Policing

The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland has found there were "significant failings" in the PSNI investigation into the murder of Gerard Lawlor in 2002, but no evidence police could have prevented his murder nor of collusive behaviours. Mr Lawlor, 19, was the last of a number of Catholic men attack

A PSNI decision to discipline two junior officers following a controversial arrest at a wreath-laying event during the pandemic was unlawful, Northern Ireland's High Court has ruled. Mr Justice Scoffield said he was persuaded that the decision was taken because of a fear, "whether real or perceived"

Four new youth diversion projects (YDPs) in Monaghan, Wicklow, Cork and Mayo are to receive funding of at least €1.5 million this year, the government has announced. YDPs work with young people at risk of crime and anti-social behaviour to divert them away from criminal behaviour and towards be

An Garda Síochána has set out plans to use an additional €10 million in funding to increase high-visibility policing in Dublin. The additional overtime funding will provide for an increased deployment of the Garda National Public Order Unit in the city centre, with €2 million

An Garda Síochána has been challenged to explain the legal basis for the deployment of gardaí at Bank of Ireland ATMs while the bank was experiencing technical problems on Tuesday night. Liam Herrick, executive director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), told Morni

The PSNI has refused to publish a highly-critical report into the unlawful arrests of investigative journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey. In response to freedom of information requests submitted by The Detail, the force said the report was "not commissioned or written in a format for public

The PSNI has apologised after an unprecedented data breach saw the names, roles and other personal details of all serving police officers and civilian staff published on its website. The details were inadvertently disclosed as part of the PSNI's response to a freedom of information request about sta

Northern Ireland’s High Court has determined that a decision of the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to refuse an application for retirement was unlawful. The court rejected the claim that this refusal was done in the public interest, due to the fact that the officer i

Proposed new garda powers to track vehicles using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology should be subject to judicial oversight, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and Digital Rights Ireland have said. The NGOs have sent legislators a list of proposed amendments to the An Ga

Legislation underpinning PSNI powers to strip-search people in custody should be "re-written" to require officers to reasonably suspect that the detained person has concealed a prohibited item, the Northern Ireland Policing Board has said. The oversight body yesterday published a human rights review

A standalone bill allowing for the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) by An Garda Síochána will be brought forward later in the year, the government has announced. The Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022, which is currently before the Dáil and will

Lawyers for a 27-year-old dental nurse arrested at her workplace in Derry yesterday have said they will bring proceedings against the PSNI for a "distasteful and deplorable abuse of powers". In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, the PSNI said the woman was arrested on suspicion of being concern

Legislation allowing for the general and indiscriminate retention of communications traffic and location data on national security grounds, subject to judicial approval, is to come into force. Having returned from maternity leave, justice minister Helen McEntee yesterday signed a commencement order

An Garda Síochána has been designated as the competent authority in Ireland for issuing legal orders requiring internet service providers to remove online terrorist content. Under the EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation, each EU member state is obliged to designate a competent autho

Mountjoy Prison governor Eddie Mullins has been appointed as chair of the Dublin North Inner City local community safety partnership (LCSP). Under the Department of Justice’s community safety policy, LCSPs will replace and build upon the existing joint policing committees. There are currently