The Minister for Justice has condemned what have been described as public order and dangerous driving incidents in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, as members of the garda regional armed support unit arrive to back local officers.
Yesterday afternoon, gardaà in the town responded to a report of a number of vehicles driving dangerously in the town.
When they arrived at the scene, they ordered a number of people to disperse and the road was closed for examination.
Simon Harris has condemned the incident, saying that what happened was “absolutely unacceptable”.
He said he was assured that an enhanced policing presence will continue to be part of the policing plan in Rathkeale over Christmas.
“There is no place for this kind of violence in our society,” Minister Harris said. “I know the community in Rathkeale is rightly proud of their town and abhor these appalling acts.”
The Minister of State for Skills and Further Education, Niall Collins, said that six SUVs were badly damaged in the incident yesterday.
Mr Collins, a Fianna Fáil TD for Limerick, said that there was debris spread across the street after the incident, “spread over possibly an area of 150 yards, 250 yards”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, he said that people in the area were “rightly angered” because Rathkeale is a “fine town with some very fine people in the community groups working very hard to enhance and promote the town”.
He said that he spoke with the Minister for Justice last night and briefed him on the situation.
Mr Collins also said that the town faces particular challenges at this time of the year when “the population triples or almost quadruples”.
“There has to be a dedicated policing plan, a dedicated HSE public health plan has to be rolled out also to ensure proper delivery of public health,” he said.
“Lots of traffic issues, lots of policing issues have been arising for the last number of years. The annual policing plan has to be reviewed and approved locally by An Garda SÃochána.”
Gardai & Armed response units on patrol in #Rathkeale today following public order and dangerous driving incident pic.twitter.com/iD1Wd6wGya
— Tomás O MainnÃn (@omainnintomas) December 20, 2022
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Joint Policing Committee of Limerick City and County Adam Teskey said it is “grotesque and barbaric behaviour” which is “completely out of the norm for the area”.
The Fine Gael councillor called for increased garda resources and emergency legislation to help deal with the problem.
“This grotesque behaviour which occurred yesterday evening has no place in our society whatsoever.
“This barbaric act has to be stopped immediately.”
Mr Teskey said law and order must be restored and he called on Minister Harris to visit the town.
He also said that more resources and emergency legislation are needed to deal with the situation.
“My heart goes out to members of An Garda SÃochána who have to attend these scenes to try and proactively police these scenes.
“They need more resources urgently and emergency legislation will have to be passed through the Oireachtas to deal with the situation we are having across all our communities in this country.”
Meanwhile, gardaà are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the incident in Rathkeale yesterday afternoon to contact them.
They are asking any road users who were travelling in the Rathkeale area between 2pm and 4pm yesterday, who may have camera footage (including dash cam) to make it available to gardaÃ.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Rathkeale Garda Station on 069 63 222, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.
Harris: Rathkeale incident ‘absolutely unacceptable’
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