Informant laws need ‘reform’

The Garda system for handling informants may be in breach of European laws and legislation is needed to regulate it, a legal expert has warned.

Senior lecturer Liz Campbell also raised concern about the operation of the Witness Protection Programme, saying that lack of regulation could jeopardise prosecutions.

In a book analysing legal responses to organised crime in Ireland and the UK, the Edinburgh University academic said there had been a “fundamental” shift in Irish law in response to various crises in gangland.