A judge has asked Revenue to reconsider if it wants to secure a conviction against a shopkeeper of “impeccable character” who had failed to declare €400 of cigarettes he had for sale.

Fifteen private solicitors’ practices received fees in excess of €200,000 last year for carrying out work on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

A retired garda chief superintendent yesterday told the High Court he asked the State Solicitor for West Cork in 1998 to raise the Garda case against Ian Bailey directly with the DPP, rather than any of his officials.

A former Director of Public Prosecutions has told the High Court he decided there was insufficient evidence to warrant a prosecution of Ian Bailey for the 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

Former Director of Public Prosecutions Eamonn Barnes has told the High Court the State solicitor for West Cork told him he was asked by a senior garda to contact the Minister for Justice to get the DPP to charge Ian Bailey with the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

The State Solicitor for West Cork, Malachy Boohig, said he was asked to attend a meeting in Bandon Garda Station in March 1998 where it was made clear gardaí were unhappy the DPP had opted not to charge Ian Bailey over the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

Says inability to attend mother’s funeral was ‘the cruellest abuse’

Ian Bailey’s civil action against the State begins tomorrow, with the former journalist claiming gardaí attempted to frame him for the unsolved murder of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

Ian Bailey’s solicitor has called for a “root and branch” review of the operation of the State’s entire justice system in the wake of the garda phone-taping crisis.

New charges were preferred yesterday against a plumbing and heating firm following the 2011 death of a hotel guest from acute carbon monoxide poisoning in Kinsale, Co Cork.

A judge yesterday declined a request for leniency for a dairy farmer who had 48 unregistered animals in his West Cork herd.

A long-serving county councillor yesterday succeeded in having a drink-driving conviction overturned.

A High Court judge said “very disturbing” and “unusual” matters related to the Garda investigation into the murder of French filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier justified orders requiring the State to hand over documents to Ian Bailey.

A senior state solicitor has claimed court cases are being adjourned because gardaí are being prohibited from attending them due to cutbacks.

Ian Bailey is to sue gardaí and the State for damages after the Supreme Court ruled that he cannot be extradited to France for questioning about the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

An unnamed senior garda or gardaí allegedly tried to get the state solicitor for West Cork to put political pressure on the DPP to prosecute Ian Bailey for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, it emerged yesterday.

With the end of the extradition process, the focus in the ongoing Ian Bailey saga now shifts to the Garda ombudsman investigation.

AN internal review containing serious criticisms of the prosecution case against Ian Bailey was withheld from his legal team until recent weeks despite being requested of the Director of Public Prosecutions more than a year ago.

MORE than 1,000 people packed a church in Co Cork yesterday to pay their last respects to a Circuit Court judge who was described as “a friend to everybody” and “a true man of the people.”

TRIBUTES have been paid to a circuit court judge whose great loves, apart from his family, were the law, politics and the GAA.

Tributes have been made to a Circuit Court judge whose great loves, apart from his family, were the law, politics and the GAA.

A 49-year old man has been charged with the murder of Cork widow Anne Corcoran.

THE complete Garda file on the investigation into the killing of a Co Cork widow is to be delivered to the DPP next Friday.

Three British men appeared at a special court sitting tonight charged in connection with the massive 1.7 tonne cocaine haul seized from a yacht off the west coast.

MORE than 30 gardaí, several armed, cordoned off a courthouse in Cork yesterday as a fourth man appeared on charges relating to the biggest drugs haul in the history of the State.

THERE was a very strong security presence outside a Co Cork courthouse yesterday as two Englishmen in their 40s appeared on charges relating to the seizure of €107 million worth of cocaine.

A COURT application by Ian Bailey, a self-confessed suspect in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier killing, to have gardaí return personal items seized from him during the investigation took an unexpected turn yesterday.

STATE solicitor Malachy Boohig yesterday strenuously denied accusations that an investigation was underway into claims of corruption and misbehaviour by gardaí involved in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder inquiry.