A local councillor has slammed the ongoing gang feud in Finglas amid local fears that an innocent person may be harmed.
Fianna Fail's Paul McAuliffe told RTE'S Morning Ireland that the whole community is currently being reflected badly in the media as a result of recent events.
He said: "Many people's hearts sink in Finglas when they hear this kind of reporting. These incidents represent a tiny fraction of people living in area.
"The huge amount of positive community work, the huge amount of activity that happens in sports and community groups isn't reflected.
Read more: Garda fears that firebomb attacks could ignite Flashy gang war
"It does show that we are dealing with a very small number of people who are willing to go outside of the law in the exploit of their trade which is the illegal drugs industry.
"That activity is having a greater impact on the community than the substance that they sell, and that's a lot to say.
"It's a community that has dealt with addiction and the falls out of it. There are a lot of people that are weary because they are often restricted to the people engaged in that gangland activity.
"There is always the potential that an innocent person or an innocent family can be embroiled in this. I won't go as far as to say that people are living in fear but many people swing between a real sense of an inability to articulate how they feel because it's such a part of daily life now."
The former Lord Mayor believes that laws need to be changed immediately so that drug dealers stop benefiting off people suffering with addiction.
He said: "That's a real issue that we are seeing more and more of these incidents on a frequent basis despite huge activity by the gardai in the area to tackle this issue.
"We need to look at the laws surrounding the sale of drugs. There's a big conversation to have in Ireland about how we deal with drugs and how we lead towards a more health-led approach so that people that have an addiction are dealt with as a health issue.
"We need to find a way so that these people who are exploiting people with a drug addiction don't continue to make the endless sums of money that they do. We need greater policing but we need to make sure that we don't turn into a community that's too heavily policed. The community need to live their lives here too."
Read more: Second home in Finglas targeted in suspected petrol bomb attack
Read more: House of slain gangster James Whelan subject of suspected petrol bomb attack
Sign up to the Dublin Live Newsletter to get all the latest Dublin news straight to your inbox
