Abuse, alcohol and neglect were common threads in the family lives of 112 dead children who had been monitored by the health services.
The report into the deaths of children said in a large number of cases the problems they ultimately fell victim to began very early in their short lives.
Background files show a third of children who died of unnatural causes between 2000 and 2010 suffered from physical or sexual abuse.
Almost 36% were the victims of neglect. Thirty had experienced domestic violence, but only half had been taken into care.
Overall, the children who died were more likely to have come from families where there was abuse of alcohol or drugs than they were to have misused the substances themselves.
Seventeen children had alcohol problems and 37 deaths were children from homes where alcohol abuse was an issue.
The report said anybody reading the case histories would be struck by the impact of alcohol on the terrible circumstances that befell these children.
Source: Conor Ryan, Irish Examiner, 21/06/12
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