Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne is due to appear before the Oireachtas justice committee today to explain the preliminary crime statistics for the first three months of this year.

GARDAÍ yesterday denied there are hundreds of desk-bound officers who could be used to fight crime.

SERIOUS crime is increasing twice as fast in the west and north of the country as in Dublin, statistics show.

EXTRA gardaí have been drafted into Limerick as Justice Minister Michael McDowell pledged to restore law and order.

Extra gardai have been moved into Limerick as part of new moves to halt an escalating family feud between rival criminal families.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell unveiled plans yesterday to force suspects to give saliva and mouth swabs for forensic examination and establishment of a DNA evidence database.

MORE than 250 families of police and fire officers killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Centre are due to arrive in Ireland for a special holiday this year.

Whilst Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has denied there is a new get tough approach to illegal immigrants in Ireland, Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne has confirmed that operations aimed at locating them are going to continue.

Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne has said that today’s massive swoop on illegall immigrants is just the beginning of an operation to ensure those who are here illegally are deported.

Justice Minister John O’Donoghue has said that the gardaí totally deny allegations that they received advance information which could have prevented the 1998 Omagh bombing.

Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne is defending his decision not to return from a family holiday for the funerals of two Gardai last week.

The first trainees from Northern Ireland’s new police force were today preparing to graduate at an historic ceremony in Belfast.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland moved today to defuse a row which threatens to overshadow the graduation of its first new recruits next week.

A unionist member of the North’s Police Board has refused to attend a passing out ceremony for 40 recruits next week.

President Mary McAleese led the mourners at the funeral today of garda detective sergeant John Eiffe, who was accidentally shot dead last week by a colleague during an attempted bank raid in Abbeyleix, Co Laois.

Seven gardai have been awarded Scott medals for bravery in the line of duty at a ceremony in Templemore today.

The Labour Party has joined Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne in calling for cannabis to be legalised for medical use.

Stormont Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister Michael McGimpsey said the IRA’s refusal to honour its commitment last May to put its arms completely and verifiably beyond use was causing ‘‘serious damage’’ to the political institutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement.

The Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne said the decision to use firearms is left up to the individual armed members of this force.

The Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne and Justice Minister John O'Donoghue will lead mourners today at the funerals of two Co Kerry gardai killed in a road accident at the weekend in Cork.