The National Family Support Network said more needs to be done to stop the “devastating and preventable” deaths caused by drugs, which have continued to increase to new heights.

One of the main sacraments of the Catholic Church used to be known as Holy Communion but, considering the rapid commercialisation of this momentous event in the lives of younger children, there is nothing particularly holy about it anymore.

Despite moves to significantly change how children prepare for their first communion and other sacraments, there are no plans yet to introduce similar changes in schools in Cork.

Here is everything you need to know about the Dublin diocese changes to sacraments.

The popular broadcaster passed away last Monday at the age of 85.

Broadcaster Gay Byrne will be laid to rest tomorrow with RTÉ airing live coverage of the funeral.

Pope Francis confirmed he has accepted the 75-year-old's resignation.

Fr Coote passed away yesterday evening surrounded by his mother Patricia and brothers David, Kieran and Pat.

Historian Catherine Corless, who exposed the Tuam Babies scandal, tells Donal O’Keeffe why she feels Tuam and Bessborough need to be excavated, and highlights Pope Francis’ apparent confusion about Tuam.

Fr Tony Coote died yesterday after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease in February 2018.

Over half a million children — 544,696 — are expected in primary schools over the coming days.

We take a trip down memory lane and check out what happened on this day in years gone by by looking back at some Irish Examiner front pages and highlighting other events which went down in history across the world.

Speaking on the Today with Sean O'Rourke show on RTÉ Radio he said it is his "intention not to have an election this year... but it may not be my call".

Goals from Michael Doran and Dan McCormack ultimately separated Laois from Westmeath in a gripping tie in Mullingar last night.

The Catholic Bishop-elect of Cork and Ross busted some serious dance moves as he promised to take on the mandate of renewal across the vast diocese.

Those involved in the latest spate of gang-related shootings must be put behind bars and their “business of death” undermined and destroyed, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has urged.

IT CAME as quite a surprise to many to discover that one of the several ‘hats’ I wear is Honorary Council General for Sri Lanka to Ireland.

Racism and religious intolerance or attempts to demonise the faith of another cannot be allowed to assume even a token tone of respectability and reasonableness, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said.

A “sparse” rural abortion service is forcing pregnant women to travel long distances for a termination, pro-choice groups claim.

The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has urged caution over anti-abortion protests at GP surgeries. He said that while "everybody has a right to make a protest", GP surgeries were used by everybody for all sorts of reasons.

The talks also include the adjoining lands as both organisations work to develop significant community projects.

It was all a bit last-minute but Pope Francis had something important to do before saying Mass in the Phoenix Park. He had to go to confession.

Pope Francis appeared to be unaware of the details of abuse suffered by many Irish victims at the hands of Catholic clerics, according to one of the survivors who met him in Dublin on Saturday.

It’s over. Two thousand years of power and authority, of intellectual superstructure designed to continuously create learned helplessness and obedience may not have ended during the papal visit to Ireland, 2018, but the decline accelerated.

International group BishopAccountability.org has published a list of more than 70 clergy from across Ireland who have been convicted of abuse, or who were named in the Ferns, Ryan, Murphy and Cloyne reports as having faced abuse allegations.

Some people see Pope Francis as a “global religious star”, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said when discussing the pontiff’s pastoral visit to Ireland next month.

The idea that women cannot publicly give their views on the Catholic Church is not right, a Government minister has said.

Why on earth would a sensible man like Diarmuid Martin try to convince anybody that there isn't a shortage, asks Terry Prone. 

The Catholic Church has handed over control of just 11 schools despite efforts by the State to increase diversity in the education system.

Earlier this week, Assistant Commissioner Pat Leahy said 522 people had been warned by An Garda Síochána that their lives were in danger from criminals.

Communities living “under the power” of criminal gangs need to be supported in building up their independence and in protecting their children, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin has said.

What should concern Pope Francis much more is that so many Irish Catholics are turning away from Christianity, writes Victoria White

The newly-ordained Bishop of Ossory has weighed into the debate on abortion on his first day in office, describing as “paradoxical and in some ways the ultimate delusion” the proposal to “extinguish” the right to life of a child.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, says he was not consulted about a decision to exclude former president of Ireland Mary McAleese from a Catholic women’s conference in the Vatican.

A leading Catholic cleric has said his office was not consulted over a decision to deny former president of Ireland Mary McAleese access to a conference in the Vatican.

The Taoiseach said there is a genuine concern around the Church of Scientology in this country and the fact that it may be a cult.

New guidelines approved by the country’s Catholic bishops for priests with children could be adopted by the Vatican, it has emerged.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue has today backed recent comments made by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin pointing to a “justified resentment among priests and … committed Catholics”.

In spite of Ireland passing the marriage equality referendum, the Church has insisted the next World Meeting of Families, which the Pope is set to attend in Dublin in 2018, will be “married life between a man and a woman”.

Pope Francis will "do everything he can" to come to Ireland next year, a senior Vatican official has said.

The Government is on a collision course with the Vatican over the funding of redress payments to sex abuse victims, saying it wants to seize lands owned by the Church.

Clerical abuse survivor and campaigner, Marie Collins, said she resigned from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors because a group of people in the Vatican had been obstructing its work, including not following recommendations from the Pope.

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

Richard Bruton plans to divest patronage from Catholic primary schools. We’ve been here before and the Church still holds all the cards, writes Michael Clifford.