Incoming Taoiseach Brian Cowen is facing a legal battle over an official investigation into the massacre of 33 people in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, it emerged today.

DNA profiling carried out on the body of a young German woman revealed a match with that of the man accused of her murder, a jury at the Central Criminal court heard today.

A 42-year-old Louth man accused of the murder of a German tourist allegedly told gardaí to tell her parents he was sorry for taking her life, a jury heard at the Central Criminal court today.

The detective who investigated the alleged assault on a prisoner by a prison officer in Mountjoy told the jury the gardai first heard about the incident from the victim's mother.