The independent child protection expert who helped uncover the Cloyne clerical abuse scandal should be asked to help the Oireachtas uncover the full extent of the Scouting Ireland scandal.

The case against a priest accused of indecently assaulting a student in a school toilet on an unknown date in the mid-1980s has been dismissed after a trial at Cork District Court.

In your Letters to the Editor section (March 14) a Fr. Thomas O’Flynn, in writing about the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, claimed “there are other uninvestigated clerical scandals with adolescents that occurred at other locations around the country.”

The case against a priest accused of indecently assaulting a student in a school toilet on an unknown date in the mid-1980s was put back for more evidence on the complaint to be supplied to the defence.

The former head of the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog fears a “desire” exists within the Church hierarchy to limit “by covert means” the role of the safeguarding board.

A former bishop has been criticised for unsatisfactory responses to child abuse allegations and risky behaviour of priests.

The Association of Catholic Priests has called for changes to be made to the guidelines on standing aside priests accused of abuse from ministry.

There has been some progress but more is needed to ensure the safeguarding of children, writes Maeve Lewis

In summer last year, Senator Mark Daly used parliamentary privilege to name an alleged child abuser. Here, he explains the choices with which he was faced

A long-serving bishop has sparked a storm of controversy over his fitness for the job after revealing he used to think paedophilia was friendship gone too far.

Ian Elliot, the head of the Catholic Church's own watchdog on child protection measures, has detailed the policies now in place to prevent child abuse.

The Bishop of Clonfert has today apologised for moving two priests from one parish to another in the 1990s after they abused children.

It may be a case of sheer, unadulterated “lunar-cy”, but an out of this world find worth as much as €4m could be buried in one of the country’s largest rubbish dumps.

Serious failures in the handling of child sex abuse allegations against a priest in the Diocese of Cloyne are expected to be highlighted in an official report today.

Serious failures in the handling of child sex abuse allegations against a priest in the Diocese of Cloyne are expected to be published tomorrow.

THE Government is to push ahead with laws requiring the mandatory reporting of child sex abuse concerns despite the reservations of children’s charities and abuse survivors.

PRESSURE is mounting for official Government inquiries into the response to child sex abuse in all Catholic dioceses after Church-sponsored audits showed serious failings by numerous bishops.

Archbishop Michael Neary’s predecessors in the Archdiocese of Tuam were defensive, internally focused and lacked awareness of victims’ suffering, a Catholic Church review has found.

Three bishops made significant errors of judgment when allegations of child sexual abuse were made against priests, a Catholic Church watchdog has found.

Six separate reports on child protection measures in Catholic dioceses in Ireland will be published today.

SIX separate reports on child protection measures in Catholic dioceses in Ireland will be published today.

Six separate reports on child protection measures in Catholic dioceses in Ireland will be published tomorrow.

THE Cloyne report into clerical child sex abuse has exposed the “dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and narcissism” at the heart of the Vatican, Enda Kenny has said in a blistering denunciation of the Holy See.

A “CABAL” in the Catholic Church hierarchy has refused to recognise decades-old procedures for reporting abuse cases, undermining transparency and putting children in grave danger of attacks.

Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald has vehemently ruled out exempting the Catholic sacrament of confession from long-awaited rules on mandatory reporting of child abuse.

In 2008, Bishop John Magee and his cohort asserted their commitment to child protection. After the release of the Cloyne report, his words seem insincere, writes Claire O’Sullivan

THE Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog is to meet Archbishop Diarmuid Martin this week over his claims that strong forces within the Church were still trying to hide the truth about paedophile priests.

ALMOST 200 new allegations of child abuse by priests and members of religious orders were reported to the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog in the past year.

The CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church Ian Elliot said today that he believes there has been compliance of standards of child protection within the Church.

THE Catholic Church’sNational Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) has said it has “no evidence” to suggest that child protection guidelines are not being adhered to in all dioceses across the country.

AN audit of child sex abuse allegations in every Catholic diocese in the country is to begin within weeks after the bishops agreed procedures for the inquiry yesterday.

THE author of the damning investigation into clerical abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne has applauded the Catholic Church for having undertaken “a truly remarkable” journey to a place where it could yet become a champion of child protection.

CHILD protection campaigners have said they fear bishops will still retain too much discretion over the information they hold about child sex abuse despite promises of new legislation intended to make it easy for them to open their files.

What the Government promised after Ferns:

THE red flag which initiated a HSE audit into the diocese of Cloyne was a notification to the Department of Health of the failure of that diocese to report an allegation of abuse to the child protection services of the HSE.

THE advisory committee which tried to prevent the publication of a damning report into alleged child sex abuse in the diocese of Cloyne was appointed by, and is answerable to, Bishop of Cloyne John Magee.

Bishop of Cloyne Dr John Magee was travelling to Maynooth today for talks over the handling of child sex abuse allegations.

German Second Division side FC St Pauli are the latest club to offer a trial to Paul Gascoigne.

The NSPCC and the ISPCC have demanded more cross border co-operation to ensure greater safety for children in Ireland.