Families and communities affected by intimidation over drug debts in Drogheda are “gripped by fear” and afraid to speak out, a support group has said.

One of the top figures in the Kinahan cartel in Britain and Ireland has been arrested as part of a major British-Irish police operation.

Young people are regarded as “plentiful and expendable” by gang bosses, who are ruling over communities through fear, a study has found.

Five men have appeared in court charged in connection with an alleged plot to murder Patsy Hutch - the brother of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch.

Gardaí are treating the discovery of a body of a man in a container in Ballymun as a personal tragedy at this time, they announced this evening.

A court has heard the moment a would-be assassin loaded a Beretta handgun and gloated to a co-plotter “we’re laughing with this” before armed Gardaí intercepted their bugged vehicle.

Gardaí suspect the latest gangland murder victim was lured by his own gang associates or someone close to him at the behest of a rival crime boss.

Gardaí believe they have saved lives and inflicted a double blow to Drogheda's feuding gangs after separate hauls of firearms and drugs.

A 25-year-old man charged with possessing a semi-automatic pistol and ammunition after gardai stopped and searched a car travelling in north Dublin has been remanded in custody.

A man, aged 30, has been shot in north Dublin this evening.

The Minister for Justice says people involved in gangland crime are "losers".

Those involved in the latest spate of gang-related shootings must be put behind bars and their “business of death” undermined and destroyed, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has urged.

Anyone who thinks that drug gangs are confined to Dublin and other major cities in Ireland need to think again. It is a nationwide scourge that forms a deadly triangle between Dublin and Drogheda on the east coast and Sligo in the West.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar plans to visit the Dublin communities living in fear after three daytime gangland murders in recent days.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will visit hard-hit Dublin communities where three people have been shot dead in recent days in a bid to show his "revulsion" at the killings.

Gardaí fear that there could be more violence after a third murder in seven days in north Dublin.

Gardaí are investigating two gangland murders, both involving young men, in north Dublin in less than a day.

Children in Dublin 15 have seen men with guns less than 100 yards from their school gate.

People in Drogheda are living in fear that someone will die before the violent feud between rival drug gangs in their town is brought under control.

The Criminal Assets Bureau is endeavouring to identify properties, assets, and bank accounts controlled by the head of the Lithuanian crime gang operating a network of cannabis grow houses across the country.

Gardaí have seized a loaded gun and arrested two men after stopping and searching a car in Dublin today.

Dublin's new Lord Mayor has offered to make the Mansion House available for mediation talks in the city’s ongoing gangland feud.

Gardaí hope to know in the coming days if DNA samples taken from the getaway vehicle used in the fatal Bray gun attack can identify the gunman.

Gardaí hope to know in the coming days if DNA samples taken from the getaway vehicle used in the fatal Bray gun attack can identify the gunman.

Latest: The Irish Athletic Boxing Association says there is no connection between the sport and criminality.

Anthony Connor was out walking his dog just before 7am along a quiet Bray Harbour when a man came out of the boxing club and lay on the ground with bullet holes in his leg.

A Dutch Moroccan man with links to the Kinahan crime gang has been jailed for 18 years in Holland.

Gardaí say close to 50 credible threats to life have been averted in recent months.

A man critically injured in a shooting in Coolock in Dublin on Sunday night, has died.

A man fighting for his life, after being shot in the head, had “many enemies”, according to garda sources.

The Regency Hotel murder trial has been adjourned until next week amidst tributes to one of the lead investigators in the case who died suddenly over the weekend at a Dublin garda station.

Gardaí have issued details of a van they think may have been used in the murder of Jason Molyneux last week.

It is understood covert surveillance will be carried out by specialist Gardaí at a boxing event in Citywest this Saturday.

The sister of one of the victims of the ongoing Hutch / Kinhahan gangland feud has appealed for those involved in the feud to think of the children who are left behind.

Latest: Hundreds of people took part in a candle-lit vigil in Dublin's north inner city this evening for Derek Coakley Hutch.

Approximately 500 gardai viewed a photo of a man dressed as a woman holding a gun outside the Regency Hotel on the day of a fatal shooting there, with two detectives identifying the man as Patrick Hutch, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

Latest: Gardaí say the arrests of four men for conspiracy to murder in Dublin is one of the most significant operations ever undertaken in the State.

The children of a well known criminal who was shot dead in his home have told how a man holding a gun entered the kitchen wearing a balaclava before shooting their father dead, writes Louise Roseingrave.

A man is due in court in the morning in connection with the seizure of a handgun and ammunition in West Dublin.

Gardai have renewed their appeal for information after a father of three was shot dead in a local feud in Dublin last night.

The Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan, has commended An Garda Síochána for the arrest of two men on Monday night who were travelling through Dublin with a loaded gun.

Two men have been arrested and a loaded firearm has been seized by Gardai in Dublin.

Three teenagers have been hospitalised with “minor injuries” sustained in a shooting incident in Ballymun.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has recommended extending legislation to allow non-jury courts to be used for trials relating to organised crime, despite the fact that it has not been used once since it was introduced eight years ago.

The son of a man shot dead in his garden saw the gunman shooting on CCTV an inquest has heard.

The murder of a loyalist in a busy supermarket car park as his three-year-old son looked on was a barbaric and reckless act, a senior detective has said.

Dozens of men have been arrested and weapons confiscated in Rio de Janeiro as Brazilian military police launched a major anti-crime operation on Tuesday.

Prison authorities will consider the need for a high-security unit for gang bosses after Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald opened up the possibility of such a move.

The Prison Officers’ Association claims it has been denied a face-to-face meeting with Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan in relation to serious concerns it has regarding the investigation of assaults by inmates on prison officers.