Children's Minister Katherine Zappone says that past abuse in Scouting Ireland has ruined, and continues to ruin lives.

Scouting Ireland bosses have been slammed over their recent Oireachtas appearance.

Tusla is seeking an urgent meeting with Scouting Ireland amid growing concerns for the safety and protection of children.

Scouting Ireland and Tusla are to be called before an Oireachtas committee to answer questions over serious child protection concerns in the organisation.

The latest revelations by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, that it still has “serious concerns” over the ability of Scouting Ireland to keep children safe, are shocking and disturbing and will be a great worry to parents and guardians of young people who take part in scouting.

“If I had a child involved in scouts this weekend I don’t think I would be comfortable allowing that child to go off on an overnight camping trip.”

The support offered by Scouting Ireland to people alleging they were abused, sexually and physically, within scouting is not enough, a leading abuse survivors charity has claimed.

“Be prepared” is the scouting motto, but it is unlikely that Scouting Ireland was ready to deal with the fact that a full review of the organisation has found evidence of 71 alleged abusers and 108 victims between the 1960s and 1980s.

All funding for Scouting Ireland has been suspended until the current Board of Directors is disbanded.

Scouting Ireland has been criticised for its handling of a rape claim against one of its volunteers, with the chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs saying it had questions to answer.

An independent commission of investigation must be set up into deaths at religious-run mother-and-baby homes, should examine claims of illegal adoptions at the facilities, and needs to be completely independent of Church and State.

Many priests who admit to or who are found guilty of child sex abuse also have addictions, feel isolated or unfulfilled, while others are narcissistic or worryingly needy, according to the Church’s child protection watchdog.

I am writing in reply to Andrew Fagan (March 18), one of the 69 salaried lay officials of the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, who seeks to reprimand and silence me for writing about the departure of Ian Elliott from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC).

I write in connection with Mr Ian Elliott’s sad experience as the chief executive for six years with the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, as recently reported in several newspapers.

Christine Buckley, who died yesterday, was a lifelong campaigner for survivors of institutional abuse.

The watchdog charged with safeguarding children in the Catholic Church received 242 new allegations last year, including one of alleged abuse.

Ian Elliott, the Catholic church’s own watchdog on child protection measures in Ireland, has detailed the policies now in place to prevent child abuse in several dioceses.

A retired Catholic bishop has admitted mistakes after a watchdog found opportunities to stop dangerous paedophile priests were consistently missed.

The Church’s child protection watchdog has warned the Government to urgently update data protection laws so gardaí can fully inform bishops and child protection workers in the Church about abuse allegations made directly to the Garda Síochána.

A long-serving bishop has sparked a storm of controversy over his fitness for the job after revealing he once thought paedophilia was “friendship gone too far”.

On the first day of his audit of rhe Sacred Heart Missionaries, the head of the Church’s child protection watchdog yelled ‘stop’.

Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the seven child protection reports were “horrific” and “shocking”, with child protection being ignored in some instances up until last year.

Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay has described as "a childish excuse" comments from Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby that he previously regarded paedophilia as a "friendship that crossed a boundary line".

Major champions Darren Clarke, Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy were fine-tuning their British Open preparations yesterday and so missed out on a special day at Mullingar Golf Club.

Proposed legislation on mandatory reporting of child sex abuse will “materially weaken” child safety policies in the Catholic Church, the institution’s clerical abuse watchdog has warned.

A total of 237 new abuse allegations were reported to the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) in the year to the end of March.

Cloyne Diocesan Safeguarding Children Committee (CDSCC) rejects the assertion in the Irish Examiner (Mar 28) that our recently launched Safeguarding Children Newsletter “is an attempt by the diocese to improve its damaged reputation…”

Refusing to acknowledge the progress made by Church in hnadling abuse claims does a disservice to its watchdog, writes, Micheal Kelly

THE Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Philip Boyce, has described as “extraordinary” the fact that no evidence was found of complaints against notorious paedophile priest Eugene Green.

Eight Catholic priests were convicted of child sexual abuse in six dioceses over a 35-year period, it emerged today.

A REPORT into sex abuse in Co Donegal will not now be published until late November at the earliest.

A REPORT into sex abuse in the Diocese of Raphoe has been delayed after the man tasked with carrying out the investigation asked for more information from Church authorities.

A CHARRED crucifix has become the symbol for a group of priests who decided to hold a 24-hour fast as a mark of their hurt and sorrow at the Church’s child abuse scandals.

THE CHURCH’S National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) has begun two investigations into the handling of child protection complaints by the Sacred Heart Missionaries.

SENIOR members of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart intend to interview former pupils and teachers at a Co Cork boarding school as part of its efforts to tackle ongoing allegations of sexual abuse by a former principal.

ABRAHAM Lincoln was plagued with bad generals.

CLEAR differences exist between the Office of the Minister for Children and the HSE over the powers of the health authorities to investigate allegations of child abuse outside the family, according to the commission.

WHILE there was no allegation of child sexual abuse made against Fr Naal, or evidence to support such an allegation, the commission said the failure to carry out a proper inquiry was wrong from a child protection point of view.

A NEW rift is emerging between the Catholic Church and the group monitoring its child protection policies after Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin attacked the independent board for being too “negative”.

THE Catholic Church’s child protection tsar, Ian Elliott, was on the verge of resigning in the past year after a review of child protection standards in the country’s 26 dioceses was halted because the Church refused to co-operate.