It is a recurring, central theme in the discussion around how we might improve our public life that accountability remains little more than a notional principle, one that sounds good in a civics class — or even during an election campaign — but one we are not ready for just yet. Our indifference to the idea is a glaring weakness, a debilitating get-out-of-jail clause casting an opaque cloud over nearly everything we do.

Police chiefs in the North have apologised to a former officer badly injured in a dissident republican bomb attack.

Police in the North have made their first arrest under the new offence of paying for sex.

The North’s politicians have been called into talks next week to resolve the crisis over IRA activity.

The PSNI will probably have to return £14m to the British Government next month due to uncertainty caused by “huge” cuts, the UK's deputy chief constable said.

The North’s deputy chief constable has rejected claims officers have deliberately delayed the disclosure of top secret material for legacy inquests to protect former colleagues.

Sinn Féin has been accused of failing to support a senior police appointment because of the arrest of Gerry Adams.

The needs of victims must be paramount when devising a way of dealing with Northern Ireland’s troubled past, the region’s new chief constable has said.

A judge has ordered the police to fully explain the purpose of meetings commanders held with ex-officers about inquests into historic Troubles killings.

A Co Down-born police commander has seen off competition from senior officers in London and Dublin to be named the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s new Chief Constable.

The North’s chief constable has said criticism of his force’s arrest of Gerry Adams was unfair and inappropriate.

Northern Ireland’s chief constable has said criticism of his force’s arrest of Gerry Adams was unfair and inappropriate.

Northern Ireland Chief Constable Matt Baggott has said the investigation surrounding the arrest of Gerry Adams will be "effective, objective and methodical".

It is time to redesign the architecture of Garda accountability, writes Mark Kelly

Dealing with the past is costing Northern Ireland’s criminal justice system more than £30 million a year and risks denting public confidence in present-day services, an inspection has revealed.

Extending the powers of a new UK crime fighting agency to Northern Ireland would revive decades-old concerns about police unaccountability and corruption, nationalists claimed.

The Northern Ireland Policing Board is to be briefed on a crunch meeting between the PSNI chief constable and the head of a special unit set up to investigate unsolved Troubles-related murders.

First Minister Peter Robinson tonight accused Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly of reckless behaviour after he was seen clinging to the bonnet of a moving Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Landrover.

Rival politicians have been urged to step back from tit-for-tat rows after a Sinn Fein minister was injured during a contentious parade in Northern Ireland.

Anti-capitalist militants could align themselves with dissident republicans to disrupt this summer’s G8 conference, one of the North’s top police officers warned today.

Two men are being questioned in connection with a car crash, which killed a “bubbly and beautiful” policewoman in her patrol car.

Two men have been arrested in Derry by officers investigating a car crash that killed a police woman.

A viable letter bomb has been posted to a senior police officer in the North, it was confirmed today.

The cost of policing contentious parades in Northern Ireland has soared to £7.4m (€9.2m) this year.

A chief executive whose resignation from the Police Ombudsman‘s office led to serious concerns about its independence has been appointed to head the Policing Board.

Northern police are to open a murder inquiry into the Bloody Sunday killings 40 years ago.

Police are to open a murder inquiry into the Bloody Sunday killings 40 years ago in Derry.

Police in Northern Ireland are facing questions tonight after confirmation they stored human body parts from people who died under suspicious circumstances without alerting families.

Independent inspectors are to examine the work of the North's Historical Enquiries Team (HET) after its work was criticised in an academic report.

More than 300 former police officers in the North have been given specialist roles within the PSNI, the Policing Board heard.

Thirty-one Garda stations are to close, while a further 10 will operate on reduced opening hours, under cost-saving plans announced by Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

Hopes of an end to rioting in Belfast were growing today after a night which was free from trouble.

Bombers who lured police in the North into a booby trap by claiming a woman was being attacked have been branded “the lowest of the low”.

A five-year-old girl was among crowds of spectators gathered just yards from the car bomb which killed Pc Ronan Kerr before it went off, a police photograph revealed today.

Sinn Féin has today attacked plans by the British government to drop a Catholic recruitment drive for the police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), though the decision was welcomed by unionists.

A legal bid to effectively block the use of tasers by police in the North has failed.

Dissident republicans in the North may have secured a cache of military grenades, it was feared today.

Members of the North's Policing Board are set to meet today to discuss the findings of a damning independent report on its performance.

GARDAÍ have said the threat of a terrorist attack by dissident republicans was a reality in the North, but not in Britain.

Riots in north Belfast over July 12 cost police £1.1m (€1.3m) , it was revealed today.

The office and home of Northern Ireland Policing Board chairman Barry Gilligan were searched as part of an police investigation into a Belfast land deal.

President Mary McAleese today launched a blistering attack on dissident republicans as she took the stand at a passing out parade for new police officers in Belfast.

The North's chief constable Matt Baggott may delay scrapping the police full-time reserve because of the escalating threat from dissident republicans, it was revealed today.

More than 20 police officers and their families in the North have been intimidated into leaving their homes by dissident republicans since January, it was revealed today.