ROCK band front man, Christy Dignam, has spoken of how his sexual abuse as a child contributed to his heroin addiction as an adult.

THE Pope has made what is being widely interpreted as his first official comments on the child abuse scandal in residential institutions here.

SCHOOLS must be fully supported in their role of recognising and reporting suspected child abuse, Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said last night.

The Dáil's two-day debate on the findings of the Ryan report on child abuse is due to resume at Leinster House later today.

Hundreds of people have gathered in Dublin for a march to show solidarity with the victims of child abuse at religious-run state institutions.

Meetings between the Catholic church hierarchy and the Pope in the Vatican reflected the seriousness of the Ryan report, the church said today.

The Taoiseach says he has asked the religious congregations involved in institutional child abuse to give a clear and unequivocal response to demands for more compensation for victims.

The Christian Brothers were reportedly continuing to deny that any abuse occurred in their institutions right up until the publication of the Ryan Report two weeks ago.

A delegation of children's charities and victims' groups is due to meet the Minister for Children Barry Andrews today to discuss the fallout from the final report of the Child Abuse Commission.

HUNDREDS of thousands of documents and witness testimonies compiled by the Child Abuse Commission are not in any imminent danger of destruction, the commission said.

Health Minister Mary Harney has promised that the Government will examine whether documents relating to the Child Abuse Commission's inquiries can be retained.

The founder of the One in Four support group Colm O'Gorman says the State should be taking a stronger stance against religious orders involved in child abuse.

MORE religious orders have bowed to pressure to provide extra funds for survivors of institutional child abuse – but half of those involved have still not said how they will respond to the controversy.

CATHOLIC Church authorities abroad, concerned that abusers uncovered by the Child Abuse Commission may also have worked in their countries, will not be able to obtain the true identities of the individuals protected by pseudonyms in the commission’s report.

A leading figure in the Conference of Religious in Ireland has said the religious orders involved in the abuse of children must be prepared to consider giving more money to the Government's redress scheme.

A number of religious orders whose members abused children in care institutions have agreed to engage with the Government about contributing more to victims.

The Oblate Order, which ran the infamous Daingean Reformatory, says it will respond positively to the Taoiseach's comments last night.

The Government is set to hold talks with various religious orders in an effort to get to pay more to deal with the fallout from widespread child abuse in state-owned institutions.

A FORMER Fianna Fáil mayor who was sexually abused in an industrial school has called on the religious orders to actively seek out other victims who have not yet come forward for help.

ONE of the country’s largest religious orders has pledged to make more funds available to help former residents of its residential institutions who were abused while in care.

THE author of the first Irish study into the long-term effects of institutional child abuse on survivors has warned that the repercussions of the scandal could be felt for several generations to come.

THE Minister for Children Barry Andrews has said one of the first priorities of the Government in the wake of the damning Ryan report will be to examine a memorial for the victims of abuse.

Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore has called on the Taoiseach to make the first step in seeking a renegotiation of the controversial indemnity deal agreed with religious orders.

Senior Catholic bishops are due to consider last week's shocking report from the Child Abuse Commission at a meeting in Maynooth today.

THE shock, outrage and deep anger that greeted Mr Justice Seán Ryan and the Child Abuse Commission’s (CAC) report was natural and absolutely justified.

THE Department of Education has rejected claims that compensation payments to victims of institutional child abuse have been hit by budget cutbacks.

THERE has been a massive surge in first-time callers as helplines and support groups have been overwhelmed with calls for help from abuse victims since the damning report on religious-run schools was published.

The Tánaiste has told the Dáil that the child abuse report reflects a dark period in the history of the State.

GENERATIONS of children who suffered savage abuse at the hands of religious orders were also failed by the Department of Education, which ignored its own regulations and kowtowed to the Church. The Commission into Child Abuse Report found various arms of the state failed children in industrial schools.

CRUELTY of the scale, intensity and impact revealed to the Child Abuse Commission is almost impossible to encapsulate, but one man epitomises the system that savaged the childhoods of thousands of innocents.

THERE were hardly more than one or two events since the Famine more cathartic for Ireland than the long-resisted acceptance, a little more than a decade ago, that a great and unchecked evil was active at the centre of our childcare institutions.

Support group CARI has expressed its concerned that today's publication of the Child Abuse Commission may lead the public into a false sense of security that such abuses are a thing of the past.

The HSE says its National Counselling Service has been contacted by more than 17,000 people since the Child Abuse Commission was established 10 years ago.

A report into the abuse suffered by thousands of children in state-run institutions will be published today in the largest investigation of religious orders to date.

A report into the abuse suffered by thousands of children in state-run institutions across the Irealnd will be published tomorrow in the largest investigation of religious orders to date.

VICTIMS of child abuse at industrial schools and other Catholic schools have expressed disgust at the Child Abuse Commission’s failure to provide them with advance copies of an explosive report before its publication on Wednesday.

UNDER-SPENDING by Government departments totalled almost €1 billion last year, the country’s chief financial watchdog has found.

Taxpayers have reportedly paid out almost €230m in recent years on tribunals investigating issues ranging from planning corruption to the retention of children's organs.

The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) has told the Child Abuse Commission that its inspectors did not visit industrial schools to monitor children.

The Department of Justice has said it deeply regrets not being more proactive in trying to find suitable places of detention for children who came before the courts in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Department of Education has said it deeply regrets significant failings in its responsibility towards children in Ireland's industrial schools.

A spokesman for the Oblate Fathers has denied that a residential school in Co Offaly was "a living hell" for pupils during the 1950s and 1960s.

Victims of child abuse are due to deliver a letter of protest this morning to the commission inquiring into their experiences.

Victims of child abuse are due to mount a protest this morning outside the commission inquiring into their experiences.