Garda representatives have raised fresh concerns for the safety of members after the latest incident left one garda with a broken arm and another garda bitten.

A senior member of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) is calling on the Minister for Justice and the Government to introduce specific legislation to cover assault of front line staff such as gardaí, fire service personnel, ambulance crews and accident and emergency department staff.

A garda was fortunate to escape serious injury when he was carried with half his body hanging out the window of a car that was reversing at speed to avoid detection.

Garda districts at the coalface of tackling gangs affiliated to the Kinahan cartel have seen a drop of almost 30% in staffing.

Is there a lesson to be gained for Irish rally organisers from Sunday’s Midleton based Imokilly Rally? 

Manchester bomber Salman Abedi phoned his mother and said “forgive me” hours before the attack which killed 22 people, according to Libyan security forces.

Donegal’s Donagh Kelly bids for a fourth successive victory at the Quality Hotel West Cork Rally this weekend - a feat that has never been achieved in the 40-year history of the Clonakilty event.

The Garda Representative Association says it was threatened with bringing the Army onto the streets if they went ahead with their strike.

A Garda Ombudsman report has said it appears, on the balance of probabilities, that details of the arrest of TD Clare Daly on suspicion of drink-driving were leaked “in an unauthorised manner” by someone within An Garda Síochána.

Garda recruits are paid far less than their counterparts in England and Scotland and GRA representatives say it is ironic the Department they work for has ‘Equality’ as part of its title.

The Garda Commissioner has guaranteed TDs and senators that they will never again be impeded from leaving or entering Leinster House after protestors blocked politicians cars at the parliament this week.

A letter from the Garda Ombudsman, quoted in the Dáil by Mick Wallace, stating that gardaí were not co-operating with an investigation into the arrest of TD Clare Daly is almost two years old, it has emerged.

Garda representatives have reacted strongly to allegations in the Dáil by independent TD Mick Wallace that gardai are not co-operating with a Garda Ombudsman investigation into the leaking of the arrest of independent TD Clare Daly two years ago.

The Garda Ombudsman bugging saga has been reignited following calls by the country’s largest Garda branch for the immediate resignation of the watchdog’s entire leadership.

Gardaí are angry they are being treated the same as pen-pushing civil servants under new legislation which will lead to sick pay entitlements being cut.

Attacks on gardaí are becoming more vicious and more common, according to the association representing frontline staff, which has demanded that the Department of Justice publishes the number of assaults annually.

Irish and Welsh contests are nothing new in the Quality Hotel West Cork Rally and Denis Cronin and Daragh O’Riordan will have Welsh ace Melvyn Evans as their most formidable opponent when the 13-stage event starts in Clonakilty tomorrow.

Not since a group of young gardaí were sacked for fighting for improved pay in 1961 have tensions between members of the force and their political masters been so pronounced.

There was a dramatic finish to the Quality Hotels West Cork Rally in Clonakilty, with Carrigaline’s Brian O’Mahony and Mayo co-driver John Higgins (Subaru WRC) coming through to take the honours.

The full complement of nominees for the 2012 Billy Coleman Award, the top award in Irish motorsport, has been completed with the addition of two bi-monthly winners along with championship nominees and a wildcard selection.

Rally Italia Sardegna, the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship, continues today against the backdrop of the withdrawals of two manufacturers and a change in driver line-up.

Cork driver, Damien McCarthy (26) is the latest nominee for the Billy Coleman Award that carries a top prize worth €50,000.

On what was his first rally in over eight months, Wexford’s James Stafford, in his rear wheel drive Darrian T90 GTR, took a well-earned victory in the Kilkenny-based Raven’s Rock Rally.

Although not a round of the Dunlop series, tomorrow’s Kilkenny-based Raven’s Rock Rally has still attracted an entry in excess of 100 crews along with 18 competitors in the junior category.

AS a former member of the Garda Representative Association Executive, I wish to congratulate the outgoing president Damien McCarthy in speaking out on behalf of his members and highlighting the embargo on recruitment to the force.

Members of the Defence Forces have defended the hiring of 500 new recruits during a Garda staffing freeze.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter and the leader of the association representing the country’s rank and file gardaí have become embroiled in yet another row — this time over the Defence Forces.

The president of the Garda Representative Association, has questioned why, in the midst of the struggle against crime in this country, the Government has a ban on the recruitment of gardaí, while 600 extra personnel were being recruited by the Defence Forces.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has warned rank-and-file garda leaders against damaging relations with the Army in a row over recruits.

A new operation aimed at targeting gangs of travelling criminals who are responsible for an 8% rise in burglaries nationally has got under way, according to Garda Commissioner Martin Callanan.

A row has broken out between the leaders of rank-and-file gardaí and the justice minister after they accused him of being “soft on crime” and “dismantling frontline policing”.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has rejected an accusation from rank-and-file gardaí that he is being soft on crime.

Grassroots garda officers have unleashed a scathing attack on Justice Minister Alan Shatter, accusing him of being soft on crime.

There are not enough gardaí left to police the State “efficiently and effectively” because the force has suffered unprecedented retirements and is getting no recruits due to an embargo.

Further Garda station closures will reduce the force’s ability to fight crime throughout the country, grassroots officers have warned.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has today apologised for the transfer of a Garda-killer to a low-security prison, from which he later escaped.

A garda killer who escaped from an open prison faces multiple charges in Derry, it has emerged.

A garda killer who went on the run after escaping a low security prison has been caught in the North.

Knowing that every second counts, Midleton’s Daragh O’Riordan is favourite to win the Quality Hotels West Cork Rally this weekend.

Already shaping up to be a good contest between the Subaru S11 quartet of Dunlop regulars Kevin Barrett and Niall Maguire and newcomers, Thomas Fitzmaurice and Brian O’Mahony, the Dunlop National Rally Championship continues on Sunday with the Claremorris based McWilliam Park Hotel/Fleet Transport Magazine Mayo Rally.

More than €11 million was spent in the past year maintaining ageing Garda cars, figures show.

NEARLY one third of Garda senior command positions will be vacant by February, leaving the force in a state of “crisis”.

GARDA staff associations reacted angrily to the decision to close 31 stations and reduce the hours in 10 others.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has come out against the closure of 31 garda stations and reduced opening hours for a further 10, as announced by the Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin today.