The Minister for Justice walked the streets of Rathkeale tonight in a show of solidarity with locals who called for more gardai on the beat to tackle a violent feuding in the town.
Minister Simon Harris said any additional garda resources required by Gardai in Rathkeale “would be forthcoming” to tackle feuding factions.
He pledged that those involved in such violence would be pursued by the State: “No part of this country is beyond the reach of the law”.
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Mr Harris, who had direct talks with the head of the Limerick Garda Division, Chief Superintendent Derek Smart, said some additional garda resources had already being provided to local gardai to help them keep a lid on rising tensions between rival factions in the town.
Mr Harris said Monday’s violence was “abhorrent and utterly unacceptable, and will not be tolerated by An Garda Siochana”.
He added that Rathkeale was a “proud town with great people in it”.
The Minister's walkabout comes as gardai carrying submachine guns and automatic pistols assisted unarmed colleagues who set up checkpoints in Rathkeale earlier on Tuesday.
Increased armed patrols have been deployed to the west county Limerick town to help local Gardai to try to keep a lid on rising tensions between feuding Traveller families in the town.
Garda Checkpoints were placed along a stretch of road Tuesday where at least six vehicles were written off in a number of violent ramming incidents on Monday.
Video footage of the aftermath of the violence showed several cars destroyed and abandoned and what appeared to be a number of machetes left on the road near the damaged vehicles.
Gardai were investigating several lines of enquiry as they probed the motive behind it, however it is understood one theory being examined by investigators is that Monday’s clashes may have been linked to a recent altercation between parties at a pub in west Limerick.
Members of the Garda Armed Support Unit (ASU), carried SIG Suer semi-automatic self-loading pistols, and held Heckler & Koch MP7 personal defence weapons - which can fire ammunition that can penetrate body armour - as they assisted unarmed uniformed Garda officers at checkpoints.
The armed unit, which was also patrolling the town throughout the day, has been a regular enough visitor in Rathkeale over the past several weeks in response to a number of recent incidents.
Weapons were recovered at a property in the town last month and a mobile home was attacked by men wearing balaclavas and armed with machetes.
Sources said Gardai have also been monitoring members of a group from Limerick City, who are not from the Travelling Community, who it is claimed have been attempting to extort land and property from local Traveller families which is also fuelling tensions locally.
A reliable source said that at least one other local group is suspected of being involved in the importation of drugs from South East Europe, however gardai did not immediately respond when asked about this.
Chair of the local joint police committee, and Fine Gael Councillor, Adam Teskey, today called a special meeting of committee members, local TDs, and senior Gardai to go ahead on Friday “to hear what policing plans are going to be put in place and to see if we can come up with a strategy for tackling this once and for all”.
“This has to be rooted out once and for all, and I am calling on the Minister for Justice to come to Rathkeale to walk the town with myself or other public representatives to see exactly what we need here on the ground.”
“We need to have a more proactive approach to policing this, we need to have armed responses from Gardai, we need to have more information gathering in relation to what is happening, and we need to build up an element of trust between members of the force and the general community.”
“We need to arm our Gardai appropriately to deal with this situation - a can of pepper spray is not going to sort this out.”
“For any ordinary member of An Garda Siochana that would have been on the beat on the street yesterday, if they came on that on a regular patrol, they would have been unable to deal with the level of what happened.”
A sense of calm was restored to the town Tuesday as locals went about their normal business, shops were busy, parking was at a premium, however the presence of armed Gardai on the streets was a stark reminder of the violence that erupted locals on Monday.
“Rathkeale this morning has returned to normal, there is a sense of calm, however one cannot ignore what did happen in the town last night,” said Cllr Teskey.
“It’s unfortunate to see a minority causing such harm, and I would call on the factions involved to seize their actions immediately before our town is completely destroyed.”
Gardai said they were continuing to investigate “the serious public order incident” in Rathkeale, on Monday.
“Gardaí received report of a number of vehicles engaged in dangerous driving on the R523 Road, Boherbui, in Rathkeale town and attended the scene,” said a spokesman.
“Responding Gardaí directed a large number of people present to disperse and closed the road for examination. A number of vehicles abandoned in the road were seized by Gardaí and taken for technical examination.”.
Gardai declined to comment when asked if they had recovered weapons following Monday’s violence.
“No arrests have been made. Investigations are ongoing,” the spokesman said.
He appealed “to anyone who may have witnessed this incident to come forward” and he appealed that “any person in the Rathkeale area between 2pm and 4pm who may have video footage or photographs, including road users, to make those images available to Gardaí”.
“Anyone with any information is asked to contact Rathkeale Garda Station on 069 63 222 , the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 , or any Garda station.”
Gardai did not disclose details of its traditional policing plan in Rathkeale for the Christmas period, when the town’s population effectively trebles from 1400 due to an influx of members of the Travelling Community.
A garda spokesman said: “A policing plan for Rathkeale continues in place, commensurate with the current policing need, primarily based on Community engagement and High visibility uniform patrols and static checkpoints, supported where necessary by Regional Units.
He added: “Local Garda Management, across the Country put in place local policing plans for the Christmas period. These Policing plans are monitored and assessed on an ongoing basis and reviewed in line with evolving incidents and risks.”
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