Eight out of 10 families, directly affected by drug addiction favour decriminalisation of drug possession, a survey indicates.

Thousands of refugees escaping the Mediterranean crisis could be “ghettoised” and housed in a single campus location for years unless the Government puts in place practical medium-term measures to cope with the sudden influx in people.

Communities terrorised by drug gangs need more Garda resources as well as “mini” criminal assets bureaus, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Gardaí are aware of an estimated 30 Irish people who have gone to fight in war zones in Syria and Iraq, with the potential that some may pose a terrorist threat.

Sacked Confidential Recipient Oliver Connolly, the Garda Commissioner, the Garda Ombudsman, and former Northern Ireland police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan, are being invited to make submissions to a special Oireachtas committee review on Garda oversight.

The Oireachtas justice committee is to recommend that the purchase of sex be made a criminal offence.

More than 100 children remain on Ireland’s missing persons list, it has been revealed.

GARDAÍ failed to pursue the prime suspects in the sectarian murder of Seamus Ludlow for fear it would set a precedent for RUC inquiries in the Republic.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell may be asked to appear before a powerful Oireachtas committee to explain why he approved paying 10 times the market value for the site of a new 1,000-bed super-prison to replace Mountjoy.

Relatives of the men who died in two loyalist bombings in Dublin in the early 1970s have criticised the Government's response to the attacks.

THE British ambassador to Ireland yesterday refused to say if the British Government would co-operate fully with any future independent public inquiry into the 1974 Dublin/Monaghan bombings which killed 34 people.

THE Government’s approach to human rights protection has been dictated by the fears of anti-abortionists, a leading human rights lawyer said yesterday.