The loss of 16 nursing positions at St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork will increase overcrowding at Cork University Hospital, warns Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.

No full-scale audit has ever been carried out into tens of thousands of files given to the State by the religious orders which ran Ireland’s mother-and-baby homes.

One of the country’s main assessment units for children suspected of having been sexually abused is to track the possible role of social media after noticing a “trend” in the experiences of some victims.

Blackrock, Cork €450,000

THERE were more than 2,000 formal referrals between gardaí and the HSE in relation to child sex abuse during 2010, figures have revealed.