TD warns 'nowhere is safe from gang warfare'

Nowhere in Ireland is safe from drugs and gang warfare, an opposition TD warned tonight as gardaí investigated whether the country’s latest gun murder was drugs related.

Detectives arrested six people hours after the fatal shooting of a 25-year-old single man at a house party in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

The five men and a woman were detained following the midnight attack in Kilganey in which a second man was also seriously wounded.

Jim O’Keefe, Fine Gael justice spokesman, said the Government could not allow a drugs feud across the country.

“The fact that a traditionally peaceful town like Clonmel has now witnessed a brutal killing, apparently drugs related, shows that nowhere in Ireland is safe from drugs and the terror they bring,” the Fine Gael TD said.

“The Government cannot sit back and allow turf warfare to break out between drug gangs across the nation. Dublin has already suffered enough, and a nationwide drugs feud would be unthinkable.”

Gardaí investigating the brutal murder said two men wearing balaclavas arrived at the house party just before midnight. Around 15 people were believed to be inside.

The attackers singled out their victim and shot him once. A struggle ensued and a second man was shot. The dead man was named locally as Eoin Cahill.

His death follows a spate of gun murders in the Dublin region over the last few weeks, all of which are believed to be drugs related.

Superintendent John McCann, who is heading the murder probe, said officers were following a definite line of inquiry.

But he refused to be drawn on a motive for the killing.

Gardaí made six arrests at a number of locations in Clonmel town and they are being questioned at Clonmel Garda Station.

A Garda spokeswoman said four people were being held in connection with the shooting while two others were being questioned about a burglary on a house.

But she said the six arrests were all part of the same investigation.

A car, understood to have been used in the attack, was found abandoned near the house.

Mr O’Keefe added: “Unfortunately Justice Minister Michael McDowell is all talk and no action. Last year the number of murders shot up by 46%, while serious crimes like firearms offences also rose dramatically.