An Garda Síochána has advised statutory, voluntary and community organisations that work with children and vulnerable people of the need, to be compliant with vetting legislation.

The justice system and reformers must work hand in glove to restore the public’s trust after years of scandals, writes Donncha O’Connell

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 composition of a powerful interview panel tasked with selecting the next garda commissioner is being kept largely under wraps.

The effectiveness of the Policing Authority has been constrained by uncertainty of the respective oversight roles between it and the Minister for Justice, according to the head of the Garda watchdog body.

The Government is due to initiate the process to select a Garda commissioner in December — contrary to calls from the Policing Commission that the process should wait until it reports next September.

Policing commission chairwoman Kathleen O’Toole has ruled herself out of consideration for the garda commissioner job.

The Policing Authority has drawn up a panel of 15 senior officers for promotion to the rank of chief superintendent after the biggest ever independent selection process for An Garda Síochána.

The possibility of a historic split of Ireland’s security and policing systems could be included as part of the Government’s imminent root and branch review of the gardaí.

Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan is fighting for her survival, again, writes Cormac O’Keefe.

Police in the North believe violent dissident republicans are responsible for two shootings within the space of 24 hours in Belfast.

Northern Ireland’s chief constable will retire at the end of June, two months earlier than planned, he has announced.

Four hundred extra police officers from Great Britain are being deployed to Northern Ireland after a night of serious loyalist rioting in Belfast that left more than 30 officers injured and an MP hospitalised.

A new suspect is being questioned by murder squad detectives investigating the death of Monaghan teenager Jason McGovern, it was disclosed today.

Thousands of people marched for peace in Omagh yesterday, one week after the murder of constable Ronan Kerr in the Co Tyrone town.

A massive 500lb bomb has been discovered in Newry packed in a wheelie bin in a van stolen from Co Kildare.

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.

Community leaders appealed today for a swift investigation into how a teenager apparently fleeing police drowned in a river in Northern Ireland.

A police shoot-to-kill policy against dissident republican terrorists would be accepted by the community in the North, Policing Board member Ian Paisley Jnr claimed today.

Talks between Sinn Féin and the Police Service of Northern Ireland focussed on trying to build a better understanding of each other, Chief Constable Hugh Orde said today.

Sufferers from the Northern Ireland conflict should receive pension-style payouts, a former victims’ commissioner said today.

PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde is set to face questions about the recent Omagh bomb trial when he appears before the Policing Board today.

Sinn Féin is refusing to endorse a human rights report due to be published by the North's Policing Board today.

Foreign Affairs Minster Dermot Ahern tonight paid tribute to one of the country’s leading aid workers who died in Sri Lanka.

Up to 60 people have been shortlisted for independent positions on the North’s reformed Policing Board, it emerged today.

It is only a matter of time before Sinn Féin joins other Northern parties in signing up to policing reforms, a senior United States government official claimed today.

Sinn Féin wants to get involved on Northern Ireland’s Policing Board but it is a question of when, a senior United States Congressman claimed today.

The Northern Ireland Policing Board tonight expressed fears that Peter Hain is involved in behind the scenes talks which could lead a two tier system of policing.

Policing Board vice chairman Denis Bradley could have been killed by a thug who bludgeoned him with a baseball bat, police claimed tonight.

Northern Ireland needs to guard against becoming a gangster state, Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey warned tonight.

Vice-chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board Denis Bradley has said he was looking for a positive response from the Unionist community to today's statement by the IRA to dump arms and cease activities.

Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde will be asked later today whether a failure of intelligence led to the £26.5m (€38.1m) Northern Bank heist.

Police reform in Northern Ireland still has some distance to travel before Sinn Féin can sign up to new policing structures, Gerry Adams warned the British government today.

Northern Ireland’s police chief was under pressure today to confirm members of the Provisional IRA were behind the abduction and serious injury of a man in Belfast.

THE deputy chairman of Northern Ireland’s Policing Board stood defiant yesterday after a petrol bomb attack on his home.

A petrol bomb attack on the home of the deputy chairman of Northern Ireland’s policing board has been condemned by Sinn Féin.

Rival nationalist parties in Northern Ireland are due to focus on the issue of law and order today, with seven days left until the Stormont Assembly election.

The IRA has threatened all Catholic members of a new community policing body in Northern Ireland, it was claimed tonight.

Plans to carry out a major review of the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman’s office have been put on hold, it was revealed today.

A senior figure on Northern Ireland’s Policing Board today pleaded with Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and other politicians to stop playing politics with law and order issues.

POLICE chiefs in the North are trying to free up office-bound officers to fight rising crime after a report revealed the number of bombings and shootings have soared.

Sinn Fein cannot sustain its criticism of rival nationalists for endorsing Northern Ireland’s police if it is prepared to do the same on the back of commitments made by British Prime Minister Tony Blair last year, it was claimed today.

Angry Short Strand residents dumped the remnants of fire works, bolts, golf balls, pipe bombs and other missiles at the Policing Board's Belfast offices earlier today.

Northern Ireland’s policing board was tonight preparing to shortlist for the chief constable’s job - as one of those thought to be in contention was ruled out.