A PARK warden had to lock himself into Shelbourne Park and call the Gardaí to escape from a gang of teenage thugs who are terrorising the Northside of the city.
The report of a council employee being forced to call the law on unruly youngsters comes after another warden had to contact Gardaí and a local city councillor when a mob fistfight broke out in the People’s Park, culminating in a man running naked through the park.
Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea told the Limerick Post that there is a gang of youths terrorising the Northside of Limerick city. Residents of Clareview, Mayorstone, Shelbourne Park and the Ennis Road are regularly being threatened and their property damaged in recent weeks by the out of control gang.
Deputy O’Dea said: “These gangs are roaming around places like Clareview and Shelbourne Park at night and terrorising the area. It got to a point last weekend where a warden at Shelbourne Park was forced to lock himself into the staff quarters and call the Gardaí for his own protection, such was the severity of this gang’s atrocious behaviour.
“This gang of less than a dozen teenagers are regularly throwing stones at passing cars, breaking car mirrors, throwing stones at windows of houses and involving themselves in general mindless vandalism.
“This behaviour is just scandalous and is further confirmation that there is an epidemic of anti-social behaviour in this city and that people’s lives are being made a misery.
‘As a society we have to come down heavy on this kind of behaviour. The Gardai in Limerick are completely stretched and need far more resources in order to tackle the issue in an effective manner.
“Gardaí also have very little power to deal with younger people and this needs to be looked at,” he added.
And he questioned why the parents of the young thugs are not controlling their children.
“We will have to look at changing the legislation to make parents responsible for the actions of their children. We also have to look at the law to make sure that the sanctions, even for younger children are appropriate. As a society we have to stamp out the scourge that is anti-social behaviour.”
