More protection should be available to members of an Garda Siochana whose families are being targeted by criminals, Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins has said.

Gardaí have launched an investigation after the Mayo business woman Regina Sweeney was attacked in her home again, for the third time in less then six months.

The hunt for a criminal gang which has been terrorising rural householders in the west over the past two months has been dramatically stepped up following an attack on a personal friend of Taoiseach Enda Kenny in her Co Mayo home.