Some social workers feel inhibited in their work because they are overburdened by policies amid growing caseloads, according to research.

One-in-four children in foster care in parts of Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow do not have an allocated social worker, according to a Hiqa report.

The Health Service Executive says its services for victims of child sexual abuse have improved significantly since an 11-year-old girl first alleged she had been raped in 2006.

WE AT Epic, the only independent organisation in Ireland working on behalf of children in care and those who have left the care system, strongly support the proposed Children First Bill which will place a mandatory obligation on professionals to report any suspected child abuse and welfare concerns.

A staggering 30,000 plus referrals were made to social services last year on foot of concerns about child abuse and child welfare, a HSE report shows.

Considering the publicity afforded in recent years to Ireland’s appalling history of neglect and abuse of children, many people will undoubtedly be surprised to learn that various governments have failed to give statutory force to the guidelines drawn up 14 years ago to combat these depraved social evils.

DANIEL McANASPIE was only six-years-old when Children First was published.

Children’s rights groups have welcomed plans to prosecute or close services who provide an unsafe environment for children.

THE sacrament of Confession will not be exempt from rules on mandatory reporting of child abuse, Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald has vehemently insisted.

THE absence of laws to allow the sharing of “soft information” on paedophiles is severely hampering child protection, the country’s top children’s watchdog has warned.

THE Catholic Church’s child protection tsar, Ian Elliott, was on the verge of resigning in the past year after a review of child protection standards in the country’s 26 dioceses was halted because the Church refused to co-operate.

LAST month the Health Service Executive admitted “full responsibility” for the deaths of Tracey Fay and David Foley, two teenagers who died in the care of the state.

Eight child protection organisations today united to launch a campaign to insist that the Government implement key policy changes promised after the publication of the Ryan report into abuse in Church-run institutions.

FOCUS Ireland welcomes the recent publication of the report of the Children’s Ombudsman into the implementation of Children First: National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare of Children.

SENIOR Church figures, gardaí and politicians who colluded with or ignored evidence of abuse should face criminal prosecution, victims’ groups declared yesterday.

Strict new laws for reporting suspected cases of child abuse will not amount to the “criminalisation” of teachers, nurses and other State employees, according to Minister for Children Barry Andrews.

A national memorial will be erected in Ireland for tens of thousands of children who were abused over decades in church-run institutions, it was announced today.

Survivors of institutional abuse have given a broad welcome to the Government's plan for implementing the recommendations of the Ryan Report.

THREE recent reports have identified serious deficiencies in child protection services provided by the state.

People who used the state’s child protection system found it unsympathetic, powerful and intimidating, a report said today.

A priest at the centre of a sexual abuse allegation has agreed to stand aside from his duties, it was revealed tonight.

A YOUNG Bosnian woman who was almost completely blind is having her sight restored by Irish doctors.