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

Families who have lost loved ones through homicide are being encouraged to reach out to get the support they need.

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.

There are 120 sex offenders living in communities across the country who are subject to monitoring as part of post- release supervision orders.

The association representing families of homicide victims said it was “very concerned” at the revelation that 89 homicide offences have not been recorded on official crime statistics.

The family of three murder victims is in the process of making a submission for their loved ones’ murderer’s parole hearing.

Families of homicide victims have demanded “accountability” following the publication of the O’Higgins report and, furthermore, heavily criticised the media’s concentration on the political fallout.

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. 

A support group for victims of homicide has called for a victims’ rights ombudsman because they fear new victims’ rights legislation will not be enforced.

Families of homicide victims are calling for mandatory sentences for unlawful possession of knives after an almost 60% jump in knife murders last year.

Families of homicide victims here have renewed calls for minimum prison terms for murder following the 23-year sentence handed down to Alexander Pacteau.

Murderer and predator Graham Dwyer was taken to the basement of Mountjoy Prison yesterday afternoon.

The brother of a young mother, murdered alongside her children, has called for newly announced tougher sentencing and bail laws for burglars to also be applied for more violent crimes.

One in four families of homicide victims feel they were not respected during the trial process.

The brother of a woman who was killed on Christmas Day, along with her two daughters, has called on Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald to impose tougher prison sentences on murderers.

The brother of Sharon Whelan, a young mother brutally murdered along with her children on Christmas morning 2008, will meet Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald next Thursday.

The son of a woman murdered in 2002 wants a range of minimum sentences of 15 to 30 years and whole-life terms for murderers, writes Cormac O’Keeffe.

Prisoners on a life sentence are spending on average 18 years behind bars — longer than ever before, according to official research.

The average prison term served by life-sentenced prisoners increased by more than 22% in the space of two years, according to the Department of Justice.

The family of a 30-year-old Kilkenny woman murdered with her two young children almost five years ago have spoken of the life sentence they will serve as the killer of their loved ones moves closer to potential freedom.

The mother of Rachel O’Reilly has criticised the law for allowing her daughter’s killer repeated chances to challenge his conviction.

The mother of murdered Rachel O’Reilly has spoken of how she struggled with the will to keep on living after her daughter was murdered by her husband.

Families of homicide victims are suffering a “life sentence” of trauma, and a landmark study suggests the balance of rights has to swing back “to the middle”, from perpetrators to victims.

John Whelan believes the man who killed his sister and her two children should serve a “whole-life” sentence instead of being able to seek parole after just seven years.

Coping with the death of a loved one is hard enough in ordinary circumstances, but it is utterly different when they are the victim of murder.

Cases of murder and manslaughter jumped by 33% last year, statistics show.

An advocacy group for the families of victims of homicide is supporting calls by the widow of Gerry McCabe, for tougher sentencing for the murder of a Garda.

A victims’ group has criticised the lack of victim representation on the Parole Board after two candidates it put forward for nomination failed to be appointed by Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

Plans to release 1,200 prisoners over the next three years to tackle chronic overcrowding are putting the financial crisis and criminals before innocent people, a victims’ group has warned.

A victim support group has called for an end to concurrent sentencing for homicide offences.

THE mother of two little girls who died at the hands of their mentally-ill father has expressed her deep gratitude to those who supported her in the year since their tragic deaths.

THERE has been a fall in the amount of money paid out to victims of crime, new data shows.

MEASURES are required to protect witnesses and jurors after official figures revealed that cases of intimidation have more than doubled in the last two years.

THE father of a young woman who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend five years ago was found dead in his home late on Tuesday.

A SUPPORT group for families bereaved by homicide has issued guidelines for relatives giving victim impact statements in court.

IRELAND has the highest homicide rate of young men in western Europe and the second highest rate of knife killings, according to the World Health Organisation.

IRELAND needs to hold a “national debate” on knife crime, a victims’ support group has said.

IF eleven young people had died of drug overdoses in the past seven months, there would be a public outcry.

IRELAND’S bail laws are among the most stringent in the world and do not need to changed, according to an eminent barrister.

CLAIMS by convicted murderers Peter Whelan and Paul Lynch that the mandatory life term for murder breaches their rights under the Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights were unanimously dismissed by the Supreme Court yesterday.

The disclosure that people on bail on suspicion of other offences committed some 30,000 crimes inevitably raises public disquiet, especially when those include prime suspects of 15 different murders. The statistics would seem to suggest that there is something seriously amiss with our system of bail.

FIFTEEN murders have been committed in the past two years where the prime suspect was out on bail, according to newly released crime statistics.

A HOMICIDE support group has criticised the decision not to impose two consecutive life sentences on the man found guilty of the brutal murders of Pawel Kalite and Mariusz Szwajkos.