The Government has spent more than €6m over the past seven years on the witness protection programme, figures show.

Islamic State sees the whole of Europe, including Ireland, as the “home of the Jews and the Crusaders” and one “vast battleground” for its terrorists, a leading expert has warned.

It cost the State more than €27,000 per week last year to provide security to US military aircraft and personnel passing through Shannon airport.

An emergency meeting of the Fianna Fáil members of the Metropolitan District of Limerick City and County Council was held last night to assess the position of the metropolitan mayor of the city following revelations that he is at the centre of an internal Garda probe into the failure of officers to investigate his involvement in a motoring incident.

A crackdown on sham marriages will help cut the number of women trafficked into Ireland for the ceremonies, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has insisted.

Gardaí have been forced to move prisoners to other stations for the last number of weeks because a fault has closed down all the cells in a divisional headquarters.

Garda representatives have reacted strongly to allegations in the Dáil by independent TD Mick Wallace that gardai are not co-operating with a Garda Ombudsman investigation into the leaking of the arrest of independent TD Clare Daly two years ago.

Ian Bailey's High Court action against the Garda authorities and the State resumes today after a three week hiatus.

Serious questions have been raised over the validity of speeding prosecutions brought to court following the use of Go Safe vans after a judge threw out another 17 cases yesterday.

The "atmosphere of frustration and tension" between the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and the senior ranks of the force "heavily influenced" GSOC’s reaction in carrying out a security sweep of its office, an independent report has concluded.

The word of the Garda commissioner was "accepted without question" by Alan Shatter, the former justice minister, when he examined complaints of misconduct against him in January 2012.

For decades, the whistleblower within Irish society has been vital in uncovering misbehaviour in institutions as varied as the Catholic Church, the Oireachtas, the banks and the Garda Siochána.

One of the whistleblowers from the Garda penalty points scandal has welcomed the apology from Justice Minister Alan Shatter this afternoon.

February 9, 2012

The confidential garda recipient was a key institution set up to help address the chronic failures identified by the Morris Tribunal into endemic corruption in the Donegal division.

The minister for justice has asked gardaí to send him an up-to-date report on the murder file of innocent teenager Jeffrey Hannan.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has confirmed that plans to replace the closure of rural Garda stations with “mobile police offices” have been dropped.

Is it possible that Seamus McCarthy, the comptroller and auditor general (C&AG) and the country’s public spending watchdog, is a better cop than the cops?

Tensions between the gardaí and the ombudsman are set to escalate today with fresh allegations by the watchdog of lack of co-operation by the force.

Five panel vans are to be converted into mobile Garda “stations”, each with a desk, public bell, and a private room.

The Garda Representative Association has said says the policing system will fall apart if the Department of Justice goes ahead with plans to cut the Garda payroll provision by €35m this year.

With respect to the recent penalty points scandal, if there was any conscience or decency left anywhere in high office there is a way for the powers that be to save face and right the wrong that has been done to nobodys (ie people who know nobody in high places or aren’t famous).

Budgetary constraints are believed to be preventing DNA testing of bones found off the south-east coast which may have come from some of the fishermen lost when three trawlers sank in 2006 and 2007.

DOESN’T every middle-aged and older generation think that things are worse now than they used to be?

A garda told the High Court how he was devastated when he was blamed for allegedly having information that indicated a risk to the life of Latvian woman Baiba Saulite who was later murdered.

A garda involved in an investigation relating to Latvian woman Baiba Saulite who was murdered by a gunman outside her home, is suing Garda authorities for alleged bullying and harassment.

Two out of five garda stations in the country are not linked to the garda network and do not have email access, it has been claimed.

ÁRAS archives — the stories that made the news in past presidential elections.

PRIVATE sponsorship of Garda vehicles is a likely option as budget cuts have put the skids on the purchase of new patrol cars.

MORE than 2,400 gardaí received over €10,000 each in overtime payments in 2010.

GARDAÍ have responded to allegations of “harassment and brutality” made against them by a senior member of a youth group.

Bank workers’ representatives claimed today that cashiers and branch staff should not be criticised for handing over cash when their friends or loved ones are taken hostage in a ’tiger’ kidnapping.

A PROCESS has commenced to get advice from the Attorney General on whether to appeal the court decision to allow Limerick pubs open on Good Friday for a big rugby game.

CHILDREN’S groups, trade unions and Garda associations have reacted with surprise at news the Health Service Executive is privatising the out-of-hours placement service for children.

THREE cheers for the Munster Council.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has been subjected to considerable criticism in recent times, but it deserves credit for tackling problems relating to the abuse of elderly people.

THE remains of an unidentified woman found dead on a beach 12 years ago are to be exhumed, it emerged last night.

GARDAÍ may get MI5-type powers in the escalating war on organised crime.

DEFENCE Minister Willie O’Dea and Army Chief of Staff Dermot Earley yesterday effectively ruled out using the Army in the fight against gangland crime.

The Garda authorities have agreed to implement a new set of procedures on how they handle sieges.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell today announced a major expansion of the Garda CCTV town centre scheme.

THE garda station in one of Cork’s oldest inner city communities looks set to close.