Children’s rights groups have reacted with concern to the news that a completed review of previously unattended-to child welfare files has found that at least 127 children in Laois/Offaly require immediate intervention.

The Child and Family Agency says it is hopeful no other area of the country will reveal unaddressed files as was the case in Portlaoise, following a national audit of cases awaiting allocation.

IT’S almost a rite of passage — your young child collects all his soothers, puts them in a bag and hangs them on a tree for the ‘dodi fairy’. She will take them and leave a present.

St Patrick’s 1-10 Dreadnots 1-08

Landlords have defended themselves from claims they are to blame for the housing crisis and said the Government should take responsibility.

Squealing with delight in a pen of hot sows

Taoiseach Enda Kenny pledged that the Child and Family Agency would not be just be “going through the motions” but would transform the way Ireland treats vulnerable youngsters.

The Government is making a mockery of post-Ryan Report child protection vows by failing to address serious funding and staffing problems in the foster care services.

Frances Fitzgerald, the children’s minister, will today launch a new advocacy service for children in care amid calls for an overhaul of the guardian ad litem service in the courts.

A staggering 30,000 plus referrals were made to social services last year on foot of concerns about child abuse and child welfare, a HSE report shows.

The country’s most infamous prisoner, Malcolm MacArthur, is a free man after serving 30 years for the violent murder of a nurse in Phoenix Park.

All thoughts are with the Gargan and Dunne families as the moment they had long feared has come to pass.

Children are becoming the hidden victims of the recession, with the number of minors needing help for mental health problems surging 30% in two years.

There has been a 30% increase in the number of children seeking treatment for mental health issues in the last two years, experts said.

It’s 30 years since the “grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented” events that led to the resignation of the attorney general, writes Richard Fitzpatrick

Social workers have warned that what Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald called a “culture of referring on” will increase if mandatory reporting is made law.

The Government’s new national aftercare policy for vulnerable young people leaving state care does not have the resources to be implemented and the Child Care Act is a “hollow guarantee” for this group, child protection experts have warned.

THE sole witness to one of Ireland’s most notorious murders has broken a 30-year silence to reveal his attempts to save the life of nurse Bridie Gargan, who was beaten to death in Dublin’s Phoenix Park by Malcolm MacArthur.

A COMPANY contracted to care for troubled children has put its workforce on protective notice and warned that a HSE-imposed funding cut could force the closure of five of its 12 care units.

IRELAND needs up to 2,000 additional social workers to bring child protection services up to the same standard as in the North, social justice campaigner Fr Peter McVerry has said.

Fulham 4 Crusaders 0 (Fulham win 7-1 on aggregate)

New figures released today show that 151 children and young adults, who were known to social services, or who were previously in care, died over the last 10 years.

Owner Shelley Bowles has been warned off for two years following a British Horseracing Authority disciplinary hearing.

POOR practice within the social care system whereby foster carers were not vetted before children were placed with them is only the tip of the iceberg, it has been warned.

Notorious killer Malcolm MacArthur will be let out of jail for a few hours tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with friends.

VICTIMS of crime baffled by decisions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) are being invited to tell him how he can be more open about the way his office operates.

LAST Sunday, as the media had wall-to-wall coverage of Joe O’Reilly’s conviction for the murder of his wife, the 25th anniversary of one of the most notorious murders in Irish history went unnoticed.

A 30 year-old man who broke into a Bank of Ireland branch in Blanchardstown via a open window and stole more than €40,000 will be sentenced later at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

ILLEGAL backyard burning has become widespread across the south-west since the introduction of pay-by-weight bin charges, a major new report has found.

AN END is in sight to a bitter three-year dispute over wind farm power lines in West Cork.

HUNDREDS of farmers protested yesterday against plans by the ESB to erect an overhead power line on the lands of some of their colleagues.

One of the State’s longest-serving and most notorious prisoners was today expected to make a High Court bid for his release.

One of the state’s longest-serving and most notorious prisoners is expected to make a High Court bid for his release tomorrow.

A HIGH Court challenge by convicted murderer Malcolm MacArthur to his continuing imprisonment will be responded to by the State within three weeks with a file, the High Court was told yesterday.

HIS dramatic arrest sparked the phrase that is forever associated with Charles Haughey.

THE Government’s decision to reject the recommended release of murderer Malcolm MacArthur was criticised yesterday by a human rights group.

TRANSFERRING killer Malcolm MacArthur to an open prison would be illogical unless other elements of the pre-release programme are put in place, according to a prison reform group.

THE Government is to seek legal advise from the Attorney General on whether the Justice Minister can pass the decision on the future of convicted killer Malcolm Macarthur to a Cabinet colleague.