IT seems tragic that none of us on this small island can fully escape the atrocities of the past or that we cannot live beyond the cold, dark shadow cast by the memories of the terrible wrongs inflicted by one community on the other.

A former police watchdog has said there is strong evidence An Garda Síochána has a blue wall which acts as a cover-up for wrongdoing.

The head of the Department of Justice faces questions from TDs today about his role in the controversial resignation of Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan as well as the handling of serious allegations against the force.

The son of Jean McConville has claimed Gerry Adams threatened a "backlash" if he named those he believed to be involved in his mother’s disappearance.

A review of the Garda Ombudsman’s powers is unlikely to be completed before the watchdog begins its own investigation into the cancellation of penalty points by gardaí.

The justice minister is under pressure to explain to an Oireachtas committee why he didn’t inform the Dáil of key details given to him by the Garda Ombudsman about its investigation into surveillance at its offices.

The office of the Garda Ombudsman should be given more powers “as a matter of urgency”, including to investigate the commissioner of the force, according to the North’s first police ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan.

Women who have made a proven contribution to society, such as former president Mary McAleese or advocate for the homeless Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, should be considered as future cardinals, according to a leading Catholic priest.

THE report of the inquiry into the murder of Rosemary Nelson in 1999 raises more questions than it answers.

THE current crisis in the Catholic Church and the state is also a time of real opportunity, former Ombudsman of the PSNI, Nuala O’Loan, said yesterday.

Gerry Adams today hit back at “anti-republican elements” pursuing him over the death of Jean McConville at the hands of the IRA and said he would not give details of his role during the armed group’s campaign.

Three men were arrested today by police probing a string of loyalist killings in north Belfast.

The home of the North's former Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan was targeted in a sectarian attack today.

The North's first-ever Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, has been appointed to the British House of Lords.

Police Special Branch in the North was aware of intelligence information on the Omagh bomb soon after the atrocity, the former ombudsman claimed today.

A top loyalist was arrested at a jail in the North today by police investigating the murder of another Protestant paramilitary.

A Belfast teenager who drowned under the wheels of a police vehicle in a Co Antrim river after a car chase was nearly twice over the drink-drive limit and had been sniffing butane gas, an inquest was told today.

A British government inquiry into intelligence files linked to the Omagh bomb should be accelerated so it can be used in court, grieving relatives said tonight.

THE British government faces legal action within a week if it does not hand over intelligence files that could have helped catch the Omagh bombers, grieving relatives warned yesterday.

Ireland’s new Roving Ambassador, Nuala O’Loan, is to travel to south-east Asia, it emerged today.

The father of a man murdered by a loyalist gang riddled with police informers will today become the first person from a unionist background to address Sinn Féin’s annual conference.

TO a sea of Albanian and American flags, Prime Minister Hasim Thaci called the republic of Kosovo into being last Sunday week, setting off a diplomatic firestorm, raising Russian- backed Serbian ire and sparking fears that minority ethnic groups from Spain to China would have a new basis for resistance.

THE United States government was warned that it should look to the experiences of Northern Ireland and learn that the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention camp will serve as a recruiting ground for al-Qaida in the same way that internment without trial in the North led to a growth in the IRA.

A former Canadian Mountie who headed the body to oversee the new policing arrangements in the North takes charge today of the office set up to investigate complaints against the service.

Employers need to fit working hours around the busy lives of post-boom families to help save communities, a leading sociologist claimed today.

There is no evidence the security forces in the North colluded with loyalist killers in the murder of two Catholic brothers in Armagh 14 years ago, the Police Ombudsman said today .

Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan will reveal today the findings from her probe into the first fatal shooting by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

POLICE failed to properly deal with death threats made against Catholic solicitor Rosemary Nelson before she was murdered, a report revealed yesterday.

THE Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman has warned that gardaí may be reluctant to give evidence against their colleagues when under investigation.

The Norths's police ombudsman’s office has been cleared of leaking confidential information to the media.

JOURNALIST Robert Fisk recently revealed details of the medical reports on the brutal killing by British soldiers of a Basra hotel receptionist, Baha Mousa.

Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan reveals today how the emotional strain of attacks on her children almost forced her from the post.

NORTHERN Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan has revealed how she was on the verge of standing down after her children were subjected to violent attacks.

GRIEVING families yesterday hand-delivered a 20,000-signature petition to the Transport Minister calling on him to introduce mandatory alcohol testing for all drivers involved in road accidents.

Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds, and Sinn Féin's policing spokesperson Gerry Kelly became the third and fourth Assembly members to be elected in the North's Assembly elections today, both capturing seats in North Belfast.

A Unionist leader standing in six constituencies in the North's Assembly Elections today warned the British government against interfering if he is elected to more than one seat.

YOUR columnist Steven King is in denial. He marshals a series of assertions and half-truths (Irish Examiner, January 31) in the hope of persuading people that the recent Northern police ombudsman’s report did not prove collusion between the RUC and UVF in the murder of Protestants and Catholics alike.

Sinn Féin is to hold a conference on collusion to step up political pressure on the British government to establish public inquiries, it emerged today.

A BELFAST friend was murdered by paramilitaries a few years ago. He died an hour before we were due to meet for a drink. No-one was ever charged, let alone convicted. Nor will they be.

Sinn Féin have taken a brave step on an historic day for the North, says Political Editor Harry McGee.

Sinn Féin’s support for policing is almost inevitable, Northern Ireland’s most senior policeman said today.

FROM comments about the Nuala O’Loan report one would think that collusion between the RUC and murderers was a particularly British phenomenon in which the police essentially gave a licence to an informant to murder people and engage in criminal activity as part of his supposed cover.

IT is both ludicrous and hypocritical to hear Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern call on the British government to strengthen the powers of Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan in the wake of the appalling collusion she uncovered between the security forces in the North and loyalist paramilitaries.

THE Government will push Britain to prosecute police officers who colluded with loyalist killers in the North.