PUBLIC order hot-spots, including dance venues, late-night takeaways and taxi ranks are being targeted by gardaí with extra uniformed patrols set to go on the beat.

Senior gardaí today demanded US-style live television coverage of high-profile murder trials and kidnapping cases.

GARDA sergeants and inspectors will this week call for a dedicated out-of-hours health service to care for children whom gardaí increasingly are having to mind in stations.

MIDDLE-RANKING gardaí yesterday made a blistering attack on Justice Minister Michael McDowell blaming him for the morale crisis within the force.

SERGEANTS and inspectors yesterday branded as “disgraceful” the absence of any firearms training facilities within the force.

THE arrest last week of a senior road traffic officer on suspicion of drink driving was “embarrassing” for the force, the garda association said yesterday.

JAILED crime bosses will not be able to use smuggled mobile phones to direct operations on the outside, under a new crackdown.

The president of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) tonight launched a prolonged attack on Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, saying that morale in the force is the worst it has been for at least 35 years.

TÁNAISTE and Justice Minister Michael McDowell has increased the retirement age for rank-and-file gardaí, sergeants and inspectors from 57 to 60.

GARDA sergeants and inspectors last night renewed their attack on Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s plan for a reserve force.

Rank-and-file gardaí tonight called on Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to withdraw his ‘completely untrue’ allegation about their attitude to the Ombudsman Commission.

THE garda reserve would attract “a mixed grill of quasi do-gooders and messianic zealots”, a garda conference heard yesterday.

AN Garda Síochána faces industrial strife after a staff association yesterday voted - by a narrow margin - against cooperating with the garda reserve.

GARDA representatives yesterday accused Justice Minister Michael McDowell of trying to “dismantle” the Garda Síochána as part of a Thatcherite agenda.

As expected, Justice Minister Michael McDowell attracted scathing criticism at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI).

Middle-ranking gardaí said tonight they would not be breaking the law if they refused to co-operate with the proposed Garda Reserve.

GARDAÍ were yesterday hunting an armed gang which subjected a family to a terrifying ordeal.

A NEW gun amnesty will be irrelevant to hardened criminals, Justice Minister Michael McDowell said yesterday.