The child and family agency Tusla has been cleared of the deaths of several youngsters it was helping.

Rushing public service reforms, or doing so without key data, poses a risk to effective change of delivery, according to an assessment of lessons from the early difficulties of a centralised student grants body.

Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald has condemned child beauty pageants as “the theft of childhood”, as a senator warned she would seek an outright ban if the events continue to be staged.

A report into the implementation of the 2001 youth homelessness strategy has recommended more services for teenagers aged 16 to 18 and changes to how 18 year olds switch from youth to adult services.