Fitzgerald welcomes new project reporting on childcare hearings

A new project has been set up which will see reporting on childcare hearings in the courts for the first time.

The cases will include applications by the HSE for orders to protect children - from supervision orders to foster care orders.

The project will be run by former journalist Doctor Carol Coutler - and her reports will be published online.

The Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald says no one will be named in the reports and their identities will still be protected - and the new project is an important step in removing any secrecy from childcare proceedings.

"It will provide very useful information, the reason why children are in care and the procedures of what precisely happens," she said.

"In the public arena to date, there hasn't been a great amount of information available because obviously these cases are held in private for good reasons.

"Of course, there is a difference between privacy and secrecy."