The Department of Environment has claimed a land swap with a developer which will ultimately cost the State more than €33m was a “complex and challenging project”.

The taxpayer has been left with a legal bill for €32m after delays in moving a Garda station in central Dublin.

The Department of the Environment pushed ahead with a doomed land swap deal that will ultimately cost the State more than €33m, despite warnings from the Office of Public Works that the plan was risky.

More than 180 gardaí have been “released” from desk duties as a result of the first tranche of station closures and reduced opening hours, the Garda Inspectorate has said.

There are not enough gardaí left to police the State “efficiently and effectively” because the force has suffered unprecedented retirements and is getting no recruits due to an embargo.

Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to a bank robbery in Dublin yesterday morning.

Three people have been arrested after a heroin seizure in Dublin yesterday evening.

Two men have been charged and released on bail in connection with a seizure of around €20,000 worth of cannabis and cocaine yesterday.

Seven people are being questioned today over a €100,000 robbery in which a cash-in-transit worker’s terrified mother and young niece were held hostage.

LOCALS were still in shock yesterday at a brutal double gangland murder in the heart of a Dublin inner city flat complex.

Two men were behind a vicious double murder at a flats complex in which an innocent bystander was gunned down, detectives revealed today.

Detectives were today hunting two men over a double murder at a flats complex in the second fatal gun attack within days.

Four people were being questioned by detectives today after two men were shot dead in the second fatal gun attack within days.

A Meath man who slashed the throat of a law graduate has been found not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity.

RECENTLY in this column, I wrote about the stupidity and futility of spending millions on a drug strategy that has failed so miserably elsewhere, not just over years, but over decades.

TWO years ago James Clarke made a decision many will find it hard to understand – he gave up life as a professional golfer for a new career pounding the beat as a garda.

SARAH O’Sullivan was 22 years old when she joined the Garda Síochána in July 1959, but making history was not on her mind at the time.

Two people were in custody today after drugs worth €350,000 were seized during a series of raids across Dublin.

Two men arrested in connection with a stabbing in Dublin overnight have been released without charge.

Around €1,000 was robbed from a busy Dublin city centre bookmakers by a hooded raider, gardai revealed today.

A 17-year-old schoolboy accused of taking part in a sustained street attack on a man who was allegedly beaten with a rock and a metal pole has been remanded on bail.

Three people have been arrested in connection with the disappearance of a 19-year-old woman in Dublin.

Former government press secretary and lobbyist Frank Dunlop appeared at Dublin District Court this afternoon to face 16 charges of corruption.

GARDAÍ investigating the planting of a homemade bomb outside Shell’s headquarters arrested a relative of James Monaghan, a prominent republican and one of the so-called Colombia Three.

Thousands of unlicensed DVDs worth up to €400,000 were seized today from five commercial premises in Dublin city centre.

A French waiter appeared in court today after he was arrested for trying to pelt France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy with eggs on his arrival at Government Buildings.

A Dublin man who was spotted by gardaí carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle in a sports bag in a city centre street was jailed for four years by the Special Criminal Court today.

Two men were arrested today by gardaí probing a series of knife attacks in Dublin city.

THE mother of a young man who died after being hit by a car driven by an off-duty garda said she intended to take the case to the Garda Ombudsman.

Two men have been arrested as part of an investigation under the Commissions of Investigation Act.

The Office of Public Works has swapped a site of less than an acre in central Dublin for 215 affordable homes on the outskirts of the city.

The Government has agreed a deal with developers that will see 89 new affordable homes constructed at Ongar village in the Clonsilla area of west Dublin.

Three major garda stations in Dublin are facing closure under a new plan to rationalise stations in the capital.

Two men have been arrested while allegedly trying to break into the headquarters of the Garda Dublin Metropolitan Division last night.

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

GARDAÍ have reacted angrily to Government plans to close one of the busiest garda stations in Dublin.

MORE THAN 375 acres of Government-owned land have been assigned for use as affordable housing, the latest official figures show.

WEALTHY property developers stand to gain the most from a new Government scheme to provide affordable housing, the Opposition warned last night.

A new Government agency will fast-track the building of up to 10,000 affordable homes in the greater Dublin area, it emerged today.

The Donegal publican framed for a murder that never was today hit out at a decision to transfer five gardaí named in damning Morris Tribunal reports to Dublin.

A teenage girl, who brought her baby brother onto the streets in the pouring rain to beg for money, has been restricted from entering the city-centre.

STATE lands are being made available in five counties for the completion of the Government’s current target of 10,000 affordable houses, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced yesterday.

The first affordable housing initiative project in Dublin city is being launched by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, today.