The Garda watchdog has been criticised for wasting taxpayers’ money after it emerged it is now offering to pay the High Court expenses of two gardaí it tried to discipline, even after a lower court ruled they acted properly.

It was the best wedding present Garda Fiona Sheehan could have received.

Rank-and-file gardaí are demanding the garda watchdog make a full apology to two of their colleagues who were charged with causing harm to a violent youth they were forced to subdue with pepper spray — and then had the charges against them dismissed.

Social media site Facebook was used to groom a 13-year-old girl before she was sexually assaulted at a derelict house by a man eight years older than her, a court heard.

The Garda Representative Association has hired a well-known solicitor to represent two gardaí who face internal disciplinary proceedings by the force’s watchdog, even though they were cleared of any wrongdoing when they used pepper spray to subdue a violent teenager.

A senior member of the group which represents the country’s rank-and-file gardaí has claimed plans to centralise 999 calls for all of Co Cork is “madness” and “will not work”.

The High Court has reserved its decision in a challenge brought by a Garda Sergeant aimed at halting an internal investigation against him over his alleged homophobic treatment of a female colleague.

GARDAÍ have threatened to protest outside a station where conditions have been described as “Dickensian”.

THE organisation representing the country’s 11,000 rank-and-file gardaí will take the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) to the European Court of Human Rights if it continues to investigate members of the force for off-duty incidents where they haven’t broken any laws.

A 17-year-old boy, who has allegedly burgled schools, a college and the offices of a government department, during a recent crime wave, has been remanded on bail, by the Dublin Children’s Court.

OUTSTANDING cases involving alleged garda abuses during the May Day 2002 clashes are due to be completed by the end of the year, it was confirmed yesterday.

A garda who was cleared of assaulting three protestors during an anti-globalisation protest on May Day 2002 has lost his legal bid to stop the Garda Complaints Board from dealing with a complaint against him.

GROWING centres of population like Carrigaline, Bishopstown, Passage West, Crosshaven, Rochestown, Togher and Douglas enjoy less permanent garda cover than anywhere else in Cork.

The jury in the trial of a garda accused of assaulting three "Reclaim the Streets" protesters in 2002 has been told the law allows assault in self-defence.

A Co Louth man accused of membership of an illegal organisation was questioned by gardai about a dissident republican operation in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, the Special Criminal Court heard today.