No such thing as ganglands: garda chief

ONE of the country’s most senior crime officers has predicted that gardaí are close to significant developments in their investigations into several fatal shootings over the past year.

He also denied that parts of the country were now effectively ‘no-go’ areas for officers.

“There is no such thing as ganglands out there,” insisted Chief Superintendent Peter Maguire. He said major progress had been made in many murder cases, with more people likely to be brought to court in the near future.

“There are more people being charged with murder now than there was ever at any time before,” he observed.

Chief Supt Maguire criticised the media for what he claimed was a fixation with so-called gangland crime.

He said he objected to the use of the phrase because of the distress it caused the families of some murder victims as well as suggesting some parts of Ireland were no-go areas for gardaí.

“It diminishes and marginalises further the victims. It has the effect of inflicting greater torment and anguish on the victim’s family and those he has left behind,” said Chief Supt Maguire, who heads the Dublin Metropolitan North Division, the location of many so-called gangland murders.

“There’s not a street in any village in Ireland that a garda cannot walk down on his own at any time of day or night,” he added.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s This Week programme, he stressed that crimes such as the fatal shooting of 24-year -old Gerard Goulding in the Dublin suburb of Donaghmede last week were usually the result of a falling-out between criminal gangs who controlled the country’s illegal drug trade.

Chief Supt Maguire said many of the murders related to disputes over territory and money between various gangs but said he was reluctant to describe those responsible for such crimes as “big-time gangsters”. He claimed many of the victims had a common background, in that they were vulnerable young men from marginalised communities.

Although crime levels are falling and detection rates are improving, Chief Supt Maguire acknowledged that criminal gangs had easier access to a range of lethal weapons than in the past.

He also accepted that some important witnesses were fearful of coming forward with information about serious crime but promised gardaí would “take out of circulation” criminals who were holding their communities to ransom.

Meanwhile, gardaí arrested two teenagers yesterday in connection with a weekend shooting in Dublin. A 21-year-old was taken to Beaumont Hospital after receiving gunshot wounds when he answered a caller to his front door at around 11.20pm on Saturday at an apartment block at Cromcastle Court, Kilmore West. His injuries are not life-threatening. A 17-year-old and 19-year-old were detained under Section 30 the Offences against the State Act. They can be held for 72 hours.