THE Government has asked the Attorney General to examine a groundbreaking report by the state’s human rights watchdog which calls for a statutory enquiry into the Magdalene Laundries.

The Government must launch an official inquiry into the treatment of women and girls detained in so-called Magdalene Laundries, it was ruled today.

The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has today called on the Government to hold an immediate statutory inquiry into the treatment of women and children in the Magdalene laundries.

THE Burren is widely regarded as one of Europe’s most outstanding and distinctive landscapes, with a rich plant life and a cultural heritage stretching back 6,000 years.

Museums, galleries, theatres, cathedrals and other venues around the country will host hundreds of free events in the first national Culture Night next month.

TRIBUTES poured in over the weekend to the writer and broadcaster Nuala Ó Faoláin, who died on Saturday morning three months after being diagnosed with cancer.

A new lease of life was today injected in to Irish ballet.

Former Fine Gael TD Maurice Manning was today re-appointed as president of the Human Rights Commission for a second five-year term.

Abortion statistics from an in-depth survey on sexual health are inaccurate due to the way the questions were framed, the Pro-Life Campaign claimed today.

Renowned author Colm Toibin has been appointed as a member of the Arts Council, it was confirmed today.

Former GAA president Sean Kelly and Budget Travel chief Gillian Bowler will be among the members of the new London 2012 Olympics Task Force unveiled by the Government today.

Athletes are to be lured here to train ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games in London as the Government seeks to get a lucrative slice of the greatest showcase on earth, it was revealed today.

AN accreditation system is the best way to help women with a crisis pregnancy avoid rogue counselling services, Tánaiste Mary Harney said yesterday.

The arts will come under the spotlight later today at the opening of a two-day conference in Killarney.

FEAR of social stigma and upsetting family means women continue to hide pregnancy, forfeiting antenatal care to the detriment of their unborn child, new research has found.

AROUND 100,000 women concerned about a crisis pregnancy in the past three years have used a State-funded mobile phone text service to get help, it was revealed yesterday.

The new members of the Arts Council make their opening bows today as they formally take up their posts.

ARTS Minister John O’Donoghue announced the appointment of five new members of the Arts Council yesterday.

A NEW board of the overhauled Abbey Theatre was announced yesterday by Arts Minister John O’Donoghue, in a move aimed at putting expertise in place to better manage the troubled national theatre.

A HIKE in funding for most major arts organisations in Ireland was revealed by the Arts Council yesterday when it announced its revenue funding decisions for 2006.

THE Abbey Theatre has landed the biggest grant of its history with the Arts Council awarding it €25.7 million for the next three years.

The Arts Council is to fund the Abbey Theatre to the tune of more than €25m, it emerged today.

THE Arts Council yesterday published its five-point plan to secure the future of a vibrant creative community in Ireland.

The new Abbey Theatre will be built in Dublin’s docklands as part of a revamp of several of the country’s leading cultural institutions, the Government confirmed today.

The Arts Council welcomed the retention of the artists’ tax exemption scheme tonight but expressed disappointment that it is to be capped at a level of €250,000 in any one tax year.

Hundreds of theatre actors and crews are struggling to stay above the breadline with many working multiple jobs to survive, a shocking report revealed today.

BISHOPS should have no involvement in crisis pregnancy counselling services, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

Maintaining tax breaks for artists is essential to keeping internationally-renowned writers, painters and performers in Ireland as well as encouraging new talent in the country, it was claimed today.

The artists' tax exemption scheme should be fully retained without any changes, the Arts Council is demanding today.

An academic was chosen to appoint the members of the new board of the Abbey Theatre today as part of a radical reform.

A JUDGE has been appointed chairman of the Abbey Theatre as the century-old institution undergoes a major reform.

ISN’T it time it was recognised that the Crisis Pregnancy Agency does what it says on the tin?

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney said yesterday that the morning after pill should be made available to girls as young as 11.

SHAMEFUL echoes of an uncaring Ireland are redolent in the disappointment voiced by Olive Braiden, chairperson of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA), who has revealed that some pharmacists refuse to sell contraceptives or the morning-after-pill because they disapprove of their use.

The board of the Abbey Theatre tonight agreed to stand down as soon as a new company was formed to run the century-old national institution.

Arts Minister John O’Donoghue today said a new corporate governance structure will be put in place at the trouble-struck Abbey Theatre.

THE Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) is meeting Cura management next week to ask how they intend fulfilling their contract with the State body after Catholic bishops told the service to stop issuing abortion clinic contacts.

The Arts Council has confirmed that it will continue to channel Government funds to the country's national theatre.

The Arts Council has confirmed that it will continue to channel Government funds to the Abbey theatre.

CARDINAL INNITZER of Vienna thought he could do a deal with Hitler. He supported the Anschluss, the 1938 unification of Austria and Germany. He even offered a ‘Heil Hitler’ when the Nazis marched into Vienna.

AN ARRANGEMENT between the State and the Catholic Church’s pregnancy advice service on issuing abortion clinic contacts must end, a moral theologian insisted yesterday.

WITH 13 the average age for early school leavers to have sex for the first time, the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) decided to launch a DVD to help parents talk to teens about the issue.

Dan Buckley

WOMEN fear being branded “slags” if they carry condoms and are willing to risk getting pregnant as a result, a survey has revealed.