There is no reason for us to believe that the mother-and-baby homes investigation will change anything, even if the State apologises, writes Susan Lohan

As a State, we are either unwilling or unable to face up to our past, and our shameful treatment of women, writes ConallÓ Fátharta

Infant death rates at the Bessborough mother-and-baby home in Cork soared to almost 70% in the early 1940s.

MAYA ANGELOU, the American writer who died recently wrote ‘History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived but if faced with courage need not be lived again’.

A former mother superior at Bessborough Mother and Baby Home has said its adoptions were not forced, that mothers were well-fed, and that its high historic death rates could be explained by lack of access to antibiotics.

Children adopted from a mother-and-baby home run by the Sacred Heart Sisters in Cork have called for an independent public inquiry to find out how many babies died at the centre and where the bodies are buried.

Children adopted from a Sacred Heart Sisters’ mother-and-baby home in Cork have called for an independent public inquiry to find out many babies died at the centre and where on the site they are buried.

Once again, it has taken international press headlines to make the Government address a dirty little secret the State has been aware of decades.

Child death rates in three mother-and-baby homes that were run by religious orders were as high as 50% during the 1940s.

As the Church plans to discuss erecting a memorial to the 800 babies and children in a mass burial site in Co Galway, the Adoption Rights Alliance has called for a public inquiry into all deaths of babies, children, and mothers at mother-and- baby homes around the country.

TWELVE months after they were visited by heartbreak in the national decider, Mayo’s minor footballers established a platform for revenge after claiming the scalp of Down in yesterday’s ESB All-Ireland MFC semi-final in Croke Park.

Down 0-9 Mayo 2-9

Armagh have claimed their first ESB Ulster Minor Football Championship title since 2005 following an exciting 1-08 to 1-05 win over neighbours Down at St Tiernach's Park, Clones this afternoon.

Almost half of Ireland’s financial services companies believe the sector’s watchdog is being too hard on them, it was revealed today.