The children's ombudsman has described as “absolutely despicable” the length of time it took to set up the country's first multi-agency centre for sexually abused children.

Schools may be inappropriately using reduced timetables as informal suspensions to deal with behaviour deemed difficult to manage in the classroom, the Ombudsman for Children has warned.

The Office of the Ombudsman received more than 150 complaints from people living in direct-provision centres last year.

The state’s most vulnerable children are not benefiting from the economic upturn and use of words like “inclusiveness” and “equality” are sometimes little more than lip service, according to the Ombudsman for Children.

“We can no longer allow our children to live with the overwhelming feelings of shame, guilt and anger because they are homeless, through no fault of their own.”

Tusla, the child and family agency, has admitted there is “work yet to be completed” when it comes to comprehensive supports for children with disabilities in care after it and the HSE were criticised by the Ombudsman for Children.

The Child and Family Agency has admitted there is "work yet to be completed" when it comes to comprehensive supports for children with disabilities in care after it and the HSE were criticised by the Ombudsman for Children.

The Ombudsman for Children has said he will watch to ensure commitments made about the education of Syrian refugees in special reception centres around the country are met.

A lack of sensitivity and use of confusing clinical language are among the challenges identified by young people using mental health services, according to a new report from the Ombudsman for Children.

Children are being let down by public bodies such as the HSE and Tusla who fail to keep their best interests at heart and by a mental health service where psychiatrists are not routinely available to suicidal young people.

A joint report from the Ombudsman for Children and his counterpart in the North has outlined the fears of young people on both sides of the border over Brexit.

Molly is a teenager and, in the words of her long-time foster carers, “a beautiful human being who needs extra care and attention”.

Children’s rights groups have warned that many families still have to “fight the system” every day to secure adequate services, just as the foster carers of a girl abandoned at birth vied to get the full range of supports she needed.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, is to undertake a systemic review of the supports and services being offered to children in their care with a moderate to severe disability, following an investigation by the Ombudsman for Children.

An investigation has found there was a delay in 21 infants receiving medical care last year - after their referrals were sent by fax.

A woman and her children forced to sleep on blood-stained mattresses in cramped rooms after leaving an abusive partner had a “horrible” experience, said Women’s Aid.

Children forced from their home by domestic violence were homeless for two years, during which they slept on blood-stained mattresses and found themselves in accommodation where they were exposed to their mother’s ex-partner or his friends, an investigation by the Ombudsman for Children’s Office has found.

Complaints from asylum seekers can be investigated by the Ombudsman and the Ombudsman for Children.

Here's your morning bulletin.

Update 7pm: Sinn Féin says the HSE's stated aim of bringing down scoliosis surgery wait times to four months is unlikely to be met by the end of the year.

The number of Irish men self-harming has jumped by 15% in the last 10 years with the rates particularly high among young people.

Fewer than one in 20 Catholic schools in Dublin are turning away children who have not been baptised.

The Ombudsman for Children has today called on the Government to invest further funding in mental health services to save more young people from taking their own lives, writes David Raleigh.

The Ombudsman for Children says early intervention would prevent the ‘torrent’ of child abuse complaints that can overwhelm child and family services, writes Claire O’Sullivan

A 10-year-old boy with severe disabilities was left without education provision for almost a year while a child protection investigation was ongoing in relation to alleged abuse in his school was carried out, according to a new report

The number of court applications regarding children in care significantly rose last year, even though the number of children in the care system remained relatively static.

Record number of complaints show complexities of children’s lives.

More than 80 students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities are to get ‘reader’ help or other special accommodation for the Leaving Certificate exams following a review of the refusals of 400 applications for assistance.

Question: Can you set out the initiatives you aim to target in the course of next government around the areas of mental health and disability services. 

The Ombudsman for Children is calling for urgent improvements in accommodation for children and young people in the care of the State.

Teachers could lose their licence to teach under recommendations by the Ombudsman for Children.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, says it supports a move to having private children’s residential care centres being independently inspected as suggested in a report highlighting major shortfalls in the process.