Three out of five homeless children are under the age of eight.

Focus Ireland says one thousand children under the age of eight will spend Christmas in emergency accommodation.

A total of 1,500 children were in emergency accommodation last month - a 98% increase on last year's figures.

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The Junior Minister at the Office of Public Works Simon Harris will visit a number of towns that have been badly hit by flooding today.

He will visit Ballinasloe and Crossmolina, and meet with local business people and residents whose homes and properties were destroyed.

€5 million in emergency funding has been set aside to help those worst affected - but many homeowners and business people say it is not enough.

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Sinn Féin's Deputy Leader says Thomas "Slab" Murphy is a good republican.

Mary Lou McDonald has been under pressure to comment on the high profile former IRA chief, who was found guilty of tax evasion last week.

Sinn Féin has been criticised for showing support to Murphy - leader Gerry Adams has claimed that his trial at the non-jury Special Criminal Court was unfair.

And the North's Deputy First Minister, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness praised Murphy's role in the peace process.

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A new plan to tackle hospital overcrowding proposes zero tolerance for patients waiting more than nine hours for a bed.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has welcomed the revised policy to deal with Emergency Department overcrowding.

The revised procedures are to be implemented across all HSE hospitals.

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Over a million children have been forced out of education because of violence by Boko Haram.

A UN report by children's agency UNICEF has found that more than 2,000 schools in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger remain closed due to conflict.

It has warned that forcing children out of schools leaves them vulnerable to abuse, abduction and recruitment by armed groups.