MORE than 3,500 crimes against children on average are being reported to gardaí every year, an Irish Examiner investigation shows.

MARY NICHOLSON, advocacy manager with the ISPCC, said she was struck by how few crimes resulted in a court case.

THE Government has again been accused of failing children, as figures from the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children show there were almost 450,000 calls to its helpline in the first six months of the year.

Childline received enough calls from troubled young people last year to fill Croke Park 10 times over, it was revealed today.

IRELAND is being viewed internationally as a country which does not respect or protect children because of the “rare and short” prison sentences handed down to the creators and viewers of child pornography.

THE inadequacy of sentences handed down by the courts in child pornography cases is a cause for alarm given the nature of this most heinous of crimes.

A new early warning Amber Alert system for tracking missing or kidnapped children today got the go-ahead.

A CONCERNED resident has jumped to the defence of the midlands village at the centre of the Roscommon incest case in light of hard-hitting suggestions by the trial judge that locals stood by as the neglect and abuse took place.

BARNARDOS has hit out at plans by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to shelve proposals for an extended out-of-hours social care service because of government funding cuts.

FEARS were raised last night that children are being exploited here after gardaí were told they may have to take a Romanian girl into emergency care.

A SENIOR civil servant has conceded controversial new immigration legislation is flawed because of a rush to bring it before the Oireachtas.

CHILD rights campaigners have called for a 24-hour social work service as a matter of urgency on the third anniversary of the deaths of Sharon Grace and her two children in Wexford.

SOME reports of child abuse are taking up to a year to be investigated, social workers warned yesterday.

THE number of children begging in Dublin rose 30% in a year, bucking the trend for the previous three years, according to a report.

PARENTS of children who have suffered sexual abuse have been urged not to let negative revelations about the legal system put them off reporting crimes.

A CHILDREN’S charity yesterday expressed concern about the number of parents being prosecuted for allowing their children to beg.