Where Gardai fear to thread..

by Seán Ryan Sun Sep 17, 2006 16:01

Most mainstream press are spinning that the problems in Limerick are down to 'anti-social' behavior.

Ex Fine Gael (blueshirt) leader Michael Nonan was on the radio last week, suggesting the same. He used this opportunity to have a go at the current government. He also suggested that he was a frequent visitor to Moyross. As a former resident and a person who does visit Moyross frequently, I know that Michael's use of the word 'frequent' is very liberal indeed.

I grew up in Glennagross, which was the epicentre of violence and 'anti-social' behaviour in Moyross when I was younger. The 'Glennagross' issue was fixed by our caring authorities, by renaming it.

If one tours Moyross, one is struck by all the burnt-out and boarded-up houses, and by the fact that for the most part, Moyross is fenced off from the rest of the world (Razor wire on top of walls more than 12foot high, is particularly striking). Moyross is the template for a 'prison housing estate' and all its inmates are under arrest.

The media and powers that be, have spun the idea that the Gardaí frequent Moyross, and that they police the place. This is blatent fabrication. I remember one time (only a few years back) being in a friends bungalow there. Some people kicked in the door whilst screaming threats at me (my friend - a taxi driver - was at work at the time - and the people screaming threats at me didn't know me). I escaped out the back door an all but jumped over a ten foot fence to a neighbours back garden.

I made my way to my friend's mother's house and phoned the Gardaí and my friend. My friend arrived within minutes and we went back to his bungalow to await the 'guardians of the peace.' The people who had broken in, were congregated a few bungalows down from my friend's house and drinking outside when we arrived. We didn't approach them, but went into the bungalow to await the Gardaí. Three hours later, we decided to call back to my friend's mother to see what had become of the Gardaí and my 999 call.

We were told that the Gardaí were on their way. We went back to the bungalow to await this. When we arrived we were just in time to witness some of the same pack, who'd initially broken into the house, running out of the bungalow with my friend's belongings. One man stopped to throw my friends stereo at the car we were in (this man, a couple of months later, butchered a man in an other area of Moyross and was the first person to be tried and convicted of such a charge in courts outside Dublin). As we witnessed this, a patrol car finally came into view. We gave chase (in the car) and apprehended two of the criminals inside the grounds of the local church. The Gardaí followed the rest of the pack but apprehended nobody.

We handed the two scumbags over to the Gardaí. We told the Gardaí our stories and named names. We brough to the attention of the Gardaí some cans (the criminals had been drinking whilst in my friend's bungalow, and had left empty cans in his bedroom) and they were recovered by the Gardaí for fingerprint evidence.

The two criminals we'd apprehended for the Gardaí were released by the Gardaí that night (and were never prosecuted).

My friend and I were advised to sleep elsewhere that night and we did so. My friend's home was subsequently burnt down that night. No prosecutions in relation to this ever happened.

A young man who was butchered a few months later on the streets of Moyross, would probably be alive today, if the authorities had given a damn.

More justice - Limerick style: Free the murderers and jail the witnesses - http://indymedia.ie/article/77642

An examination of Irish Justice: Murder is more than an image thing - http://indymedia.ie/article/75087

A breakdown of Irish Law: Crime, a child of need or greed? - http://www.indymedia.ie/article/73972

by Ray McInerney Sun Sep 17, 2006 17:31 Carew Park, Limerick

You forgot to include Kincora Park as one of the areas in Southill.

by Jim Wed Sep 20, 2006 14:23

A report out today (Sept 20th) from bankers Halifax says that public servants are having difficulty buying houses in the country's major cities and that of the five largest cities (Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford) gardai and nurses cannot afford to buy houses in four. The exception is Limerick where house prices are a bit cheaper (as confirmed in above story). This could be quite handy if it resulted in an influx of gardai and nurses into Limerick. The gardai could try solving some of the crime problems and take on the rival gangs, while the nurses could give medical treatment to the victims of both sides!

Usually you will find that the gardai marry the nurses. (I'd love to see the statistic for garda / nurse marriages).