A Limerick man who blasted part of his own arm off with a shotgun during a siege-like incident near the town of Askeaton is recovering from the ordeal, the Limerick Independent can exclusively reveal.

The man, who is in his 40s, shot himself after Askeaton Gardai had sealed off the scene, surrounding the local man, and had called in a trained Garda Negotiator based in Limerick City to try to end the standoff in a peaceful way.

A number of Gardai in Limerick have now become trained as negotiators, after members of the force were ordered to do so, as recommended in the Barr Tribunal, set up to investigate the shooting dead of John Carthy in a siege in Abbeylara, Longford in 2000.

"Local Gardai were dealing with the situation and called in back-up in the form of a trained Garda negotiator to try and handle the situation with regard to getting a peaceful conclusion to the incident," Sgt Vincent McCoy, Askeaton Gardai told the Limerick Independent.

It's understood the man left a house in the Askeaton area where he had been holed up and then travelled to a pier before Gardai called in the specially trained negotiator.

The man received what is understood to have been a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the upper part of one of his arms before Gardai moved in and took control of the situation.

"We had a doctor and an ambulance on standby. The man was taken to hospital in Limerick but he was later transferred to hospital in Cork where I believe he has undergone reconstructive surgery," said Sgt McCoy.

The number of siege incidents involving armed people has increased over the past few years and Gardai have had to combat the problem by providing extra special training to officers at the Garda College in Templemore.

Late last year two seperate siege's ensued with Gardai after a man threatened to blow up a house in Tipperary.

A man was shot with a bean bag style gun in Gort, Galway by armed Gardai after he had holed up inside a house armed with a gun.

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