Limerick ‘needs special garda unit'

A SPECIAL garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) should patrol Limerick permanently to tackle crime, former Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan said yesterday.

Around 240 guns have been seized by Limerick gardaí over the past three years, including firearms used in the gangland feud between rival gangs in the city.

Various types of weapons, including Kalashnikov rifles, sawn-off shotguns, hand guns, pistols, semi-automatic machine guns and two hand grenades have been recovered in searches by gardaí.

“It is time the garda commissioner set up a special ERU in Limerick. When the unit was assigned on a temporary basis to Limerick for a period of several weeks after the murder of Kieran Keane, there were no incidents even though there had been predictions of open warfare between the feuding families,” said the former Minister for Justice.

The Limerick East deputy, who described the organised crime situation as very disturbing, said there was a situation where the gardaí had recovered automatic weapons, hand guns, a car bomb and other firearms.

“It is not sufficient to assign a special unit on a temporary basis to Limerick when a crisis occurs,” said Mr Noonan.

He said fringe elements of the republican movement like the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA have been either giving or selling guns to criminal gangs in Limerick.

“According to the gardaí the main supply of guns is coming from Britainthe UK and is probably sourced in Eastern Europe where, since the collapse of communism, guns have been freely available at cheap prices,” he said.

Superintendent Willie Keane of Henry Street station garda station said: “While the gardaí have been pretty successful so far, we are not complacent as we believe there are more guns out there and we are continuing our crackdown on illegal arms.”

Most of the firearms stolen in Munster and other parts of the country are ending up in Limerick city and have been seized as a result of house searches and well planned operations.

“Most of the guns seized by gardaí have come from house break-ins in different parts of the country.

“Criminals are just going into houses and the guns are there. That’s what is developing this culture of firearms,” said another garda source.