DESPITE reports of significant resourcing challenges, Gardaí in Limerick are cracking down on local drug dealers as a series of recent operations led to the seizure of close to €1million in drugs across the city and county.
In the past 12 weeks, the Limerick’s Divisional Drugs Unit, supported by other crime units, seized over €700,000 of illegal drugs, cash, and guns, the Limerick Post has learned.
Limerick crime fighters severely dented the operations of the local drugs trade, with several individuals who Gardaí allege are involved in organised crime groups being brought before the criminal courts on Mulgrave Street.
However, despite Garda successes in drug seizures, a spokeswoman for local drug addiction and homeless charity Novas, Julie McKenna, warned that Limerick is in the grips of a “crack cocaine epidemic”.
And, in a sobering assessment of the local drugs landscape, Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan told this newspaper that he and others involved local drug addiction services are concerned of a return of “inter-gang warfare breaking out again in parts of the city, which requires a robust Garda response”.
For the decade following the late 90s, a deadly drug gang feud resulted in 20 murders, including innocent members of the public who were caught up in the crossfire or shot dead because they would not cooperate with the gangs.
And, despite the mammoth task, local Gardaí – with the help of communities that were destroyed by drugs – toppled the Dundon McCarthy crime network that was responsible for many of the murders.
Today, drugs continue to pour into the city, “and the problem for Limerick is we don’t have enough Gardaí”, Deputy Quinlivan this week warned.
“The scale of the Garda response clearly demonstrates the scale of the problems we have, and we do need to make sure these Garda operations and drug support services are maintained across the city.
“I do have a concern that the drug situation has got out of hand, and that we have a drugs epidemic, as has been told to me by people working in the services of crack cocaine – and that’s across the whole city.
“We need a robust Garda response, but they can’t respond if they don’t exist. We need to ensure that the Minister for Justice continues to take action over time and make sure she delivers new Gardaí into the Limerick District, which is seriously understaffed.”
Deputy Quinlivan said that the “Justice Minister needs to understand that we’ve had historic problems in Limerick, and she needs to make sure that there’s additional policing put into Limerick so that we can actually address the organised crime gangs that are across the city”.
Deputy Quinlivan praised local Gardaí for “doing the best job that they can”.
“We have some fantastic Gardaí in Limerick and they have good connections with the local communities, which is really important. That’s exactly how it was tackled before.”
In a response to a parliamentary question from Deputy Quinlivan last Thursday (September 26), Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that “as of 30 June, there are 566 Garda members assigned to the Limerick Division and these Garda members work alongside 74 Garda staff”.
Despite the number of Gardaí falling during the summer, Minister McEntee said “recruitment is now gathering real momentum” as the force stood at just over 14,000.
In response to the drug problem locally, Minister McEntee said the Limerick Divisional Drugs Unit and Crime Unit’s had made “significant strides in detecting drug and related offences that has disrupted these criminal organisations”.
Minister McEntee revealed that “in the past three months, Gardaí attached to Limerick have seized over €700,000 of illegal drugs, cash, and firearms”.
“Operation Feabhsaigh, established in September 2023, specifically targeting the sale and supply of illegal drugs, including crack cocaine and anti-social behaviour, in St Mary’s Park and surrounding areas in Limerick City, is a high visibility policing plan targeting individuals and disrupting their criminal activities”.
The Minister said that “unprecedented funding” has been provided to Gardaí for extra resources in tackling organised crime.
She also highlighted how Limerick Gardaí “work in conjunction with the Ana Liffey Drug Project and HSE” in referring people in addiction, with consent, to local drug support services.