Pope Francis' schedule includes a visit to the President at Áras an Uachtaráin, the Capuchin Day Centre, and the Pro-Cathedral on the August 25

Brother Kevin Crowley of Dublin’s Capuchin Day Centre summed up the plight of some children this Christmas by recalling the words of one boy last year: “Brother Kevin, will Santy know where I am this year? Will he be able to find out where I am staying?”

An urgent call for O negative blood donors has been made by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service after supplies dwindled to just four days because of the loss of a full day’s collection due to Storm Ophelia.

Aaron Monaghan, from Cavan, is currently playing Estragon in Waiting for Godot for Druid until July 23 in the Mick Lally Theatre, Galway, before embarking on an ‘Unusual Rural Tour’.  Druid.ie.

A senior company executive shouldered a cyclist to the ground and began strangling and beating him for riding his bike on a Dublin city-centre footpath, a court has heard.

Outgoing Labour leader Joan Burton has criticised the new Government for shying away from safeguarding workers’ rights.

The recession is not ending — it is getting worse, according to one of the biggest providers of hot meals for homeless people in Dublin.

An Italian businessman has been spared jail for making a joke about the ebola virus to his daughter on an Aer Lingus flight.

Football pundit John Giles and Brother Kevin Crowley of the Capuchin Day Centre are set to receive the Freedom of the City of Dublin.

The Taoiseach was talking over the weekend about the Government keeping its "compass point fixed on 2016", and then letting the people give their verdict at the polls.

Having journeyed with people who are homeless or in need since 1969, I am appalled that despite being alerted to the increase in numbers of people accessing services such as the Capuchin Day Centre, the current housing crisis has been allowed to develop and that it took until two days before an election before it reached the agenda of the Oireachtas.

The country’s second most senior Catholic cleric says the “smugness” laid bare in the Anglo tapes jars with the desperate conditions many victims of the economic collapse now suffer.

RTÉ political correspondent David Davin-Power was spared a fine and a speeding conviction yesterday after he donated €150 to charity.

Charities providing food parcels to the poor fear proposed cuts to EU supports will reduce their ability to help the hungry here.

An army of volunteers is reaching out to those in need over the coming days at the country's soup kitchens.

Three insurance companies have been spared criminal convictions for possessing personal information on 15 people which was obtained by a private detective from a leak in the Department of Social Protection.

Three insurance companies have admitted breaking data protection laws by possessing personal information on 15 people which was obtained by a private detective from a leak in the Department of Social Protection.

The recession has swollen the numbers of homeless in our cities. Sue Leonard talks to those who offer help and support throughout the year

THE Catholic Bishops have called into question the Government’s decision to cut the minimum wage when senior executives at semi-state companies are still earning six-figure salaries.

THIS week we saw, depending on how the dice falls for you, how different life in Ireland can be.

Cash-strapped parents are turning to soup kitchens to feed their families, it was revealed today.

The queue at the Capuchin centre is growing weekly. Noel Baker talks to those desperate for food

THERE was a frightening photograph on the front page of the Irish Examiner on Thursday of a seemingly endless line of people queuing for food at 8.30 in the morning at the Capuchin Day Centre in Bow Street, Dublin.

The jury in a Dublin murder trial saw footage of a man entering the murder scene before the crime and then exiting before leaving the area.

A number of witnesses have testified at a murder trial that the accused told them he had beaten the victim hours before he was found unconscious in his home.

A homeless man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court, charged with murdering an elderly man in his Dublin City Centre home.

Two charity workers will today begin an 80-mile trek to highlight the plight of homeless people across Ireland.

An Taoiseach Mr Bertie Ahern TD today officially opened a new €1.4m extension to the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin’s north inner city.