support for children and teenagers who have experienced sexual assault are seriously detrimental to their recovery, a leading psychotherapist was warned.

A Vision for Change – a strategy document published in 2006 that set out the direction of mental health services in Ireland - recommended the establishment of 48 rehabilitation teams based on the current population.

Conor McManus says John McEntee didn’t “shirk” his job with Clontibret even though it brought him the one scalp he never wanted to take.

There was a 43% increase in the number of child abuse referrals to Tusla in the first quarter of this year.

Thomas Davis and Ballyboden St Enda’s will contest this year’s Dublin Senior Football Championship final, after semi-final wins over Kilmacud Crokes and St Jude’s, respectively, at Parnell Park on Saturday evening.

Irish students have consistently said they feel their needs are not being met through how sex education is currently taught, but we now have the opportunity to make a change, says Caroline West.

One of the principal witnesses in the commission of Investigation into the “Grace” case is claiming he suffering extreme hardship as a result of his engagement with the inquiry.

Former Aston Villa defender Derrick Williams has come out in support of disgraced youth boss Kevin MacDonald after the veteran coach was sacked by the club in August following an investigation into claims of bullying that stretched back over 25 years.

Ephie Fitzgerald has brought the curtain down on his four years with the Cork Ladies football team in the wake of the Munster champions' loss to Dublin in an All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.

Harmful sexualised behaviour in children ‘significant and disturbing’

A property developer has failed in an appeal in which he challenged the sale of his and his company's loans of around €25m to a fund.

Two garda inspectors are challenging disciplinary sanctions against them after they were found to be in neglect of duty in relation to the investigation into claims by a woman that her foster brother sexually abused her in the 1960s and 1970s.

Perhaps Johnny Doyle in his prime might have pulled this one out of the fire but at 41 a Leinster JFC final miracle was just beyond him.

A number of centres remain unsuitable and not fit for purpose.

Conor Kane has been appointed as South East correspondent with RTÉ News.

The 'Grace' investigation into claims a severely disabled mute woman suffered decades of sexual abuse at a State foster home will not make any findings until May 2020 - two years later than originally planned.

The State inquiry examining decades of alleged physical and sexual abuse of a seriously disabled woman known as ‘Grace’ has uncovered hundreds of “very revealing” documents into the case.

Issues raised over lack of forensic examination units nationwide

Cavan 1-14 Down 0-15

Three men have been convicted of kidnapping a family at gunpoint and carrying out a €2.28 million cash-in-transit van robbery 13 years ago.

Grave concerns have been expressed in the Dáil over the year-long delay to the commission of inquiry into the Grace foster abuse scandal.

Domhnall Gleeson hopped at the chance to play a part in the new Peter Rabbit film, writes Esther McCarthy.

Cash-in-transit van partner Paul Richardson was extremely distraught on the day of an alleged tiger-kidnap of his family, a court has heard.

A mother and son have described their ordeal of being held captive near the Wicklow Mountains during a €2.28m robbery almost 15 years ago.

They were aware of his daily routine and told him “we're watching you all the time”, the court heard.

A cash-in-transit van driver has described how armed raiders entered his home and pointed a gun at his teenage son's head as the boy lay on the floor having a panic attack.

Michael Noonan’s handling of the case of ‘Grace’ while health minister and the role of his department in the 1990s will be the subject of commission of investigation hearings early in the new year, an interim report states.

Documents and information relating to the care of 'Grace' have been requested of 51 public bodies and individuals by the Commission into her savage sexual abuse in a foster home.

One shop owner has been prosecuted, three shops have ceased trading and seven shops no longer market themselves as “charity shops”, following interventions by the Charities Regulator since 2016.

A man has been jailed for life for murdering a man on a night he also committed two robberies in Dublin city.

A man who raped his step-daughter 64 times over a seven-year period has been sentenced to 12 years with the final two years suspended.

A High Court judge wants the Garda Fraud Squad to investigate why 13 families who must leave their homes within a week were paying rent to a unknown third party.

Dave Connell's charges suffered defeat in their opening UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship Elite Round fixture against Scotland, losing 2-1 courtesy of a ninety-fifth minute penalty.

Cormac O'Keefe examines the lack of sexual assault treatment units and the need for more sexual health and aftercare services nationwide.

Cavan 1-13 Tyrone 0-12: Cavan clinched their first competitive win at senior level over Tyrone since 2001 with a gritty Dr McKenna Cup victory at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Controversy reigned at the Fiesta 6 Hour Endurance Race at Mondello Park yesterday where weather and track conditions led to the race being red-flagged at around half distance.

A 15-year jail term, with the last five years suspended, was imposed on a young woman for setting fire to an apartment building in Mallow causing the deaths of two of her friends, writes Liam Heylin.