Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald has backed calls for the Government to find €1m to fund implementation of a 2002 national sexual abuse report, saying a “large-scale” review of the scale of the problem is “worthwhile”.

A Central Criminal Court judge has said it will be the DPP's responsibility if a rapist - allowed to remain out on bail - fails to attend court to be sentenced.

A date will be set this month for the sentencing of Dublin football star Diarmuid Connolly over an unprovoked attack in which a man suffered a fractured eye-socket.

Dozens of women demonstrated outside the Dáil over the so-called “rape tape” scandal in which garda officers joked about raping two female protesters.

ABUSE survivors’ groups have hailed the progress made by Catholic dioceses in opening up to allow audits investigate their child protection practices.

Hospital experts will be able to take and retain forensic evidence of rape with the consent of a victim who is not yet ready or willing to report the attack to gardaí.

LEADING support group One in Four has urged people to be on alert for possible depression in sex abuse survivors during the Dublin Diocese report furore, after two suicides were confirmed in the wake of the Ryan Report revelations.

BARNARDOS, the children’s charity, has had to close some of its waiting lists to new referrals until after Christmas because of pressure on services.

A rally to protest against victim blaming is to take place in Cork city centre on Wednesday following a recent case in the Central Criminal Court where a barrister representing a man in a rape trial said that the jury should reflect on the underwear worn by a teenage girl.

The first group of specialist nurses qualified to forensically examine victims of rape graduated today.

Christmas time can trigger a rise in the frequency and severity of abuse against women and children.

Rape crisis groups say a change of attitude is needed in the courts and among the public towards victims of sexual violence and their treatment in trials.

As a nine-year-old child, Anne Kelly would lie in bed at night terrified that a baby was about to burst through her belly button.

RECORDED crime figures have fallen in all categories for the first time since quarterly figures were produced by the CSO in 2006.

A HELPLINE for abuse victims has fielded a month’s worth of calls in seven hours following the publication of the damning report into institutional child abuse.

The number of rape prosecutions in Irish courts halved in the past six years, despite evidence that rape is on the increase. We are clearly losing that battle.

SUPPORT agencies struggling to cope with increasing numbers of victims of sexual abuse have appealed to Justice Minister Dermot Ahern to delay the publication of the Dublin Archdiocese report into child sex abuse.

YOUNG people are still not protected from sexual exploitation, the country’s leading rape crisis agency said yesterday.