Tusla’s new National Child Care Information System has been many years in the making, but as the Child and Family Agency prepare to finally roll it out across the country, those behind it have given it a ringing endorsement.

Because the Midlands has a shortage of foster carers, 57 children from there have been housed outside the area, health watchdog, Hiqa, has found.

An audit has found that children in foster care could possibly be identified because of “insufficient safeguards” in the overall payment process.

The Child and Family Agency has confirmed that the long-awaited Pulse-style system for logging child welfare and protection concerns will be in operation nationwide by the end of 2018.

The Child and Family Agency says it is hopeful no other area of the country will reveal unaddressed files as was the case in Portlaoise, following a national audit of cases awaiting allocation.

The majority of homeless children known to the Health Service Executive’s care services are in the HSE South area.

A senior member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has questioned whether Irish laws on smacking mean parents can be good role models for their children.