Investment in childhood education must remain a central priority in any programme for government negotiations, writes Grainne McKenna

The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes has requested a further extension until June 26, the Department of Children has announced.

Frontline domestic and sexual violence services were “almost totally ignored” in the budget for the 6th year running, it has been claimed.

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

An undercover investigation had revealed a pattern of disturbing behaviour and practices including fire-safety breaches and rough handling of children.

A government ministerial driver who served in his post for six years has failed in his claim that a government department breached workplace legislation concerning his role.

The support offered by Scouting Ireland to people alleging they were abused, sexually and physically, within scouting is not enough, a leading abuse survivors charity has claimed.

All funding for Scouting Ireland has been suspended until the current Board of Directors is disbanded.

Tusla, the child and family agency, will begin the recruitment process for a new CEO after incumbent Fred McBride made the shock announcement that he is leaving the post at the end of September.

Leo Varadkar’s speech on Saturday was a powerful affirmation of what a modern Ireland must look like, says Fergus Finlay.

Mary Morrissy Considering ‘memorialisation’ on equal terms with investigation will quite literally pave over the wrongdoing, writes Mary Morrissy.

Teenagers and young adults are more likely to trust the internet and their friends for information on sex than their parents or teachers.

Tusla’s child protection and welfare services now receive a referral every 11 minutes.

The Government is set to press ahead with a statutory inquiry into a case which sparked a string of arrests across Munster earlier this month over alleged child sex abuse.

University College Cork will become the first university in Ireland to fly the Transgender Pride Flag this afternoon.

Legislation making it illegal for social media companies to use data from children under the age of 16 should be considered, according to Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan.

As a strategic plan for Oberstown Detention Campus is launched today, progress is already underway to ensure the interests of the child are central to everything done at the facility.

More than two-thirds of primary school teachers do not feel equipped to teach online safety to their students, according to research by CyberSafeIreland.

It's either a feast or a famine, as the saying goes. But the Government delivered a little bit of both during its Cabinet meeting in Cork today.

Operators of the children’s detention centre, Oberstown, have failed to outline the legal reasons for their refusal to publish a long overdue review of the centre’s operations.

Tusla has said adequate resources are in place to deliver on its newly launched Child Protection and Welfare Strategy that aims to tackle, over the next five years, deficits in existing services.

There were 6,309 children in care in Ireland at the end of February this year, with 5,822 of these being in foster care, it has been revealed.

Figures provided by the Department of an Taoiseach show that the cost to the taxpayer of flying Enda Kenny, his wife Fionnuala, and his staff to the US for St Patrick Day events totalled €33,555.

More than €1.5m is to be invested in a scheme which helps children with disabilities enter childcare.

Homeless families are being offered 25 hours of free childcare a week for their young children.

On average, more than 130 babies under the age of one are taken into care annually.

Laws which will make it easier for hundreds of children in care to be adopted took a significant step towards coming to fruition last night.

Keeping childcare costs down will be a challenge when a range of subsidies are introduced next September, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone, said last night.

Nearly 100% of community-run early year services in Cork City and south Co Dublin area are at financial risk.

The alleged solitary confinement of inmates by the authorities at Oberstown Youth Detention Centre stems from what can only be described as a riot and an attempt to escape resulting in a fire, the High Court heard yesterday.

VERY few societies can be as sensitive as Ireland to suggestions that young people held in State care might be in jeopardy. 

Today’s child summit marks a turning point as it brings together agents of change with the very policymakers who have the power to implement them, says Tanya Ward

A welcome and positive development in the best interest of children: that’s the Children’s Rights Alliance response to Ireland’s agreement on inter-country adoption with the Philippines.

A group of young students, motivated by the death of a woman from a sudden heart attack, has won a prestigious youth prize for its in work promoting the message that defibrillators save lives.

One in 10 children here lacks adequate housing, food, clothing or warmth, but austerity was a political decision, as was the fact that poor families bear the brunt of it, says Tanya Ward

Almost one-third of prisoners who are locked up 23 hours a day are aged 18-24, campaigners have revealed.

“We’re just our age, we can’t turn that clock back”, said the grandfather of the child Tusla removed, after it was decided he and his wife were too old to provide adequate foster care.

Almost one in five children waiting more than a month for a dedicated social worker is in serious danger of neglect and physical or sexual abuse, it has emerged.

Early Childhood Ireland yesterday said parents can be reassured by new evidence that sending their children to a creche has no effect on their ability to learn.

Removing the barriers which are currently stopping thousands of children with a disability from accessing early years care and education was one of the more progressive announcements in Budget 2016.