All gardaí would be needed to stop feuds, O’Dea
He said those involved in the feud were behaving like barbarians.
The minister said the shooting of five-year-old Jordan Crawford arose directly out of the ongoing gang feud in the city.
“There are some people still going around who are prepared to shoot without scruple, without hesitation, without a second thought or first thought in most cases, regardless of who they kill, injure or maim in pursuit of their activities on behalf of one gang or other,” Mr O’Dea said.
“It is has to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.”
He said it was rubbish to say that Justice Minister Michael McDowell was not providing enough gardaí in Limerick.
“Michael McDowell can never provide enough gardaí to compel everybody who would tic-tac like a barbarian to act otherwise. The fact is that the gardaí in Limerick, and this has not been highlighted in the media, in the past few days alone have had a number of magnificent successes in Operation Anvil,” Mr O’Dea told RTÉ Radio.
“The gardaí are combating crime in Limerick in the same way they are in every other city. If you were to have gardaí to prevent a recurrence of an attack on every house in Limerick that has been attacked, you would need the whole garda force.”
Separately, Mr McDowell pledged that all necessary supports would be given to the gardaí in their fight against crime in the city.
At a press conference in Government Buildings to launch two garda reports, he described the shooting of Jordan Crawford as “vicious” and “savage”.
“The Garda Commissioner knows very well that in terms of money available for overtime or garda resources for the ERU or surveillance or whatever has to be done, the Government backs him 100%,” Mr McDowell said.
He warned, however, that gardaí would have to be tempered in their approach.
“You cannot turn a community into an armed camp.”
