A Cork North Central general election candidate claims just half of a batch of 20 new community gardaí positions promised last year have been filled.

In his first public comments since being appointed, Bob Collins said the authority will be “unrelenting and undeviating” in using its statutory powers to advise the minister of justice of any such danger.

The Policing Authority has raised concerns about the implementation of a long-awaited system for assessing work performances within An Garda Síochána.

The children's ombudsman has described as “absolutely despicable” the length of time it took to set up the country's first multi-agency centre for sexually abused children.

The process of amalgamating garda regions has already begun as gardaí usher in the biggest restructuring of the force in the history of the State.

The nine Garda divisions that have lost their divisional headquarters have been revealed following an announcement by Garda HQ.

The 'Onehouse' in Galway brings together all the necessary medical, therapeutic and policing services for children in one location.

The head of the Garda Inspectorate said people in communities will be the “ultimate winners” from the new Garda policing revamp with more gardaí in communities, quicker response times, and better investigations of crime.

Garda chiefs have laid bare to the Department of Justice the consequences of not providing special budgets for high-level visits to Ireland.

A busy town has been without a Garda patrol car for more than six months.

On Monday, a new policing plan for the future went into effect. We will now have fewer, larger Garda divisions. Six overarching regions will become four. Twenty-fourdivisions will become 19. That’s the architecture.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has summoned local commanders to a meeting in the Garda College, Templemore, next Monday on his new policing plan.

The State’s expert Garda reform agency says the restructuring announced by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is a “significant step” towards better policing.

Drew Harris landed the commissioner's job on the basis that he would reform the organisation.

The gardaí announced restructuring plans today which detail improvements to its structures, processes, services and governance.

The president of the Garda Superintendents Association (GSA) Noel Cunningham said he awaits the full details of the proposed reforms, to see “the mechanics of how it will work.”

State makes just €3.3m from sale of stations following recession

Most local garda divisions are set to double in size in a massive shakeup of the Garda organisation, under proposals seen by the Irish Examiner.

The most important gardaí are those who “work on the ground”, but they are “not valued”, a longtime community activist has said.

Policing is a role that involves a lot more than police forces.

Garda bosses say up to 90% of recommendations to improve public order policing will be implemented by the end of the year, with the rest following early in 2020.

Gardaí have yet to make changes to the way they police public order incidents despite the failings highlighted by the Jobstown water protests and North Frederick Street eviction incidents.

Poor web speed, staff shortages and backlog hinder garda inquiries

Wrong language, weak sentences, poor resources: victims and those who support them are frustrated with the criminal justice system’s response to child sexual abuse material. Caroline O’Doherty reports

The Garda Commissioner has told middle-ranking gardaí that allegations engulfing their staff association is impacting on the entire organisation.

A third of middle-ranking gardaí say they don't know anything about the landmark blueprint to reform the policing service.

Almost 100 OPW properties are lying vacant but only nine have been deemed suitable for social housing.

Almost 3,500 juveniles got away with nearly 7,900 crimes over an eight-year period, an internal Garda report has found.

The depleted Garda Traffic Corps has managed to hang on to only around 80 of the 150 extra personnel it was assigned in 2018, the Irish Examiner understands.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said there are considerable obstacles to be overcome to implement key parts of the Government’s four-year policing reform plan.

One thing is for sure, Drew Harris will have a bit of light reading over Christmas. There won’t be much festive cheer in any of it either, writes Cormac O'Keeffe.

Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI) has said that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, appeared to be “in the dark” regarding its own use of joint garda-social worker interview teams in child sexual violence cases.

Two members of the Policing Commission have publicly voiced their opposition to a key recommendation for an internal Garda body to take over many external oversight powers.

The Future of Policing in Ireland report has thrown up a range of ‘issues’ that could see proposals get stuck or even sink in the resultant quagmire, says Cormac O’Keeffe.

Drew Harris is quietly spoken. That much has been made clear by people close to him, writes Cormac O'Keeffe

Issues raised over lack of forensic examination units nationwide

The “splintered” governance of An Garda Síochána means the “buck stops nowhere”, an expert report on the Department of Justice has said.

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

Less than half of all gardaí on duty were engaged in patrolling and high-visibility policing last year, an internal garda audit has found.

The head of the Garda Inspectorate has said it needs to have the power to conduct unannounced spot checks on Garda stations and “not to have to make an appointment to visit”.

The heads of two policing oversight bodies have signalled that selection and promotion processes in the gardaí need to be overhauled in order to combat perceptions of favouritism and unfairness.

The Government has agreed to create a new offence for the non-consensual distribution of intimate images including what is known as “revenge pornography”.

Sometimes, a study or report is important, not in what’s being said, but for who’s saying it, writes Michael Clifford

Up to a hundred more searches are expected to be conducted this year in relation to a major investigation into child abuse imagery, garda bosses have said.