O’Dea pleads with families to end bloody Limerick feud

JUNIOR Minister for Justice Willie O’Dea, yesterday made an impassioned plea to the two main families involved in the on-going bloody feud in Limerick city to end the cycle of violence once and for all.

Gardaí investigating the brutal murder of 47-year-old John Ryan, Cliona Park, Moyross, in the Thomondgate area of the city believe this was a revenge attack for the murder of Kieran Keane on January 29 last.

Minister O’Dea described the latest killing in the on-going feud as “horrendous” and pleaded with people attached to both these families to take the initiative to stop these killings.

“There are reasonable people on both sides who do not want this violence to continue as the feud is making their lives a misery and impossible. If somebody on either side might be prepared to talk and be prepared to accept a mediator of their choice so that an agreement can be reached between the two families involved to end this cycle of violence it would be widely welcomed by the community at large,” said the Minister.

“Now is the time for somebody to stand up and ask is there a possibility for the violence to end once and for all not least for the families involved,” he added. The Minister revealed that murder victim, John Ryan had predicted his own violent death a few days ago.

“He called to my clinic and I was trying to help him get suitable accommodation away from the Lee Estate where he had been living,” recalled the Minister.

“He told me how sad he was to have to move from his family home because of the feud and so many attacks on the house. He felt that it was only a matter of time before he, or someone else close to him, would be targeted. Mr Ryan was not involved in the bigger incidents. I couldn’t describe him as a violent man, but he was enraged by the feud and by the suffering of his family. He was a father figure in the Ryan family, not in the feud, but to the family,” Mr O’Dea said.

The Minister paid tribute to the tremendous work being done by the gardaí in Limerick.

“The garda’s record is second to none in the country in dealing with the feud-related incidents. A number of people have already been charged with murder in the courts,” he said.