Trade union Fórsa says staff employed by Ireland's School Completion Programme should be given the same employment status as other public servants.

Shannon Commercial Properties (SCP) says it is to accelerate its €40m investment programme in 2018.

Recent improvements to the rate of students staying in school to Leaving Certificate level risk being reversed by more cuts to a project directly targeting children in danger of dropping out, programme leaders warned.

PARTICIPATION in sports is generally increasing, according to a new report, but “much more quickly” for individual sports such as swimming, jogging and exercise rather than team sports like Gaelic football, hurling, soccer, and rugby.

Homework clubs and counselling schemes for schoolchildren nationwide face being axed over plans to cut back a key service for vulnerable young people, it was warned today.