There has been a surge in the number of prisoners put on protection for their own safety, with the sharpest rises in Mountjoy Prison and Cloverhill Remand Prison.

Prison bosses are considering arming with batons and body cameras officers in a new facility for the most dangerous prisoners.

Assaults on prison officers by inmates have increased over the last three years – but representatives claim the figures still do not capture the full scale of violence.

One of the country’s busiest prisons is so overcrowded, inmates sleep on mattresses on the floor.

Hundreds of searchers continued the grueling work today of hunting for survivors and digging up bodies in the sea of mud and wreckage left by flash flooding in this wealthy coastal enclave.

Bertie Ahern sought to reverse a decision of the previous government to sell the former CIE group of hotels. This was within months of his taking office in his first ministerial appointment.

THE army deafness claims fiasco was one of those relatively minor but revealing warts-and-all scandals to befall this society. It did huge and lasting damage to the army. It cost €288.7m of which €100.2m went on legal costs. 

The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has described a firebomb attack on a prison officer’s car in Cork over the weekend as deeply “disturbing and sinister”.

The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has described a firebomb attack on a prison officer’s car in Cork over the weekend as deeply “disturbing and sinister”.

The first of his family to enter third-level education, the socially liberal Frank Clarke is set to become the country’s next chief justice.

State authorities estimate there will be more than 100 assaults by prisoners on staff this year, the Oireachtas justice committee heard yesterday.

An application to fly direct charters flights from Knock Airport to the US in 1986 was rejected by the Government over fears of the political backlash, as such a move would end the agreed Shannon stopover for all transatlantic flights from Ireland.

Prison Service boss Michael Donnellan has rejected criticisms from prison officers that violent inmates were being rewarded by special gardens and luxuries like fish tanks.

Prison officers say inmates are getting involved in the Kinahan-Hutch feud to make a name for themselves, to climb the ladder in the gangs, or because they are being forced to do so.

Two future leaders of Fine Gael clashed in January, 1985, over proposals to increase the price of stamps.

Prison bosses are considering the roll-out of weapons amnesties following the success of an amnesty in Dublin’s Wheatfield Prison.

Prison officers have called for tougher sanctions for inmates who attack staff after a fresh incident in which a convicted murderer tried to choke an officer in Portlaoise Prison.

A prisoner who is so disruptive prison officers have to wear riot gear to deal with him has been given a PlayStation and a fish tank in a bid to pacify him, a prison officers’ conference has heard.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald faces the prospect of potential industrial action by prison officers just hours after she meets officials from the Prison Officers’ Association tomorrow morning.

The body representing the country’s prison officers has expressed its disappointment at the Irish Prison Service’s decision to conduct an internal report into Derek Brockwell’s escape from Tallaght Hospital.

Escaped convict Derek Brockwell was in a serious condition in a Belfast hospital last night after being injured when confronted by police. PSNI used a Taser stun gun to incapacitate him with reports suggesting he had injured himself with a knife, though it is unknown whether it was deliberate.

A prisoner has escaped from Tallaght hospital after stabbing two prison officers.

A national treatment centre for a rare form of cancer which claimed the lives of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and former Fine Gael deputy leader Jim Mitchell has been established here.

In documents released under the 30-year rule, here are the stories that have emerged from State papers.

Prison officers are set to conduct a second day of industrial action today at the country’s only dedicated remand prison in a dispute over health and safety.

Assaults on prison officers increased by 50% last year — and almost one-third of them occurred in a young offenders institution.

Prison officers claim they are being attacked with "impunity" and that jail chiefs are not taking disciplinary action against the inmates responsible.

The newly elected Government led by Garret FitzGerald insisted the B&I Ferries could only close its Cork-Pembroke service in early 1983 if it agreed to maintain a summer service, against the advice of an interdepartmental group.

Irish Shipping, the State-owned shipping group, entered into financially disastrous charter deals without the approval of the government, cabinet papers from 1983 reveal.

The government, led by Garret FitzGerald, was seriously concerned about the high cost of running the government jet within months of taking office in 1983.

Cork Harbour Commissioners (CHC) regarded the State’s only oil refinery at Whitegate as “a milking cow”, a confidential document from 1983 reveals.

The prison service expects fewer than 1,000 phones to be confiscated in jails this year, with figures also indicating that fewer people are smuggling drugs in to inmates.

WATCH them riding on, the three musketeers, Alan Shatter, James Reilly and Phil Hogan!

The country should have a dedicated “gangland prison” to house convicted crime bosses, according to prison officers.

The year which saw two governments fall is best summed up by the phrase coined that August: Grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre, and unprecedented. Ryle Dwyer reports

Department of Justice officials said it would “never be their intention” to treat the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman “with anything other than the highest of respect”.

Born in Kilbreedy (1869-1938), near Kilmallock, Co Limerick, John J Flanagan was one of the most proficient athletes ever produced by this country. He became the first man to be crowned Olympic champion in one specific event at three consecutive games.

Prison officers held an emergency meeting with Prison Service chiefs yesterday after lists containing personal information of staff were found in the cell of a convicted IRA killer.

Prison bosses are cutting pocket money to inmates to encourage good behaviour and save money.

The Government is to build a new prison in Cork City rather than proceed with a planned super-jail in North Cork which would have catered for all prisoners in Munster.

The Dáil’s public spending watchdog is to consider launching a DIRT-style inquiry into the collapse of the country’s banking system.