Gardaí taking dissidents’ murder claim ‘seriously’

GARDA Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said yesterday officers were taking seriously a claim by dissident republicans they were involved in the murder of Cork criminal Gerard Staunton.

The 42-year-old was shot dead last week as he was getting into his car outside a house in Westlawn, Sarsfield Road, Cork.

Speaking to journalists at a graduation of 258 gardaí at Templemore College, Commissioner Murphy said: “Yes I am aware of the claim by a dissident republican group in relation to that murder and An Garda Síochána are taking that seriously.

“There has been some activity in the Cork area in relation to dissidents.”

He said dissident republicans were a big issue for both the gardaí and the PSNI.

“I can tell you we are working closely with the PSNI and there are people in this jurisdiction that support dissident republicanism. They are a threat to law and order and a particular threat to the PSNI,” he said.

This was evidenced, he said, by a recent bomb attack which seriously injured PSNI Constable Peader Hefferon in the North.

Meanwhile, junior justice minister Sean Curran, who presented certificates to the new graduates, said tackling so-called head shops – accused of causing wide scale problems with the products they sell – would require a series of measures because it involved complex issues.

He said the Department of Environment along with Trade and Employment had been asked to look at head shop operations through planning and insurance legislation.

The minister said the situation of head shops had arisen right across Europe and, to date, European states had been able to deal with their operations. He suggested there needed to be a concerted effort on the matter right across Europe.

Closing the shops by itself would not solve the matter, he said, as the products would be available on the internet.

At the graduation, the Commissioner’s Medal for best academic student went to Garda Deirdre Holland from Turloughmore, Co Galway, who is stationed in Roscommon; Garda Louise Gernon from Dundalk, stationed in Balbriggan, won the Gary Sheehan Memorial Medal for the best all-round student and the Templemore Town Council Medal for social science studies went to Garda Derek McEvoy from Paulstown, Co Kilkenny, stationed in Clonmel.