CALLS have gone up for more gardai in Kennedy Park to tackle violent crime following a shooting at a house in the estate last weekend.
Two shots were reportedly fired at a house in Kennedy Park at around 10.40pm last Sunday. No injuries were reported and Gardaí are investigating.
Following last weekend’s incident, Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan has demanded increased Garda presence in the Southside estate. Huge concern exists in the area, he said, following this second shooting in just over a month.
“Following the shooting in July when a man was shot in the stomach people were genuinely concerned that worse would happen. I knocked on every door in the area recently and many people expressed their huge concerns that not enough was being done to tackle the issue locally. They feared for their families and their safety. Sufficient action wasn’t taken,” said Deputy Quinlivan.
“The Kennedy Park area has always been a great place to live and has a great community spirit. It has a large older and retired population that needs to be reassured and protected. The recent shootings have genuinely frightened many of these people.”
The Limerick City TD believes a multi-agency approach is now needed with a “robust” response from Gardaí and the Council.
“The Gardaí must provide adequate resources and Limerick Council must prioritise the area for CCTV cameras. There is huge concern that these recent shootings might herald something new and that innocent people might get caught up in any escalation,” he claimed.
Quinlivan has urged Senior Gardaí to listen to the residents’ concerns and provide the necessary level of patrols without delay to deal with both the recent shooting and the ongoing sporadic anti-social behaviour “which is caused by youths, many of whom are from outside the area”.
“Action is needed as a matter of urgency to tackle these gangsters who seem to have easy access to guns. Local residents need to feel safe and reassured in their own community. It’s high time that Garda numbers were restored to a workable level both in Limerick and nationally and this criminality is tackled,” he concluded.
A spokesman for Limerick City and County Council pointed out that it has a network of CCTV cameras across Limerick to help communities and the Gardaí.
“There are plans to expand this network over the coming months.
“The local authority is in regular contact with the Gardaí discussing a range of issues as part of Limerick’s Public Services Working Together,” he explained.
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