Limerick Feud Escalates

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Irish Voice News

Limerick Feud Escalates

April 9, 2008

By Paddy Clancy

WHAT Defense Minister Willie O’Dea described as “barbaric rivalry” between two warring extended families in his home city, Limerick, claimed two more young lives in recent days.

They were the ninth and 10th murders in the feud which local sources say has its roots in a school playground confrontation between two pupils a number of years ago.

Their parents, known to be members of criminal families, were called in by teachers for discussions in an attempt to resolve the dispute between their children.

Instead of peace, gun-war erupted in the city between what’s become known as the Keane-Collopy faction and the rival McCarthy-Dundon criminal gang. Drive-by shootings became almost weekly events.

Following the latest killings of a 40-year-old shot dead because of his loose association with one of the feuding factions, and a teenager whose body was discovered in a shallow grave on waste ground two days later, O’Dea hit out angrily on RTE radio.

He said families known to be involved in the criminal underworld will not be re-housed when several troubled estates, including entire streets in the Moyross and Southill suburbs, are razed and rebuilt over the coming years. _

“Certain families in certain estates will not be re-housed in the regeneration because their activities have put them beyond the pale of ordinary society. They are just not going to be housed. That decision has been taken by the regeneration people with the full support of the government,” said O’Dea.

The minister noted that Limerick was probably the most heavily policed part of the country, but a splintering of the city’s most violent gangs was causing difficulties in the Garda (police) crackdown.

He said the presence of the Garda’s elite Emergency Response Unit had thwarted a number of crimes. He added that the unit, established to combat organized crime in Dublin, would remain in Limerick “as long as necessary.”

“In the last couple of years, since some of the principals of those gangs were put away, a new leadership has emerged. But in addition to that — and this is a feature that is often overlooked — there are a whole lot of splinter groups loosely associated with one or the other,” said O’Dea.

His comments came after a body was found in what is believed to be a shallow grave on waste ground in the city. Detectives used to investigating gangs that go to war over specific territories or over control of drugs markets say they are faced with a completely different dilemma in Limerick.

One officer confided, “In Dublin there’s some rationale in shootings. Somebody has crossed over into somebody else’s territory or moved in on a lucrative drugs racket.

“It’s different in Limerick. There’s no financial gain. They’re shooting each other out of pure hatred. It’s absolutely crazy.”

Kids barely in their teens have been caught up in the mayhem. One 14-year-old who was arrested last week in connection with a non-fatal shooting is accused of possession of a sawn-off double-barrel shotgun.

During a brief court hearing the judge was told that just hours before the gun attack the youngster had been arrested and released by cops when he was stopped driving a car while wearing a bulletproof vest.

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