More than €20,000 was spent on carpet for the office of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA).

Supreme Court colleagues of the late Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman have described him as a man of energy, oratory, and with flashes of wit. Here, they pay tribute.

Many tributes have been paid to Supreme Court Judge Adrian Hardiman who died suddenly yesterday.

A founding member of the PDs, a taoiseach-questioning inquisitor at tribunals, and never afraid to go against the grain, the legal profession has suffered a huge loss, writes Caroline O’Doherty

Supreme Court judge Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman has passed away.

Religious order reported to the State that 353 babies died in Bessborough, but its own register showed 80 fewer deaths. A report found a system of ‘human trafficking’ in which ‘women and babies were considered little more than a commodity for trade’. Conall Ó Fatharta reports

Church of Ireland Bishop Paul Colton was so moved by the experience of a survivor of the Westbank orphanage that he has called for all Protestant homes to be included in the Mother and Baby Home investigation.

The retired bishop of Kerry was punched in the face on a train by a man believed to have been angered by the diocese’s response to child sexual abuse.

The welcome announcement of the terms of reference for the long-awaited Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes inevitably provokes a sense of foreboding but one tempered by a considerable degree of relief.

A murder suspect seeking bail while he fights his extradition to Northern Ireland has compared his continued detention in an Irish prison to internment.

The burial site at the Tuam Mother and Baby Home in Co Galway may have been much bigger than previously thought.

Patient Focus, which provides support to up to 200 women who underwent symphysiotomies, has welcomed assurances from Health Minister Leo Varadkar that the Government will start paying redress by the end of the year.

Infant mortality rates, burial practices and the issue of forced labour in institutions need to be included in the forthcoming mother-and-baby home inquiry, the Government has been told.

Welcome to your Thursday morning briefing. Let us ensure you’re up to speed on what’s happening and are prepared for the day ahead.

The overwhelming reaction to the Department of Justice’s intergovernmental report on mother-and-baby homes was that it was too limited and would undermine the thoroughness of any subsequent inquiry.

The Government has been advised that at least nine institutions should be included in the mother-and-baby home investigation and that death rates there were "undesirably high".

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’.

Hopefully, a light will be shone into a dark chapter of Ireland’s past following Judge Yvonne Murphy’s appointment to chair the Commission of Investigation into Church-run mother-and-baby homes.

A Government report has found evidence that the remains of almost 500 'unclaimed' infants were used for medical examination.

Last week the Government announced the establishment of an ex-gratia redress scheme for women who underwent symphysiotomy.

Symphysiotomy survivors have demanded the resignation of Health Minister James Reilly after the Government refused to apologise over their suffering and insisted victims give up legal challenges in order to receive redress from a €34m fund.

An inquiry into the taping of phone calls at garda stations could hold its hearings behind closed doors, after the Government refused to dictate whether it should be privately or publicly conducted.

Women whose pelvises were sawed in half to facilitate childbirth are to bring their fight for justice to the UN as they accuse the Government of refusing to admit they were wronged.

There's a couple of surprises in the queue for soup outside the Cork Simon Community day centre.

Women who underwent symphysiotomies are to keep up their fight for compensation in the courts after dismissing as “shameful” Government attempt to offer a no-fault redress scheme.

The Government has appointed a judge to assess the possibility of an ex gratia compensation scheme for the estimated 300 women who were affected by the barbaric symphysiotomy procedure carried in a number of Irish hospitals from the 1920s to the 1980s.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has said children who were abused by priests must be remembered during any criticisms of the Murphy report.

A serial conman who once telephoned RTÉ’s Liveline to talk about his crimes has lost an appeal against a four-year jail term for theft and other offences.

A serial conman who once telephoned the RTE 'Liveline' show to talk about his crimes has failed in an appeal against his four-year sentence for theft and other offences.

A High Court judge has ruled this evening that the Murphy report into child abuse in the Dublin Catholic archdiocese can be published in full.

Anne Doyle, 61, is thriving on all fronts since she retired as news reader from RTÉ at the end of 2011. Between volunteering as an ambassador for her native county, Wexford, writing short stories and travelling — last stop Jamaica — life has been “surprisingly easy”. She had a flu six months ago. “It was very sapping, and when I recovered I found I was a bit aimless and felt I had to get some structure on my day. But it must have been the flu, because it passed,” says Anne, whose long-term partner is former restaurant owner, Dan McGrattan.

A convicted Waterford child abuser has been released on bail pending an appeal against his four-year sentence.

The letter landed through the front door last Friday — and it wasn’t good news.

This week's pick of what's on the box.

Cloyne diocese is to publish a newsletter dedicated to safeguarding children.

Letters are to be sent to abuse victims in the Diocese of Cloyne in the coming weeks asking if they would like to participate in a secret church trial that will hear evidence against a North Cork priest accused of 11 counts of abuse.

Victims of Father Ronat, the Cloyne priest who is to go before a canonical tribunal that can recommend he be defrocked, have reminded him they have letters of apology from the diocese for the abuse they suffered.

The nephew of Marlo Hyland has been jailed after he was caught test firing handguns in his back garden.

The Government today faced calls for an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse involving the former Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid.

The High Court has continued a ban on the publication of a chapter of the Dublin Catholic Archdiocese abuse report.

A DUBLIN man has been jailed for 10 years after he pleaded guilty to firearms and drug offences.

A Dublin man has been jailed for 10 years after he pleaded guilty to firearms and drug offences.

A FORMER garda faces up to 10 years in prison for stealing thousands of euro from his colleagues and an 82-year-old woman.