Into the crime battle armed with pledges and promises

The Garda faces a daunting task, but despite plans and budgets, does it have what it needs, and takes, to succeed, writes Cormac O’Keeffe.

IT WAS a grim start to the week by any standards. People woke up to the news of two horrific crimes.

In the first, they heard that a man had one of his hands chopped off in a pub in north Dublin by a man wielding a samurai sword.