Legislators need to define what “harmful communication” is before they try and address the problem in laws, a legal expert has said.

The high-profile Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has come under fire from another committee for straying beyond its remit and inquiring into areas in the prison services.

With the weights of issues facing the force, and its reluctance to accept outside influence, the former PSNI officer has a tough job ahead, says Cormac O’Keeffe

Top-ranking gardaí have been asked by an Oireachtas Committee to outline their use of private email accounts to send or receive official garda documentation.

Senior gardaí have admitted they failed civilian analysts who raised problems about the inaccurate recording of crime statistics and were also belittled by management.

The maltreatment of two civilian analysts working in An Garda Síochána by senior uniformed management has been called a “national scandal” after they raised concern over homicide figures.

An Garda Síochána is coming under pressure to publish full details of any contracts with private firms operating mobile speed detection cameras after it emerged that GoSafe, which operates 50 speed detection vehicles, was paid €1.2 million per month to carry out speed checks under the terms of a contract.

The Government is set to finally approve legislation which will radically overhaul the manner in which judges are appointed.

Nóirín O’Sullivan’s remarks on the gardaí are at odds with many other accounts, writes Michael Clifford.

The targeting of communities in the South by those wishing to avoid Northern Ireland’s sex buyer laws (‘Online prostitution soaring here’, Irish Examiner, November 5) shows the urgent need for an all-island approach to tackling the exploitation, violence and organised crime which goes with this trade.

The Oireachtas Justice Committee will highlight the Portuguese drug decriminalisation model in an upcoming report to the Department of Justice.

The Department of Justice is considering a number of options to bring to an end the crisis bedeviling the State’s forensic agency but no “specific arrangements” have yet been made.

The Oireachtas Justice Committee plans to question the chairperson-designate of the new Policing Authority in the coming weeks.

Seventy-eight pairs of women’s shoes and 10 pairs of children’s shoes were placed outside the gates of Leinster House yesterday.

A moment's silence has been held outside the Dáil for the 78 women who have been murdered by current or ex-partners since 1996.

A group representing off licences has slammed the availability of alcohol at self-service tills in Ireland.

‘Turn Off the Red Light’ campaign aims to criminalise the purchase of consensual sex but is flawed in its assumptions, writes Mick Wallace.

Garda whistleblower John Wilson claims the state is still losing millions of euro because summonses are not being served.

The outgoing head of the Department of Justice, Brian Purcell, is being "kept sweet" by retaining his €200,000 a year salary because of his role in events leading up to the resignation of the former Garda commissioner.

Retired High Court judge John Cooke has turned down a request to appear before Oireachtas committees regarding his investigation into the alleged bugging of the Garda Ombudsman.

New laws on family structures, including adoption rights for same-sex couples, are on track to be in place later this year, according to the Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald.

Retired High Court judge John Cooke has been invited to appear before a joint hearing of two Oireachtas committees, either tomorrow or Wednesday week.

I write in support of the recent call by the Immigrant Council of Ireland (Irish Examiner, June 16) for the introduction of sex buyer laws in Ireland. The current legislative framework — Criminal law (Sexual Offences) Act, 1993 — is hopelessly outdated.

Laws that target sex buyers and pimps can curb human trafficking and prostitution, writes Denise Charlton.

An Oireachtas committee may call for a commission of investigation into the "GSOC bugging saga" after it holds further sessions with the ombudsman and possibly with retired judge John Cooke.

Retired judge, John Cooke, is to be called before an Oireachtas committee as part of its continued examination of allegations of bugging at the Garda Síochána Ombudsman commission (GSOC).

Claims by the acting Garda commissioner, Noirín O’Sullivan, that senior Garda management are in contact with Sergeant Maurice McCabe over ongoing harassment have been rejected by sources close to him.

Fianna Fáil has said it is unacceptable for the Department of Justice's top official to refuse to answer questions about the resignation of the former Garda Commissioner.

The Cabinet will be asked to sign-off on an official response to the Guerin Report this morning.

The Garda Ombudsman Commission is seeking new powers of inquiry to strengthen its hand in dealing with the force.

Middle-ranking gardaí have accused the ombudsman of going outside the law by using an independent firm to investigate suspected bugging at its offices.

The State’s human rights watchdog has recommended a tightening of the rules for Garda covert surveillance operations.

An Oireachtas Committee has published a report calling on the Taoiseach to make a statement to the Dáil recognising Traveller ethnicity.

The Transport Minister Leo Varadkar says the Investigation into the Garda phone recordings will work out whether or not members of the force wanted the recordings to be destroyed.

The Transport Minister Leo Varadkar says Alan Shatter "allowed" the penalty points controversy to go on too long.

The Government has announced an independent review into the claims of bugging at the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.

A Garda whistleblower will learn in the coming days whether he will be provided with a transcript of his evidence given in private to the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee on a failure to properly implement the penalty points system.

The Department of Justice in the North has been fined almost £150,000 (€180,568) for a serious breach of the Data Protection Act after confidential documents were found inside a filing cabinet sold in an auction.

Pimps are pocketing millions of euro from trafficking and prostitution while politicians consider changing the law, it was claimed.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland has said that people are being left open to threats, abuse and violence - due to a shortfall in the law.

Survivors of Symphysiotomy are holding a protest outside the Dáil this morning calling on the Government to publish legislation that would allow women who underwent the controversial childbirth procedure to seek redress in the courts.

Dáil moves to look at reform of prostitution laws have been welcomed by the Immigrant Council of Ireland.

The Government has received a clean bill of health from the troika in its eighth review of the economy as part of the bailout programme.

The Personal Insolvency Bill will be back under the spotlight later.

Doctors who forced a brutal medical procedure on pregnant women as recently as the 1990s did it to fight the crime of birth control, it has been claimed.

Doctors who forced a brutal medical procedure on pregnant women as recently as the 1990s did it to fight the crime of birth control, it has been claimed.

We welcome the Oireachtas Justice Committee initiative under Deputy David Stanton to hear from interested parties on legal capacity prior to publication of this important bill.

NORWEGIANS believe penalties for serious crimes in their country should be tightened in the wake of a shooting and bomb attack that killed 77 people in July, an opinion poll showed yesterday.

Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan is calling on Bishop John Magee to answer questions raised by the Cloyne report in front of the Justice Committee.