Lives smashed to pieces in gangland violence

The harm to two children highlights the need for the State, communities, and gardaí to unite to try to combat criminal gangs, says Cormac O’Keeffe.

THE recklessness and barbarity of gangland violence has raised its ugly head again in recent days.

It does this with depressing regularly in certain communities across the country, but it is a reality that rarely pricks the interest of most people.

What has made it different has been the ages of the victims: A six-year-old boy lucky to be alive after a botched gun attack in Ballyfermot, west Dublin, and a 16-year-old youth who had three of his fingers hacked off by a criminal gang in nearby Clondalkin.

“We have become a bit immune as a society to violence in certain areas,” said Eddie D’Arcy, who has worked with disadvantaged young people for 40 years.

“There is a feeling among many people that ‘if they shoot themselves, let them at it’. What has highlighted the issue is the age of the boy shot and the brutality of the attack on the 16-year-old.”

Mr D’Arcy, who still works with young people at Clondalkin Addiction Support Programme, said the degree of violence and intimidation has worsened.

“There is a level of violence and intimidation that is continuous in these areas. What has changed is the violence is more callous now as well as the recklessness of it. Look at the number of murders and shootings outside creches we’ve had.”

He said gangs are very powerful in certain communities and that the structure of them has changed, “They are typically mid-to-late teens and early 20s now — not guys in their 30s or 40s,” said Mr D’Arcy. “They are more volatile, more aggressive, and are enjoying their bit of power. People are afraid of them and they have got money in their pockets.”

He said most of the violence and intimidation centres around drug debts and turf wars between rival gangs.

“Typically you owe a few bob and told if you don’t pay you’ll be severely beaten or worse,” he said. “If you go to the guards there is no agreed response and they can’t offer 24/7 protection. Are you prepared to go to court and give evidence? If you live in the community that’s a big, big ask, as your windows are put in and the family car is burnt out.”

He said that while the majority of kids in these areas don’t get sucked into gangs and drugs, a minority do. For them, the future is bleak. “The chances are that if you are involved at that end of drugs you’ll get shot or asked to shoot someone,” said Mr D’Arcy.

Clondalkin Fianna Fáil councillor Trevor Gilligan yesterday said gangs operating locally “feel they rule the streets and can act with impunity”. causing enormous anxiety to locals.

Like Ballyfermot and Clondalkin, the Crumlin-Drimnagh area has been hit very hard over the decades by drugs and gang violence.

“I don’t see it stopping,” said Susan Collins, a veteran community activist with Addiction Response Crumlin.

“We have young people, 16-17, who owe say €120, and the family gets a knock on the door looking for money. We have a lot of beatings, windows being smashed, houses been shot up, animals being killed.”

She said most people won’t go to the gardaí and are left in an impossible situation as to what to do. She said three young people have left ARC’s rehabilitation project in recent months because of intimidation.

Ms Collins said gangs use violence and intimidation to control communities. “Gangs want to show how powerful they are in the area,” she said. “It’s a show of strength. They shoot up a house on Saturday and are paid on Sunday.”

She is not sure how the situation can be solved, but said the creation of a small committee, led by the minister of justice, including senior gardaí and active community members.

Mr D’Arcy said there is an urgent need for the State, along with communities and gardaí, to adopt an agreed response to gangs for individuals in debt.

“We need an immediate response to young people who are victims of violence and living in fear because they owe money,” he said. “The need to be put in a safe environment, away from gangs. And it’s not just the individual, but their family as well.

“If there is no agreed response it perpetuates the myth these gangs are untouchable and the chances are there will be a really shocking incident and a child will be killed.”

Local family support groups can be found on fsn.ie or by ringing the Family Support Network on 01 8980148

Child victims

June 14: A 16-year-old boy had three of his fingers severed in Bawnogue, Clondalkin, after being chased into a house on Kilcronan Close just after midnight by two men, one armed with a machete. The boy also sustained serious injuries to his arm and leg. A local criminal gang is suspected.

June 13: A six-year-old boy sustained a bullet wound to his shoulder and neck when a gunman mistakenly hit him while attempting to shoot a relative of the child. The boy, Sean Scully, was at the gates of his house on Croftwood Grove, Ballyfermot, at 10.15pm when two men, one armed, opened fire. The attack is thought to be related to a personal feud.

October 5, 2013: A mother and her seven-month-old narrowly escaped with their lives when up to 15 shots were fired into a house on Knockbrack Close, Drogheda. The mother was in the sittingroom and was leaning down to her baby’s cot when one of the bullets grazed her.

June 20, 2012: Five-year-old PJ Duffy had two fingers blown off and another two seriously damaged when he innocently picked up a pipe-bomb left outside his mother’s home in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow.

February 8, 2012: Melanie McCarthy, 16, was shot dead when Daniel McDonnell, then 17, fired shots aimed at her boyfriend into a car at Brookview Way in Tallaght. McDonnell was later convicted of her murder and given a life sentence.