Tánaiste urged to put more gardaí on streets of Cork after shooting

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has been urged to increase garda numbers in Cork city due to fears that the recent shooting of a senior Real IRA member will set off reprisals.

Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan called for the action yesterday as he warned that if dissident paramilitary groups are not monitored closely events could spiral out of control “in the same way as gangland criminality in Dublin in recent times”.

Speaking during a Dáil debate with Ms Fitzgerald, Mr O’Callaghan said he was deeply concerned at the killing earlier this month of Aidan O’Driscoll, who was shot three times on the Commons Road in Blackpool on December 7.