An audit by the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog has found worrying disparities between dioceses in the way they deal with allegations of sexual abuse. The audit by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church includes a series of reports on dioceses across the island.

A priest facing several sex abuse allegations asked to be dismissed and went on to work in a job which gave him access to children, the church watchdog has found.

The Christian Brothers have said that "they deeply regret" the hurt caused by their response to abuse allegations which resulted in only 12 brothers being convicted of crimes in the past 38 years.

The Health Minister has denied politicians were bullied into voting for the new contentious abortion legislation.

DESIGNED as territories of spiritual and temporal control, Ireland’s diocesan structures date from the Synod of Kells in 1152. The bishop was a spiritual ‘capo’ and a lord who ruled.

A senior Catholic cleric in the North has temporarily stood aside, it emerged today.

THE country’s largest nursing union has said it is not ruling out industrial action over the closure of 25 beds at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, which has now gone ahead.

FOLLOWING a meeting of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) and SIPTU member nurses at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital yesterday, the unions have sought a meeting with HSE management tomorrow to discuss the decision to close 25 beds at the hospital.

IN an article entitled “Nurses’ concern over proposed hospital cuts” in yesterday’s newspaper (August 11), reference was made to Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation industrial organiser Noel Traynor.

THE Health Service Executive has rejected pleas from unions not to impose cost-containment measures aimed at meeting a €16 million overspend at the mid-west’s largest hospital.

ALMOST 20,000 people are being forced to wait for outpatient appointments at one of the country’s largest hospitals — with nearly one in four on lists for more than a year.

Nurses at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin are to mount industrial action due to overcrowding.

A SENIOR Catholic Church leader yesterday publicly backed a campaign for an inquiry into the British Army killings of 11 people in west Belfast almost 40 years ago.

Government and society must have the guts to confront past wrongs in the North if the region is to look to a better future, a senior Catholic Church leader said today.

The Catholic Church today backed calls for an independent inquiry into the British Army killings of 11 people in west Belfast almost 40 years ago.

THE BISHOP of Down and Connor Dr Noel Treanor has said the Church, Government and other institutions of the state “must encourage and foster courageous leadership” if we are to rebuild people’s trust in society.

EMBATTLED Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan has pleaded for patience as the Church deals with the impact of the Murphy report.

The Pope today hailed the peace-building work of Ireland’s former Roman Catholic Primate, Cardinal Cahal Daly, as his body lay in state in Belfast.

The former head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Cahal Daly, will lie in state tomorrow in the cathedral closely linked to his ministry.

A Catholic bishop criticised for not investigating an allegation of child sex abuse today said that in response to calls for his resignation he would be guided by the priests and people of his diocese.

GARDAÍ and clergy who helped protect paedophile priests in the diocese of Dublin are to be targeted in a top-level criminal investigation.

A Roman Catholic priest in the North was asked to leave his post over child abuse claims dating back to the mid-1970’s, it was announced today.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen said it is “crystal clear” that the issue of abortion does not arise in the Lisbon Treaty, as No campaigners vowed to make it a central issue between now and the October 2 vote.

CATHOLIC bishops have told their flock they are free to vote Yes to Lisbon without reserve and in good conscience.

NURSES at Sligo General Hospital have put off this week’s planned strike in a row over staffing levels.

THE Church showed the first signs of bowing to public pressure when senior figures said the religious orders should pay more to compensate abuse victims.

DETAILS revealed today about the secretive 2002 deal agreed by the then Minister for Education and Science Dr Michael Woods with Catholic religious orders implicated in child abuse suggest that it is even more inequitable than was first imagined.

A senior aide to Ireland’s top Catholic churchman today insisted that religious orders must pay more compensation to the victims of abuse in their institutions.

NURSES at Sligo General Hospital held a day-long strike yesterday over job cutbacks and the non-renewal of temporary contracts for 19 nurses.

Nurses will today stage an all-out strike at Sligo General Hospital as a dispute over staffing levels escalates.

IRELAND’S second largest Catholic diocese got a new bishop yesterday when Monsignor Noel Treanor was ordained as Bishop of Down and Connor at a special ceremony in St Peter’s Cathedral in Belfast.

Ireland's second largest Catholic Diocese will get a new bishop today.

A VATICAN diplomat who has served in some of the most violent situations in the world is the Holy See’s new representative in Ireland.

NURSES have won the right to take two paid half-days to attend the Mary From Dungloe and Rory Gallagher festivals after taking their case to the Labour Court.

RECORD overcrowding at Letterkenny General Hospital created a “New Year nightmare” for patients and staff, it was claimed yesterday.

Nurses vowed to step up their campaign against overcrowding on hospital A&E wards today to demand immediate Government action to solve the problem.

THE majority of Dublin hospitals, heavily fined for failing to perform within budget, declined to comment yesterday on the penalties.

ETHICAL guidelines that will permit the use of five-day-old foetuses for scientific research were agreed by the European Commission yesterday.

Student nurses are to protest outside the North Western Health Board tomorrow afternoon.

Student nurses in Sligo have balloted overwhelmingly in favour of protest action following a rejection of their claims for a paid meal allowance.

BOTH sides in the doctors’ dispute said they were confident they could resolve an impasse over rostering, ending any further threat of strike action.