Jack Carty showed his class off the bench with a key 10-point contribution and a try assist as Connacht ended Benetton Rugby's eight-match Guinness PRO14 unbeaten run with a 29-14 victory at the Sportsground.

We have “failed utterly” to break the cycle of poverty, according to the outgoing chief executive of Barnardos children’s charity, Fergus Finlay.

Tusla, the child and family agency, said it will address serious shortcomings highlighted by an inspection report into its fostering services in parts of Dublin, Kildare, and Wicklow, which included a shortage of social workers and foster carers.

In the early 1990s, Bridget McCole contracted Hepatitis C from an infected blood transfusion, writes Fergus Finlay.  

Barnardos children’s charity has launched its new Lost Childhood campaign that puts the spotlight on the one in seven children experiencing homelessness, poverty or neglect.

Tributes have been paid to former chief justice Thomas Finlay, one of Ireland's best known legal figures, who has died at the age of 95.

IN Timoleague, west Cork, where the famous 13th century abbey overlooks the sea, there may be seen, these evenings, one of the most extraordinary displays of coordination and swarm behaviour in nature, a murmuration of starlings, says Damien Enright.

The ISPCC has said the Tom Humphries case was an example of how a new cyber safety strategy was needed, and believes that it should be implemented by the Taoiseach’s department.

The CEO of Barnardos has said the sentence handed down to Tom Humphries was "incredibly lenient.

High cholesterol could affect a body’s ability to fight cancer as well as increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke, it has emerged.

EVERYONE who knew Ross Coakley, especially as he approached the end of his life, respected and admired him, writes Fergus Finlay

On the basic issues of property and profiteering, it seems the Sisters are doing some good, writes Gerard Howlin. 

A place in a specialist eating disorder hospital in the UK is being urgently sought for a young man with severe anorexia nervosa, the High Court has heard.

A HSE audit of children’s charity Barnardos found the CEO and senior management salaries were paid in excess of health sector pay rates and that unclear information was provided to the board and to the media in relation to the CEO’s salary and his donations.

If the 130,000 children who live in dire poverty were as visible as patients on hospital trollies, Ireland might wake up to this ‘silent crisis’, says the CEO of Barnardos.

Connacht full-back Tiernan O’Halloran said they have got over the shock of Pat Lam’s decision to leave the Sportsground and are set to sting Wasps this weekend.

Captain Conor McManus admits the departures of Dick Clerkin and Paul Finlay will affect the Monaghan set-up, but has put it up to his younger team-mates to make up an experience deficit in 2017 and make amends for this year’s disappointment.

University College Cork is set to welcome and honour a range of their former alumni at a special UCC Alumni Achievement Awards on Friday.

The head of Barnardos Fergus Finlay claims it is too "simplistic" to say there is no difference between grandparents and creches when it comes to caring for children.

Modern lifestyles with an emphasis on hyper-cleanliness have a negative effect on children’s lifelong health.

A coroner has highlighted the need for extreme vigilance on farms after an inquest heard how a toddler died in a farmyard accident in West Cork last year.

Church, State, gardaí, charities, and sport have been cut off at the knees by the modern phenomenon of the death of deference, writes Gerard Howlin.

The top 10% of Irish society hold more than half of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 50% have just 4.95% of it.

Ireland’s newest cap Matt Healy is hoping that out of the disappointment of a series defeat in South Africa his nascent Test career can flourish.

Fergus Finlay is a champion of the young and vulnerable in our society and would have first-hand knowledge of that continuing scandal of neglect and deprivation of thousands of children in Ireland at this time.

Side By Side,

Labour TDs and defeated candidates have officially been put on notice that a second general election may be on the cards, as the party prepares to rule itself out of joining government.

A 16-year-old girl who has become “almost mute” due to depression associated with an eating disorder needs to be treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the High Court heard yesterday.

We have a century-long history, in mental illness particularly, of blaming mothers, writes Terry Prone

A culture has developed where it is acceptable to assault a social care worker in Ireland.

Thousands of children are at risk of neglect and abuse due to consistent underfunding of the Child and Family Agency and support services, Barnardos has warned.

Connacht’s rising young prop Finlay Bealham, known for his physicality, is expecting another bruising challenge against Newcastle on Sunday in the second of the European Challenge Cup back-to-back fixtures.