GARDAÍ have mounted a major policing plan for the south side of Limerick City, targeting the activities of two rival groups suspected of being behind a spate of recent arson and gun attacks.
Tensions have been brewing between two rival groups in the south of the city for the past 12 months, culminating in a several shootings and arson attacks and multiple injuries.
A suspected firearm and drugs were seized in a series of planned Garda searches on several properties in the area this past Wednesday night (October 23).
A number of people were hospitalised over the past week, including a man in his late teens who sustained a gunshot wound to his leg, and a number of others injured when homes and cars were targeted in petrol bombings.
The feuding has been centralised to addresses in the Ballinacurra Weston and Southill areas.
A Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team attached to the Defence Forces travelled from Cork to Limerick several times in recent months, including twice in the past few weeks to deal with a number of suspected explosive devices.
The head of the Limerick Garda Division, Chief Superintendent Derek Smart, this Thursday warned that children have been very close to being injured in the violence, pledging that those involved would be brought to justice.
“I can confirm that since the 12th of October, we’ve had a number of incidents where a number of cars have been targeted and set on fire and a number of houses and very badly damaged as a result of the attacks upon them,” Chief Smart told Limerick’s Live95 radio station.
“These attacks are confined between two groupings of peoples, they are both known to each other, and they both live on the south side of Limerick City.”
Chief Superintendent Smart said that “they are not random attacks, they are very targeted in what they are trying to achieve”.
“We are going to make sure that people that are involved in these incidents are held to account for their actions.”
He confirmed he has sanctioned “a policing plan … for the south side of the city”.
He said the operation “involves all available resources here in Limerick city, that would be supported by both national and regional resources, including the Emergency Response Unit (ERU), who will be in Limerick as part of their duties, as well as our own armed support units”.
“What we’ve have also done is we have appointed a senior investigating officer to oversee all of these investigations to ensure that the best evidence is obtained, to enable us to bring these matters before the courts, so that people can be dealt with appropriately for the behaviour that they are engaging in.”
Appealing for information that may help the ongoing Garda crackdown on the violent attacks, Chief Supt Smart called on “anybody that has any information, no matter how small they think it is, to please pick up the phone, let us know what you have seen, what you have heard.”
“You can do that in a confidential manner (via the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111) … or just write to us.”
Limerick Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan warned that “lives will be lost” unless Gardaí meet those involved with a “forceful response”.
“These incidents are taking place in working communities where the vast majority of people want to work and provide for their families. But they are being plagued by criminal gangs who seem to operate without sanction.”
Addressing the Taoiseach in the Dáil, Deputy Quinlivan called for more Gardaí to be deployed to Limerick, adding that “if these firebomb incidents continue, it is inevitable that there will be a loss of life”.
Taoiseach Simon Harris told Deputy Quinlivan that he would “speak to the (Justice) Minister, Deputy McEntee, and ask that she speaks to the Garda in Limerick”.
