The new policing commission must be “wholly independent” of the Government and should examine the Garda’s relationship with the Department of Justice, a leading policing expert has said.

The overall objective of the Government’s policing commission should be to establish “why the Garda seems so prone to corruption, neglect, and inefficiency”, a leading expert has said.

Rather than any new structure, it would make more sense for existing bodies to conduct the latest policing review, says Cormac O’Keeffe

Frontline gardaí have given the Government five weeks to restore their pay or face “unprecedented” strike action on four days.

Children need to start thinking in a different way if they are to be ready for a world of work that will be heavily reliant on computers, writes Ailin Quinlan. A Microsoft project is using the hugely popular game of Minecraft to highlight how teachers need to be upskilled if this is to happen

Dermot Walsh (Irish Examiner letters, May 17) seems to miss the fact that the Israeli state has been systematically oppressing and denying basic human rights to Palestinians since its formation.

The anti-Israel propaganda being spouted by the likes of Zoe Lawlor of Gaza Action Ireland would be funny were it not so one-sided and unjust.

Regarding references to the Special Criminal Court in your editorial (Irish Examiner, December 21), I would like to make a few points.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s role in the departure of Garda commissioner Martin Callinan was “at the very least, improper” and paid “scant regard” to legal and political norms, says a legal expert.

Revenue boss Josephine Feehily has been nominated by the Government as the chair of the independent Policing Authority.

Concerns mounted yesterday over the Government process to appoint the chairperson of the new independent Policing Authority.

Gerard Howlin’s column in yesterday’s Irish Examiner was very well-written and welcome in exposing the hypocrisy of the rent-a-crowd Left (“the habitually protesting Left”). It has astonished me to hear and read the diatribes in Ireland about Israel, from people who have never been anywhere near an indiscriminately fired Hamas rocket.

Legal experts and opposition parties have expressed concern at draft laws giving the justice minister a veto on proposed Garda Ombudsman powers to investigate the Garda commissioner.

A 40-day deadline set for a mammoth review of the Department of Justice is "ridiculously short" and belies the fundamental review needed, a leading expert has said.

The justice minister should be stripped of a massive range of police powers extending far beyond oversight to include recruitment, training, equipment, pay and pensions, according to a leading expert.

It’s a telling sign of the Government’s difficulty in getting to grips with matters that a minor clerical error has placed the Taoiseach at the centre of renewed controversy just a week from polling day.

A police authority will uncouple the close relationship between the justice minister and Garda commissioner, says Cormac O’Keeffe.

Prison director general Michael Donnellan said he is “embarrassed” by the recording of phone calls between 139 prisoners currently in custody and their solicitors.

The Taoiseach didn’t kick Martin Callinan out the door, says Cormac O’Keeffe, he opened it and gave an encouraging cough.

The manner in which Taoiseach Enda Kenny confronted Martin Callinan on Monday suggests the Garda commissioner was “pushed” into resigning, according to a top legal expert.

WHILE the implications of the Garda taping crisis continue to unravel, there are growing concerns at the Taoiseach’s role in Martin Callinan’s shock departure and the impact on the relationship between the Government and An Garda Síochána.

The Government is under intense pressure to explain how details came to light that phone calls in and out of Garda stations were being recorded, after it emerged that the attorney general was informed of the practice last November.

Legal experts have warned that gardaí could have breached two major planks of the law by recording phone calls to and from Garda stations.

The Government is “undermining” the ability of the Garda Ombudsman to do its job, according to one of the country’s leading experts on criminal justice.

The Waterford blaa, a variety of bread originally brought to Ireland over 300 years ago by French Huguenots, is now making its way back to France in frozen form.

Despite only scoring two second-half points, defending champions Curry hung on for a one-point win over Bunnanadden, 3-8 to 3-7, in a thrilling Sligo SFC Group A tie at Ballymote on Saturday as Anthony Brennan’s side head for the last eight as section winners.

Relics of the German Third Reich were at the centre of a bidding battle in Limerick yesterday.

For the first time in 160 years, an imposing building which dominates Killarney, Co Kerry, and which once had more than 1,000 residents, was unoccupied last night.

Dr Laurence Davis of the Department of Government in UCC is well known for his unquestioning anti-Israel stance and it never fails to amaze me how one person could be so totally one sided and blind in his approach to this very complex question.

FIRST, congratulations to the Irish Examiner’s Jennifer Hough for the excellent special investigation into the topsy-turvy world of mental health treatment in Ireland.

MORE than five million prescriptions for powerful drugs to treat depression, psychosis, anxiety or lack of sleep are being written every year, costing in excess of €110 million, official figures have revealed.

AN Irish Examiner investigation into prescribing patterns of tranquilising and stimulant drugs shows that pharmaceuticals to help anxiety and depression are being dished out in alarming numbers.

ALCOHOL consumption has a “significant” influence on suicide levels among males at all ages and young women, research shows.

THE funeral took place in Limerick yesterday of journalist and public relations figure Dermot Walsh.

IT is regrettable that Sean Kelly MEP made no reference to alcohol consumption in his letter (July 7) on suicide prevention.

THE Garda will continue to be one of the most secretive police forces in the world, as there is no access to basic information, a conference on policing and accountability was told yesterday.

A leading crime and policing academic today clamed An Garda Siochana is one of the most secretive police forces in the liberal western world.

POLICE corruption will be one of the issues high on the agenda when delegates from forces around the world gather in Limerick today to share their experiences and methods in tacking crime.

AN Garda Síochána needs to implement human rights protections for the sake of the public and its own officers, it was claimed yesterday.

ADMISSIONS to psychiatric units and hospitals have increased for the first time since 1986, according to the Health Research Board (HRB).

THE Government’s failure to confront the alcohol industry lobby has contributed to the high number of young male suicides.