Six houses were targetted by a gunman last night in St. Ita’s Street at approximately 2045 hrs.
The gunman emerged from a taxi and opened fire with what is believed to be a machine gun, on the six houses, which were all occupied at the time, some with children.
He then made his getaway in the taxi, which was later found by Gardai and is currently undergoing forensic examination.
Thje taxi was stolen on St. Patrick’s Day
This morning, a Limerick man was featured on NewsTalk’s breakfast Show talking about his ongoing battle with heroin.
Known to those of you who visit boards.ie as “ricey” he gave his account of how he got into drugs, and the effect it has had on his family.
The audio is below
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His ongoing accounts can be found here.
I’m torn over this issue both in favour of, and against Gardai having guns while on patrol.
It seems that after three months of special training, six sergeants and 25 Gardai will have guns in their patrol cars in Limerick.
The purist in me would like the Gardai to remain unarmed. It is what distinguishes the Irish police force from most other forces in the world.
However, realistically, there is no other option, when you have people taking pot shots at one another, and taking pot shots at Gardai, then what choice do you have left.
The pilot scheme to arm Gardai will take place in both Limerick and Cork, best to get the bugs out before we give the culchies patrolling Dublin 4 a firearm eh?
And to show us all that he cares, Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan will be kissing hands and shaking babies in Moyross and Southill tomorrow, and will be seeing for himself what the regeneration crowd are doing in those areas.
No doubt he will spend the day telling us that “crime will be stamped out in this city” in a similar fashion to the way Michael McDowell, his predecessor said it.
From the Clare People comes this scary claim relating to a young businesswoman who went into hospital for laser eye treatment, and within a year she was almost blind.
Am I the only one not surprised at something like this?
Dermot Roche was at the Great Friday festival in Morroe, and sent in the following review and photographs.
All photos: Dermot Roche and Epi Rogan.
The Great Friday Festival. What can we say only that Good Fridays will never be the same again. A shaky start to the days festivities with a dash of wind and rain, the weather eventually held out long enough to treat revellers to a abundance of Limerick musical talent.
With the golden age of Limerick music in full swing, party goers were spoiled for choice with music from We Should Be Dead, The Fewer The Better, Idle Hands, Walter Mitty and The Realists, Seneca, Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters, Verfield, Blackstar, Lavelle, Confused Nation, Qazi Qazi Khan, Benoit and Maciek.
The event which kicked off at 10am and went on till midnight was the culmination of months of hard work from Dave Behan and the Great Friday crew who kept the location a secret right up until the day itself.
Festival goers were taken by bus from Arthurs Quay to the undisclosed location all of which was included in the ticket price of just €20.
We Should Be Dead, The Fewer The Better and Idle hands to name but a few truly made this festival one to remember. But in this simple mans opinion it was Walter Mitty and the Realists who stole the show with their original brand of new wave funkadelica. Frontman Niall Mc Teigue (with his uncanny resemblance to razorlight front man Johnny Borrell) set the world to rights with his electric performance. Knockout stuff.
It is with anticipation that we look to next years Great Friday Festival which promises to be bigger and better than this years… if that were possible.
The profits from the day went to Worthy Cause to support the building of the Self Help Community Centre in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
More photographs below the fold.
Members of Sinn Fein in procession during their Easter Rising commemoration on Sunday
Easter Rising commemorations were held in Limerick City and county to mark the 96nd anniversary of the rebellion by Irish republicans against the British in 1916.
In Limerick City, members of Sinn Fein gathered at the entrance to Mount St. Lawrences cemetery and proceeded to the Republican plot.
Vice chairperson for Limerick City Sinn Fein, Tom Collopy chaired the proceedings, which included a wreath laying by Maurice Quinlivan, and a speech by Northern Ireland Assembly member Cathal Boylan.
The Proclamation was read by Jenny Loughman.
