'Intervene directly, minister, before someone is killed' - Escalating Limerick feud prompts urgent call

TWO Limerick TD's have issued an urgent appeal for increased garda presence in the city in a bid to tackle rising crime, drug dealing and antisocial behaviour, saying that "it is a miracle nobody has been killed."

During a Dáil Éireann debate last Tuesday, Deputies Maurice Quinlivan and Conor Sheehan both raised the topical issue with the former stating that there are several criminal gangs in the city that cause mayhem and destroy lives. "They often act like they own the areas. They think they do."

Deputy Sheehan said they are "united in their concern about the volatility of the situation in Limerick" regarding the absence of an adequate and visible policing presence.

"Limerick is a wonderful place and a city that has come far since the dark says of 20 years ago, yet the lack of an active and visible policing presence has become a defining feature of our city. In a recent reply to a parliamentary question, it was revealed that of the 120 gardaí who attested from Templemore this month, only two were assigned to Limerick. That is 1.6% of the total number."

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Deputy Sheehan added that the model for assigning gardaí is failing Limerick. "Limerick has nine of the 17 economic blackspots in the city. It is the home of St Mary's Park, which is a wonderful community but also the most deprived community in the State. The residents of this community do not deserve to live in the shadow of a minority of drug-dealing vultures who peddle crack cocaine, an evil insidious drug.

"We have a feud again in Limerick. We have had shootings, pipe bomb attacks and fire bombings. It is a miracle nobody has been killed... We need at least ten additional gardaí in the next passing out from Templemore. I ask the Minister to intervene directly before someone is killed."

Deputy Sheehan also raised the need for funding approval for the CCTV system in Moyross. He said an application for a CCTV scheme for Garryowen has been with the Commissioner for over two months.

The Labour Party TD remarked that this situation is akin to the way it was in the early 2000s. "We need a similar level of urgency as there was between 2008 and 2010 when we stamped this out. We are going backwards and I am literally terrified that somebody is going to be murdered in Limerick again soon."

Deputy Quinlivan echoed Deputy Sheehan's concerns, saying that the Government needs to commit to a fully resourced Garda operation targeting drug dealing and feuding.

"The scale of drug dealing in parts of Limerick city is worse than ever. It is off the scale. It is a miracle nobody has been killed in the gang feud that is going on across our city. Gardaí have said that, not me. Too many Limerick communities feel abandoned. In recent weeks we have had shootings and petrol bomb attacks in the Ballinacurra Weston, Southill, Garryowen, Thomondgate and King's Island areas of our great city."

Deputy Quinlivan said the sale of crack cocaine is pure evil. "It has a devastating impact not only on the drug users but on their families and the wider community. Crack cocaine, one of the most destructive and addictive drugs, is peddled to the most desperate of our citizens. There are reports of children selling crack cocaine and I am on the public record as saying that previously."

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Deputy Quinlivan added that Limerick had 92 community gardai in 2008 but now has 30.

"About a week ago there was a petrol bomb attack in an area of the city. It took two hours for a Garda response to come to that, even though it was on social media for an hour before the gardaí came out to it. We never got the gardaí we were promised and communities have been left abandoned. As I have said, crack cocaine did not just appear in Limerick; organised gangs brought it to Limerick."

Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, Emer Higgins said she was in Limerick earlier this week and that the issue of crime was raised by Limerick Chamber of Commerce. 

"An Garda Síochána has advised the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, that it is carrying out a range of high-visibility and covert operations on an ongoing basis to support public safety in Limerick. Operation Croí has been in place in Limerick city centre, targeting antisocial behaviour and associated offences, including drug-related and traffic-related offences.

"Deputy Quinlivan raised community gardaí and the need to invest in them... At the end of April this year, there were 585 Garda members of all ranks assigned to the Limerick division. I am told that is an increase of almost 6% since the end of the previous decade."

Deputy Quinlivan disputed this figure, saying "it is down 5% in the last five years."

Deputy Higgins responded, saying: "According to the figures that have been provided to me by the Department of Justice, there was a 6% increase in the ten years previous to 2025... A number of key actions have been taken as part of our plan to tackle organised crime and the crime groups behind those types of acts.