One of only two community crèches in Dublin’s south inner city is to close in mid-August leaving up to 50 families having to find alternative childcare for the new school year.

A 24-hour dedicated phoneline for the reporting of child sexual abuse, both current and historic, is being launched today.

Cardinal Desmond Connell, former Archbishop of Dublin, has died aged 90, it has been announced.

A spokesperson for the Association of Catholic Priests says he is not overly concerned about the future of St Patrick's College in Maynooth.

An appeal to Catholic parishes to take in refugees could see several thousand families from Syria and other conflict countries rehomed across the country.

Allegations of child sex abuse have been made against five more Catholic priests from the country’s largest diocese.

A former solicitor described as a "devout Christian" stole €2.8m from client accounts in his family’s law firm and used the money to fund investment properties and buy stocks and shares.

Up to a third of infants died in mother and baby homes in Dublin, Tipperary and Cork in 1933.

The number of priests formally accused of sexually abusing children in the country’s biggest Catholic diocese over the past 40 years has topped 100, according to the latest figures.

An inquiry into the taping of phone calls at garda stations could hold its hearings behind closed doors, after the Government refused to dictate whether it should be privately or publicly conducted.

The Archbishop of Dublin has said it should not come as a surprise that a survey of parishioners there found the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family is poorly understood, and was poorly accepted and disconnected from real life experiences of families.

A female cardinal may be the holy grail of radical reformers within the Catholic Church, but speculation that Ireland could produce the world’s first is unlikely to answer their prayers.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has said children who were abused by priests must be remembered during any criticisms of the Murphy report.

An Garda Síochána repeatedly refused to make any information available to the Irish Examiner on its two-year investigation into how gardaí handled allegations of clerical abuse in the Murphy Report.

The number of Dublin priests against whom an allegation of child sexual abuse has been recorded has not increased in the past year.

Ian Elliott, the Catholic church’s own watchdog on child protection measures in Ireland, has detailed the policies now in place to prevent child abuse in several dioceses.

A FEW years ago, on Dec 23, I got a morning call from RTÉ.

The relentless work of Mary Raftery exposed what went on behind the walls of the Magdalene Laundries, writes Dan Buckley

The new policy being launched by the Dublin Archdiocese means parents will have to attend a number of Sunday Masses during the year before their children can receive the Sacrament.

Ian Elliot, the head of the Catholic Church's own watchdog on child protection measures, has detailed the policies now in place to prevent child abuse.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has today published legislation which will insist on Garda vetting for anyone working with children or vulnerable adults.

Victims of a north Cork priest, named in the Cloyne report as Father Ronat, have given evidence to a secret canonical court which can recommend his defrocking.

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has warned the Church is at a breaking point due to the sex abuse scandals — and said “problems” with child protection still remained.

A Garda Inspectorate review has said there needs to be a major improvement in co-operation between inter-agencies handling child sexual abuse cases.

'States of Fear’ documentary-maker and journalist Mary Raftery has died.

VICTIMS of clerical abuse in Cloyne have said they will co-operate with the Church’s secret canonical tribunal into the actions of Fr Ronat, a North Cork priest who was the subject of 11 complaints of abuse in the Cloyne report.

VICTIMS’ organisation One in Four has called for a statutory inquiry into Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid, as it emerged that gardaí are investigating two complaints of abuse against him.

The Government today faced calls for an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse involving the former Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid.

Dr Martin has not been open about the plan to pay abuse compensation with parish funds, writes Michael Kelly.

THE diocese of Cloyne has said it has “no plans” to use church basket collections to pay damages to victims of clerical sex abuse in civil cases.

A claim that the Dublin Archdiocese is using parish funds to cover the cost of clerical sexual abuse claims has been rejected by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

THE consultant psychiatrist who allegedly sexually abused numerous female patients treated disgraced child abuser priest Bill Carney and gave the green light to his return to ministry.

AN international clerical abuse survivors group is calling on Irish bishops to release secret files as it pursues the Vatican for crimes against humanity at the Hague.

ENDA KENNY says he stands over his blistering criticism of the Vatican and has repeated his charge that Rome failed to co-operate with a state inquiry into child sexual abuse as little as three years ago.

A former Catholic priest exposed as a serial child sex abuser today claimed he posed no “threat or danger to children”.

Former Bishop of Cloyne John Magee has asked for forgiveness for failing to protect children and investigate paedophile priests.

THE revelation that the Dublin Archdiocese — the country’s largest with over one million registered Catholics — is close to financial collapse is likely to be mirrored in other parts of the Church in Ireland.

Ireland’s largest Catholic Archdiocese has admitted it is facing serious economic reality, with parishes on the brink of going bust because of the recession and clerical abuse claims.

The Dublin Archdiocese is considering selling off its assets to solve a financial crisis that is threatening to ruin it.

The Dublin Catholic archdiocese is on the brink of financial collapse due to the volume of compensation payouts to victims of clerical abuse, it has been claimed.

CONCERNS have been raised over the handling of an investigation into the alleged abuse of an intellectually disabled resident at a HSE-run facility.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny today launched an unprecedented attack on the Vatican, accusing Catholic hierarchy of putting the preservation of the church's reputation ahead of child rape victims.

SEPARATE investigations have begun to examine possible disciplinary breaches or criminal wrongdoing by gardaí criticised in the Cloyne report.