Sharp increases in sex crimes by juveniles is part of a wider sexualisation of children, according to a leading charity.

The number of parents contacting the Children At Risk in Ireland (CARI) helpline with concerns about their young child's sexualised behaviour increased by 57% last year.

THE HSE and the Director of Public Prosecutions are working on a new protocol to deal with requests from defendants in rape cases for counselling notes, which retired DPP James Hamilton has described as a “tactic” designed to intimidate alleged victims.

THERE has been a widespread welcome from children’s groups to the announcement by the new Minister for Children that she will be removing child protection services from the HSE and establishing a stand-alone agency.

MORE than e1 million in funding was provided to groups supporting crime victims last year, including 25 groups helping those affected by domestic abuse.

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.

A leading child sex abuse charity today urged the Government to overhaul laws protecting children as calls to its helpline continue to surge.

GARDAÍ are hopeful they will be able to build a case against a number of Irish paedophiles who accessed images of children as young as three years old being raped.

AS a child of six or seven, Monica Rowe skipped up to the local shop on an errand for her father, an adventure that took her no more than one hundred yards from her home.

A TRADE body has instructed the country’s leisure centres to ban mobile picture phones amid fears of paedophiles preying on children in swimming pools.