Katherine Zappone said that she is calling for an extra €150m per year over the next five years to intensify investment in the sector to make it affordable for families and children.

Minister for Children Katherine Zappone has said that the Bon Secours order has an “ethical responsibility” to provide more funding for the exhumation and reburial of the remains of babies at the Tuam Mother and Baby home.

Independent county councillor Mary Linehan-Foley hasproposed that Bessborough, formerly a mother and baby home in Cork, be bought by the Government rather than allow it fall into the hands of private developers.

A public representative who was born in a mother and baby home won unanimous support from her colleagues to call on the government to buy the home rather than see it fall into the hands of private developers.

The horror of being sexually abused as a child by a notorious scout leader has been revealed by three of his victims, who were so traumatised that they struggled with suicidal thoughts and substance abuse into their adult lives.

Until under-investment in childcare is tackled, parents will be “left to pick up the pieces”, Early Childhood Ireland claims.

Nearly half of all childcare workers surveyed in new research say that they are actively looking for another job.

Gardaí say a man fell to the ground after “colliding with a vehicle” near the site of the Connemara Gateway Hotel.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has called on residents of the Connemara town of Oughterard to “step back” and allow for the process of selecting new direct provision centre for asylum seekers to take place.

The Government has refused to give a date for the publication of a report from the long-delayed scoping exercise into the practice of illegal birth registrations.

Via regulation and pricing, government will make informal arrangements in home settings unworkable, and will force babies as young as 24 weeks into creches, says Margaret Hickey

If the State is asking childminders and families using them to come out of essentially a black economy, there must be incentives, writes Juno McEnroe.

Childminders will face prosecution unless they sign up to strict standards of care and undergo garda vetting and home inspections.

Minister for Children, Katherine Zappone, has announced draft plans but also insists that the Government does not want to scare away minders with proposals.

Minister for Children Katherine Zappone announced draft plans this morning but also insisted the government does not want to scare away minders with the proposals.

He was a respected commentator, a man of sharp intellect, an inspirational strategist and a driving force in modern politics.

The Pride flag is set to fly over Leinster House for the first time after TDs, party members and staff today meet as part of a new LGBT+ support group.

The new Bill “pushes to the boundaries” and represents “a major step forward” she told RTE radio’s Morning Ireland.

Former taoiseach Enda Kenny’s mishandling of a conversation with the Minister for Children about the maltreatment of Sergeant Maurice McCabe set in motion a chain of events which led to his downfall, a new book reveals.

More than 20,000 disclosures of domestic violence against women and children were made to Women's Aid last year.

The Tánaiste has said the Government still has concerns about the safety of children at Scouting Ireland.

Here are all the latest headlines this lunchtime...

The incoming Chairperson of Tusla has said the post of chief executive will be advertised on March 8, but warned that the pay on offer and the shorter duration of the contract may prove obstacles to a swift appointment.

Latest: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that he will consider a call from the former President Mary McAleese for an inquiry into the church's handling of child abuse allegations against Fr Malachy Finnegan.

Adoption campaigners have queried why the Mother and Baby Homes Commission has taken three years to issue a public call for information relating to the burials of children who died at the Bessborough home.

A genetics expert said modern forensics could be used to test for DNA at the Tuam mother and baby home site.

The Government jet will not now be scrambled to bring Ibrahim Halawa home, as had previously been suggested.

"It's not about my feelings. It's about my professional reputation...The inference is made that we abused our power, and that is not the case."

The children’s minister has threatened to enforce a fee cap on childcare providers if they abuse the affordable childcare scheme.

Latest: Early Childhood Ireland says it supports its members who are hiking fees this year.

More than 40% of the country’s childcare providers have not signed up to the new affordable childcare scheme meaning tens of thousands of children could miss out on the support.

The HSE has refused to say why concerns about infant deaths and possible trafficking from Bessborough in Cork and the Tuam Mother and Baby Home were not reported to the then health minister.

Latest: Leo Varadkar has warned that there will be "more disappointments than appointments" as he puts together his cabinet.

There have been 230 “gender recognition certificates” granted to people in less than two years — and now the Government is considering the expansion of the scheme to children.

A Government minister is urging the Dáil and Seanad not to block the abortion recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly, saying that providing there is no “legal impediment”, the findings should not be “interfered with”.

The Government is sending a health expert to check on the condition of 21-year-old Irishman Ibrahim Halawa who has been in jail without trial in Egypt for more than three years.

A scheme to relocate flood-hit homeowners may be widened after disagreement at Cabinet over who is eligible to apply for the special fund.

Minister for Children Katherine Zappone has announced €4 million to create more childcare places, upgrade existing childcare buildings and develop natural outdoor play areas at pre-schools.

The CEO of the country’s largest community education organisation, which Minister for Children Katherine Zappone helped found, has warned the crisis at creches in disadvantaged areas is not confined to Cork.

Minister for Children Katherine Zappone says she will know within weeks how a proposed broadening of the Commission of Inquiry into Mother and Baby Homes will look, as she noted: “The dead do not lie.”

The Children’s Minister has given a conflicting account of when the Taoiseach first became aware that Tusla had involvement in Sgt Maurice McCabe’s case.

The crisis facing the Government over its handling of false allegations of child sex abuse against Sgt Maurice McCabe is set to deepen as Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin meets the whistleblower today.

Whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe has said a false allegation of sex abuse circulated by Tusla, the child and family agency, has destroyed his family.

A file containing a false allegation of child sex abuse against whistleblower Maurice McCabe was sent by Tusla, the child and family agency, to gardaí and widely circulated in 2013, however no effort was made to substantiate the claim, writes the Irish Examiner's Michael Clifford.