MERCHANT’S QUAY in Limerick was bristling with armed gardaí, TV cameras, photographers, journalists, and curious onlookers.

Fundraising runs, walks, and cycles in one county could be put at risk after a senior garda warned that dwindling resources may result in the withdrawal of Garda support for such events.

Happy the bride the sun shines on, an old saying goes, and so it was yesterday for a radiant Hilary Stephenson who married Kerry footballer Kieran ‘Star’ Donaghy between the wintry showers in Waterville.

Four Kerry children are spending their first Christmas without their father, who was killed in a hit and run accident close to his home on July 1.

Pleas were renewed yesterday for information that could lead to the arrest of a driver involved in a fatal hit-and-run in Co Kerry.

THE head of the Limerick Garda division said yesterday a huge drop in crime, particularly burglaries, during the month of January in Limerick city and county, was possibly due to the icy weather preventing criminals travelling on the treacherous road conditions.

A DEFIANT Limerick bakery owner, who gave an exclusive interview to the Irish Examiner earlier this week about his life driving a bread van with armed protection, has said it would be too risky for him to accept an invitation to go on the Late Late Show.

The father of murdered Limerickman Roy Collins said he can forgive his son’s killers.

Gardaí in Limerick have made a third arrest this morning in connection with the murder of Roy Collins last week.

IT is believed Limerick businessman Roy Collins was able to give vital information on his assailants as he lay dying to a detective who rushed to his aid.

GARDA Commissioner Fachtna Murphy has made changes in senior ranks of the force in the southern region.

THE recession was given a rest in Limerick last night as thousands of Irish and French rugby fans saturated the city for Munster’s first Heineken Cup game at the new €40 million Thomond Park.

GARDAÍ said more than 10 shots were fired at a house on the outskirts of Limerick early yesterday.

A REVOLVER and more than 200 bullets were found during house searches in Ballynanty on the north side of Limerick city yesterday.

IN a dramatic operation, heavily armed detectives rescued a uniformed female colleague from the grips of a violent criminal as he pressed a knife to her throat and threatened to slit it.

CONTROVERSIAL Limerick solicitor John Devane yesterday claimed his intervention between Limerick feuding gangs has been the “‘catalyst”’ for a reported peace deal.

THE break-up of a teenage romance may have sparked the fatal stabbing in Limerick that claimed the life of a 16-year-old Ukrainian boy.

A SCHOOLBOY aged 14 was found wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying a knife when he was arrested early yesterday in Limerick’s St Mary’s Park.

LIMERICK gardaí yesterday mounted an extensive offensive in the gang stronghold of St Mary’s Park.

LIMERICK gardaí expect to charge a man shortly in connection with the murder of a father of three.

GARDAÍ yesterday arrested a teenager after two gunmen terrorised a Limerick community. They are looking for another man.

TWO women and two men were being questioned by gardaí in Limerick last night in connection with the murder of Gareth Grant in St Mary’s Park on October 8 last.

A MAN in his 20s was last night questioned by gardaí in Limerick in connection with the death of Sylvia Roche Kelly whose naked body was found in a hotel bathroom last Saturday.

THE mother of two whose naked body was found in a bath in a Limerick hotel may have met her killer through an internet dating site.

A YOUTH, aged 17, was yesterday questioned by gardaí in Limerick investigating the murder of Gary Grant who was shot dead on Monday, October 8.

GARDAÍ revealed yesterday they are satisfied as to the identity of the gunman that killed Gary Grant in Limerick last week.

TWO PENSIONERS have been arrested in connection with Monday’s fatal gun attack in Limerick city, as it emerged that a second man died earlier on the same day following a violent assault in the city centre two weeks ago.

A 25-year-old man was shot dead seconds after armed gardaí patrolled the scene of the killing.

GARDAÍ in Limerick yesterday denied a newspaper report that a teenage boy was raped in a city centre cafe.

SHOTS were fired outside the home of a recent murder victim in a Limerick feud on Monday afternoon.

LIMERICK gardaí are investigating a brutal sexual assault on a teenage boy.

THE garda leading the Noel Campion murder hunt moved yesterday to reassure witnesses who fear giving information.

A NOTORIOUS Limerick gang is suspected of carrying out the city’s latest murder after a man was gunned down on a busy street yesterday morning.

IT MAY take up to two weeks before gardaí establish if a Polish man who died following an assault at a house party in Limerick was murdered.

A MAJOR reorganisation of senior garda management in the Mid-West kicks in today with Limerick getting its first detective superintendent.

A woman is in a critical condition at Ennis General Hospital this evening after being discovered unconscious on the side of the road in a village in County Clare.

AN Aer Lingus flight was involved in a mid-Atlantic bomb scare yesterday.

AN investigation has been launched after a woman claimed she was raped by a gang of five men who entered her home through an open front door.

AN INVESTIGATION into the murder of a hackney driver in Co Clare centred last night on a man seen acting suspiciously near the apartment block where the victim lived.

A PATHOLOGIST'S report has indicated there was more than one killer involved in the murder of Ennis hackney driver Liam Moloney.

A KEEN sports fan, friends of murdered hackneyman Liam Moloney were surprised when he failed to show up for the Ireland rugby match on Saturday.

A Shannon-based garda, who was suspended from duty earlier today, has been charged with threatening a woman due to appear as a witness in a public order case against him.

Four teenagers raped a Limerick woman after locking her partner in the boot of a car and attacking them both with golf clubs, a court heard today.

A 35-YEAR-OLD woman was being treated in hospital last night after a horrific gang rape involving one man and four teenagers.