Assault sparked violent rampage in Limerick town

THE DESTRUCTION and violence seen on the streets of Rathkeale this week where jeeps were rammed into each other like “dodgems” and vehicles attacked by men wielding slash hooks and spades was sparked by a serious assault, Limerick Live has learned.

Video footage of the incidents which left up to eight luxury jeeps written off and weapons scattered on the ground has caused a public outcry, with Minister for Justice Simon Harris visiting the town on Tuesday evening and saying the scenes were “utterly abhorrent”.

A special meeting of the Joint Policing Committee has been called for this Friday by Cllr Adam Teskey who has appealed to “whomever is orchestrating this to stop”.

“It is now getting to the stage that inevitably someone innocent will get caught up in this and be seriously hurt or even worse,” said Cllr Teskey.

Minister for Justice visits Rathkeale following 'utterly abhorrent' violence in town

Limerick Live has learned that Monday’s eruption of violence was caused by a dispute over a serious assault for which a man is serving a long prison sentence.

It is believed that the convicted man’s family are fighting with a number of other families who were on the victim’s side in the court case.

Minister of State Niall Collins condemned the “senseless violence” which occurred in Rathkeale on Monday.

“This is not behaviour that can be tolerated in a civilised society. It is a miracle that an innocent person wasn't seriously hurt or even worse. Parents were collecting their children around this time.

“It was a very upsetting experience for locals and bears no reflection on the good people of Rathkeale who are having their town's good name sullied by a minority,” said Mr Collins.

Cllr Kevin Sheahan said he had spoken out publicly in the Limerick Leader in recent weeks that “something was brewing”.

“It has been like a tinderbox for the last few weeks. There is tension between families. There are undercurrents in Rathkeale this year that have been absent for several years. The last two or three years have been relatively quiet in Rathkeale and we dropped our defences,” said Cllr Sheahan.

Minister for State Patrick O’Donovan said the perpetrators need to be dealt with by “every element of the law, not just the gardai but Customs and Excise and the Revenue as well. This is totally intolerable in broad daylight, not even an attempt to conceal it and carrying on with some sort of macho, brainless bravado.

“It needs to be absolutely unmercifully rooted out by every element of the law. The people associated with this need to be rounded up and dealt with. There is only one way to fight intimidation and that is with intimidation. They are not welcome in the area, they have no place in the area and they need to be rooted out. They only place for people like that is behind bars and I don’t mean for one lap of the revolving door, I mean for a considerable period of time,” said Mr O’Donovan.

Gardai are ramping up operations and visibility in Rathkeale above and beyond the policing plan already in place with extra patrols – both armed and uniformed officers.

Gardai were in the area on Monday and responded within minutes. They are appealing to any person with information to contact them.