An advocacy group for families of homicide victims is urging political parties to back laws allowing judges to impose minimum prison terms for murderers.

Joan Deane can empathise with the family and partner of Lyra McKee.

Conor Nolan’s younger brother Sean was stabbed to death on a night out in 2007 and by the time Conor got married, the killer had been free three years.

Fresh calls are being made for mandatory minimum sentencing for homicide offences after the Government took the surprise step of announcing such proposals for repeat sex offenders.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much courage in a room as I did last Saturday. Nobody was there because they wanted to be, and yet they came from all over Ireland to be with each other, writes Fergus Finlay.