‘We can’t continue to live like this’

THE victim of yesterday’s tiger kidnapping joined a Limerick priest in railing against Ireland’s increasingly violent gun culture.

A traumatised Joe McLaughlin spoke of his ordeal as attackers put a gun to his partner’s head and warned him she would be found dead in a graveyard if he did not follow their instructions.

Mr McLaughlin, owner of the Village Stores and Post Office in Castlebellingham, Co Louth, also hit out at rising crime in Ireland and suggested “not enough gardaí are out on the beat; they are too busy with red tape”.