Today is ‘Buckets for Barnardos’ Day, the charity’s national collection day and Leitrim star David Rawle has come on board as the charity’s newest ambassador.

Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar has said it is the responsibility of parents to rear their children rather than taxpayers as he warned against hopes for a reversal of cuts to a back-to-school support payment.

Tough choices ahead as back-to-school bill rises; Video footage emerges of giant Minion ’attack’ on Dublin; and Irish actor Pierce Brosnan tried to bring a knife on a plane. Here’s this morning’s irishexaminer.com round-up.

TWO teenage next-door neighbours, from Dublin 15, have spearheaded a project to change conversations about mental health.

Rent controls and use of vacant housing stock — including refitted hotels — should be considered to ease the looming homelessness crisis, experts have claimed.

Government officials risk causing 20 more years of needless deaths in Ireland’s State care services unless they fully implement detailed plans to revamp the sector’s aftercare system.

Children’s charity Barnardos says a €15m fund for schools to start book rental schemes is welcome — but all school books should eventually be free.

Barnardos has confirmed it has decided to close its services for a week this month as a cost-saving measure — having taken a similar course of action last year.

ALL my life (as far back as I can remember, anyway), I’ve had a theory that we live our lives in seven year cycles.

TV3 Morning Show presenter, Sybil Mulcahy, had a happy childhood and wants to give something back, so she’s delighted to be ambassador for this year’s Big Toddle for Barnardos, a fun, sponsored walk for toddlers.

Almost one-in-four Irish people suffer some form of economic deprivation with children and families the worst affected, figures reveal.

THERE are things about every budget that we all have to grin and bear.

Give your child the language to deal with their aggressors, says Helen O’Callaghan.

A publisher has offered to give every second-level student free ebooks and cheaper text books for a share of the Department of Education €14m school book budget.

Early news bulletins this week carried the sad news that Barnardos’ extreme financial difficulties has led to the temporary closure of its Irish offices.

THE costs of books, uniforms and transport were among the biggest concerns of parents who took part in Barnardos’ online survey. These are some of their comments:

BARNARDOS, Ireland’s leading children’s charity, is set to benefit from Wednesday’s Irish Open pro-am day.

FINE GAEL MEP Mairéad McGuinness has announced her intention to seek her party’s nomination for president in the October election.

STUDENTS from Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) are planning a Guinness Book of Records challenge for the largest performed Haka.

PARENTS awaiting appeals on social welfare applications now face a wait of up to 16 months for a decision, it has been claimed.

A drastic change is needed to radically overhaul child welfare and protection systems, a leading charity warned today.

CHILDREN will literally miss out on meals or face the electricity being turned off if the Government implements social welfare cuts in the budget, children’s charity Barnardos warned.

NO replacement beds have been provided for troubled teenagers requiring secure care following the closure of the state’s main special care unit last year.

I DON’T usually do this, but that was one strange week, and I wanted to tell you about it.

A SUPPORT group for victims of sexual abuse has said it will “very carefully consider” whether to recommend that victims take a case following “highly insensitive” reporting of a high-profile abuse case.

CHILDCARE workers are seeing a “huge instance” of children who are experiencing bullying and domestic violence, a leading children’s charity has said.

DISADVANTAGED children face an “Everest” of challenges and should not have to endure cuts in basic education and support services simply to save the Government money in the short term.

A three-year partnership between Rabobank Ireland and Barnardos will fund Barnardos’ work in using education to break the cycle of poverty for children in Ireland.

THE Government is to scrap the Early Childcare Supplement by the end of the year and the e1,000 annual payment will be halved from May.

CHILDREN’S Minister Barry Andrews has rejected requests to remove two employees of the Health Service Executive from an investigation into how the system failed six Roscommon children abused by their mother over a period of several years.

JUST five of the 22 juvenile asylum seekers who went missing from the care of the Health Service Executive last year were later found.

THE diocese of Cloyne has agreed to boost its child protection measures after the Health Service Executive’s (HSE’s) audit into Catholic Church dioceses found that standards in the diocese lagged behind existing national guidelines.

IRELAND’S leading independent children’s charity Barnardos is really embracing “budget chic” with the opening of its new bridal room and boutique in Carlow.

ONE can only hope — probably in vain — that the sentiments expressed recently by Dr Martin McAleese, while visiting Barnardos’ ‘Da Project’ in Dublin, are taken on board by the incoming Government.

TOP CHEF Derry Clarke of L’Ecrivain Restaurant welcomed little helpers into his kitchen yesterday to launch a €100,000 appeal.

A CHRONIC shortage of bereavement counselling services for children around the country means families are waiting up to six months after a death before they can access help.

A CAMPAIGN to raise over €4 million to tackle child poverty was launched yesterday.

A top comedian backed a campaign today to raise over four million euro to tackle the serious problem of child poverty.

CHILDREN’S charity Barnardos yesterday said it is aiming to transform Ireland into “the best place in the world to be a child”.

Children's charity Barnardos has called for children to be given expanded constitutional protection to ensure vulnerable children are fully protected.

CHILDREN’S charity Barnardos has vowed to make Ireland the best place in the world to be a child by 2016.

A MAJOR expansion of family support services in the South was announced yesterday as President Mary McAleese opened a regional headquarters for children’s charity Barnardos in Cork.