During his main speech, Mr. Boylan mentioned what he called the plight of the undocumented Irish in the United States. “There is an important role for politicians on this side of the Atlantic in continuing to support this campaign by sending a clear message to American that we need compromise to allow the many Irish people living and working in America to have their contributions properly recognised and their status formalised.” he told the gathered crowd.
He also tried to allay fears that may be present in the Unionist community in the North. “Unionists should be assured that republicans are totally committed to equality. Equality for everybody. Despite the objectionable behaviour of some bigots good work is being done at grassroots level by some local unionist and republican leaders in areas in the north. Sinn Fein commends this work.”
Highlighting Sinn Fein’s objections to the upcoming Lisbon Treaty referendum, he said “It gives the EU too much power. It will include a Major loss of power for us – we will have no commissioner for five out of every fifteen years – that means we will have no voice at the table when important decisions are being taken.”
Meanwhile, a sizable crowd attended the republican Sinn Fein ceremony in Broadford, County Limerick
During this ceremony, Des Long, member of the party’s executive said that the “Stormont Agreement is presented as a path to a united Ireland by Gerry Adams but as ensuring the Union with Britain by Ian Paisley.”
“The Agreement cannot guarantee both outcomes, hence the continued political hypocrisy surrounding it,” he said. Some one has to speak the truth – and the truth is that Ireland is still divided; partition is in place with a border enforced by the British Military presence. Ian Paisley is
right when he says the Provisionals are no longer Republicans but now work for the British Crown.” he told those present.
Soccer news, Limerick 37 went down to their second away defeat of the season courtesy of another penalty in a one nil reverse to newcomers, Sporting Fingal at Morton stadium in Santry last night. Three games for Limerick and every goal has come courtesy of the penalty spot! Must be some sort of record!
Rugby news. Munster had a comprehensive bonus point 42-6 win against Ulster in the Magners league tonight and scored six tries along the way. Doug Howlett scored his first try for the men in red and the win puts Munster up to third in the table with a game against table toppers Leinster to come in the middle of April
Boxing news. Andy Lee suffered his first professional defeat last night and according to all and sundry only has himself to blame! The Limerick native was stopped in the seventh round by Brian Vera at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut in the early hours of this morning.
Referee Tony Chiarantano stepped in to stop the fight at 2 minutes, 17 seconds in the seventh round, to hand the 23-year-old middleweight a first loss in 16 professional bouts.
When the fight was stopped, the official scorecards had Lee ahead by 58-55, 59-54 and 58-55. Andy admitted he had nobody but himself to blame after the fight. Before leaving for a local hospital for stitches and a CAT scan, a bloodied and battered Lee admitted: ‘Credit to him, he drew me into a fight. It was my own fault. I didn’t listen to Emanuel (Steward).’ Steward said afterwards: ‘Andy wanted to fight him too much. He stayed on the inside too much, trying to fight him and he got tagged. We’re already trying to set up a rematch in July. Andy just made a mistake. He let Vera turn it into a brawl.’
Brief post on some of the stories in the news today
Workplace fatality: The CEO of Mr. Binman, Martin Sheehan, has sent his condolences to a man who died whilst working at the Mr. Binman facility in County Limerick yesterday. The man’s identity will not be released until all family members have been notified.
Repatriated: The remains of hit-and-run victim Elizabeth Gubbins were repatriated to Ireland last night. After arriving at Cork airport last night, her family have now returned to Limerick. Her funeral will take place on Tuesday.
Moyross drugs seizure: The 36 year old man who was arrested after a €460,000 seizure of Heroin in Moyross has been released without charge. A file is to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Radiowaves.fm reports that RTE have begun trials of Digital Audio Broadcasting in Cork and Limerick.
Tests on the new broadcasting format began in the Greater Dublin area last year, and with the addition of Cork and Limerick, now 44 percent of the population can now access the service.
Gardai in Limerick have recovered €460,000 worth of heroin in a house in Moyross.
€6,000 worth of cocaine was also seized during the raid, which took place at 1200 hrs today.
A man in his 30s is reported to be helping Gardai with their enquiries.
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