It is 20 years this month since 26-year-old American student Annie McCarrick disappeared in the Dublin mountains, apparently the victim of abduction and murder.

Large crowds turned out yesterday in the home constituency of Justice Minister Alan Shatter to demand a reversal of his controversial plans to close the Garda station in Stepaside, Co Dublin.

More than 1,000 people have turned out in the village of Stepaside in Dublin to protest at the closure of the local Garda station.

Almost 200 prisoners are locked in their cells for 23 hours a day — a rise of 10% in just over six months.

It was the tragic murder/suicide of a young family that horrified the nation.

More than 100 Limerick gang members are in jail, including 20 gang leaders, the Government has said.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has today apologised for the transfer of a Garda-killer to a low-security prison, from which he later escaped.

Criminal gangs are a “bigger threat” to the security of the state than the IRA or any other terrorist group ever were, a former Garda chief said yesterday.

A RETIRED garda who played a leading role in the jailing of wife-killer Joe O’Reilly said he did not initially suspect him.

THE Department of Justice is drafting a report for the European Commission after senior gardaí complained to the EU over the age at which officers are forced to retire.

WIFE-KILLER Joe O’Reilly was a little too smart in creating alibis to cover his tracks on the day he murdered his wife.

THE top ranks of An Garda Síochána will undergo a large revamp in the coming weeks as eight senior positions are filled.

IT IS ridiculous that former Garda Assistant Commissioner Martin Donnellan had to go to court to try to hold on to his job because he had reached a mandatory but irrational retirement age of 60. It is even more ridiculous that his case was dismissed.

An assistant Garda Commissioner has told the High Court he sees no logic in setting the retirement age for him at 60 when it was 65 between 1951 and 1996.

THE Labour Party last night said it was surprised that the Garda Commissioner concluded that that a senior officer who attended a fundraising function for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s St Luke’s operation wasn’t identifying himself publicly with Fianna Fáil.

GARDA interviews with suspects will soon be regularly shown on video screens in courtrooms under plans being progressed by the Department of Justice and a high-level internal committee of the Garda Síochána.

WATERFORD needs more targeted, expert garda power and resources to tackle drugs and drug dealers, a local TD says. And he’s vowed to fight to have those resources deployed in the region.

THE United Nations report implicating senior Syrian figures in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri drew heavily on an earlier investigation carried out by three senior members of the gardaí.

GARDAÍ earned €83.5 million in overtime last year, figures released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.

A GARDA investigation targeting professional armed robbers was almost cancelled last week due to a shortage of gardaí.

IT is only by the ‘luck of God’ garda lives have not been lost protecting cash escorts, garda representatives said yesterday.

GARDAÍ have the names of 80 people suspected of being involved in armed robberies in the greater Dublin area.

ALLEGATIONS that members of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) subjected asylum seekers to racist abuse and illegally refused to accept their claim for asylum at Dublin Airport must be investigated immediately, human rights groups demanded.

By Michael O' Farrell

THE Department of Justice is considering the compulsory fingerprinting of all non-EU nationals living here as part of a crackdown on a massive increase in identity fraud.