It’s nearly summer holiday time. Brilliant if you’re looking forward to taking the shortest route possible to the nearest beach; not so good if you’re fretting about leaving your house unattended, writes Gráinne McGuinness.

The body tasked with regulating private investigators has no target date for introducing regulations despite being set up 10 years ago.

Suspected fraud accounted for almost €41m of overpayments which were recovered from some 20,720 welfare recipients by the Department of Social Protection in 2012.

Senior gardaí are to meet with concert promoters MCD after violence marred a weekend concert in Phoenix Park, leaving one person dead and nine treated for stab wounds.

A prominent campaigner for reform of the security industry who defrauded over €1.6m from the Revenue has been jailed for two years.

NINE security providers were prosecuted in the first half of 2011, imposing fines and costs of over €70,000.

HOUSEHOLDERS about to go on holidays are being warned to secure their homes as burglaries soar during the summer months.

SECURITY staff at three hospitals in Limerick City have unanimously balloted in favour of industrial action following claims their employer has cut the hours of union members because of their refusal to forfeit monies owed over the past three years.

OVER a third of the 22,037 people who are licensed to operate as doormen and private security guards have not undergone any form of Garda background checks.

AUDITS are being carried out on cash-in-transit security firms as part of a long-awaited overhaul of the industry.

MANY security firms believe regulation of the sector has failed to weed out ‘cowboy’ operators, while companies are also unhappy with delays in the garda vetting system, according to a new survey.

INSPECTORS from the National Employment Rights Authority are set to focus on the security industry in their latest clampdown on abuse of workers’ rights.

The Private Security Authority is reportedly set to refuse licences to at least 300 people working as bouncers or security guards across the country.

RANDOM checks from the country’s security staff watchdog have found that almost one-third of door staff have not applied for a licence, as required by law.

CASH delivery workers yesterday criticised the Government for “failing” to introduce requested safety measures.

THE father of a man who died after being restrained by nightclub security staff has welcomed a new crackdown on unlicensed bouncers at pubs and clubs.

Security men caught without a new licence could be fined up to €3,000 and face 12 months in prison.

THE security company at the centre of this week’s tiger kidnapping yesterday announced a new measure to protect staff and combat raids.

Firms delivering massive sums of cash have stepped up their security as efforts to stop tiger-kidnapping gangs continue, it was revealed today.

A voluntary code drawn up to ensure the safety of cash-in-transit workers may never work, Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell admitted last night.

A voluntary code drawn up to ensure the safety of cash-in-transit workers may never work, Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell admitted tonight.

The body with responsibility for regulating the private security industry in Ireland has secured its first prosecution.

Covert garda units could be used to track cash-in-transit delivery vans in a bid to foil dangerous armed robberies, it was revealed today.

GARDAÍ will be issued with CS or tear gas canisters and pepper spray, Justice Minister Michael McDowell indicated yesterday.

THE cash-in-transit industry is to be forced to comply with mandatory standards following what Justice Minister Michael McDowell described yesterday as inexcusable security lapses.

ONLY one in eight companies which provide security guards and door supervisors had been issued with a licence to trade by the deadline date of the end of last month.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell is due to hold talks with senior gardaí and the Private Security Authority later today to discuss a recent upsurge in cash-in-transit robberies in the capital.

The 10,000 security guards working in the industry are underpaid and undervalued, it was claimed today.

THE Government's ongoing "culture of secrecy" in the operation of Freedom of Information legislation has been criticised by Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly.

THE Government has created a culture of secrecy within public bodies by repeatedly trying to gag the Freedom of Information Act, it was claimed yesterday.

The Government has created a culture of secrecy within public bodies by repeatedly trying to gag the Freedom of Information Act, it was claimed today.

Hundreds of security companies have so far failed to sign up to strict new standards for the industry, it emerged today.

PEOPLE with complaints about bouncers and other security personnel will be able to go directly to a private security watchdog under a new licensing system announced yesterday.

Criminal checks are to be carried out on security guards to rid the industry of undesirable elements it emerged today.

Self-regulation will not go far enough to force the security industry to improve its procedures for transporting cash, it was claimed today.

The cash transit industry has been given four months to put its house in order or else the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, will enforce a statutory code of standards, it emerged today.

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell is due to meet representatives of the security industry today to discuss ways to prevent robberies from cash-transit vans.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell last night warned he would revoke the licenses of security companies unless proper procedures were implemented immediately.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell has criticised the security industry following the theft of more than €2m from a cash-transit van in Dublin this morning.

Door security is to have a recognised benchmark level under the new National Standards Authority of Ireland standard for security services in Ireland.

THE Government yesterday launched a crackdown on cowboy security firms and thuggish club bouncers.

NEW legislation could be the end for dangerous and unvetted security guards, a senior industry figure claimed yesterday.

New legislation enacted by the Government could mean the end for unvetted and untrained security guards, it was claimed today.

LONG-AWAITED legislation to clean up the security industry is expected to be enacted by the end of the year.