THERE was a broad welcome for the proposed constitutional amendment enshrining the rights of the child yesterday.

A SUPPORT group for victims of sexual abuse has said it will “very carefully consider” whether to recommend that victims take a case following “highly insensitive” reporting of a high-profile abuse case.

The HSE said it has no immediate plans to establish a full time Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) for victims of sexual assault or rape in the mid west region, despite renewed calls for one to be set up in Limerick to replace a decade old "out of hours" service, writes David Raleigh.

Gardaí are stepping up their efforts to crack down on sex crimes and domestic abuse.

Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan has brushed off remarks by the chair of the Policing Authority that there were concerns over her ability to focus on her job while dealing with the whistleblower tribunal.

Latest: A solicitor says the suspect in an alleged rape case may not have been charged for a number of reasons.

Update 6.46pm: The family of a young student who was tied up and repeatedly raped throughout the night have arrived in Dublin to care for her, it has been reported.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre is to ask the United Nations to press the Irish Government for faster victim protection.

At least one in five women will experience domestic or sexual abuse, according to the National Womens' Council.

7% of Irish people think sex without consent is acceptable, if a person is out walking alone at night.

The lack of dedicated sexual assault treatment units for children is adding “immensely” to the trauma of families trying to deal with child sex abuse, writes Cormac O'Keeffe.

Lenient sentences are putting victims off reporting sex crimes and are sending out the wrong messages, the Rape Crisis Network has warned.

The judiciary do not operate in a vacuum. Any judge whose habitual conduct shocks the public will have a detrimental effect on justice, writes Dan Buckley

A judge who controversially jailed a businessman for six years for a garlic import scam has let a sex attacker walk free from court.

A legal battle centred on sex abuse ended in a victory for the Holy See, writes John Breslin in Chicago

First-time callers to a rape crisis helpline increased by almost 20% last year.

Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the seven child protection reports were “horrific” and “shocking”, with child protection being ignored in some instances up until last year.

Pic 1: Ken Doherty and Lorraine Keane at the Virgin Atlantic International Charity Lunch in aid of the Rape Crisis Centre at the Westin Hotel, Dublin.

A FRIEND of mine once said to me “surely it’s for the makers of pornography to prove it’s harmless than for others to prove how harmful it is”.

Fresh controversy surrounds the case of sex offender Anthony Lyons after it emerged his six-year sentence can only be reactivated if he reoffends within two years of his release, rather than during the full six-year period.