Dr Hourigan said that child neglect was a root cause of why Limerick's next generation of criminals was quickly spreading.

“The 'code of the street' has taken over, whereby the toughest people on the street have taken over. I felt that this code is been exploited to set up territorial strongholds, and the main agents of imposing their law are young children. It hadn't been recognised as part of the problem before,” she said.

Dr Hourigan's father, former Mayor of Limerick and Fine Gael City Councillor, Michael Hourigan said his constituents have given him first hand experiences of young people terrorising certain areas.

“We must start to work with these youngsters at an early age and single mums and single parent families. Youngsters can be easily influenced and targeted. I know of a man living on the north side who is living a nightmare at the hands of young people. It's too late when these young people are 16/17 because they have already formed into criminality. We have to work with them when they are younger,” Cllr Hourigan said.

However as far back as April 2008, Willie Keane, who has since been appointed an Assistant Garda Commissioner told the Limerick Independent about how worried he was that young children were being sucked in by gangland criminals because they had no other direction in their lives.

Superintendent Keane sounded the alarm in April '08

“I'm very concerned about it. It's a very worrying trend. There was a 14-year old before the court last week and a fifteen year old before the court in the weeks prior to that and both of those were charged with firearms related matters and that's a very worrying trend. These crime gangs are using young people and unfortunately some of these young people come from dysfunctional families or families maybe where there is no great parenting skills,” said Willie Keane.

He added: “Unfortunately there are no role models in these families there is no sense of responsibility instilled in these young people and there's probably no standards to a certain extent and there is certainly no control. These young people invariably drop out of school early and they hang around the streets where they are prey to these gangs and they see the gangs maybe as the family unit and unfortunately they get sucked into the gang and then they are used to carry out the gangs activities. These young people are brought before the courts charged with very serious offences-that is an issue and that had to be tackled.”

Limerick's former most senior Garda explained that: “Education, parenting skills-all that is a huge issue, and I hold great store in the regeneration process that's ongoing at the moment. We have all the agencies around the one table. Education are there, the HSE are there, family and social affairs are there, local authorities are there, the Gardai are there as are people from the communities and that is the key to it in the long term.”

“The gang is the family for the want of a better word and I suppose it gives these young people a certain amount of status in their communities and that is the problem and that is the cycle we have to break. They are not getting the status where they should be getting it, through the family structure or through school or through achievements, they're getting the status through the gang and that is the problem. Unfortunately it's younger they are getting,” the former Limerick Chief Superintendent said.

Recent court cases involving youths

June 2009:

Last week, a 17-year old teenager was sentenced to 10-years detention when he pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court, Dublin to murdering Patrick 'Happy' Coleman at John Carew Park, Limerick in September 2007. The killer was aged just 15 at the time.

October 2008:

14-year old boy convicted of possession of a double barrel sawn off shotgun after shooting twice at a house in Saint Mary's Park in April 2008. The boy was sentenced at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to two and a half years detention and two and a half years supervision.

October 2008:

19-year old Michael Ryan of St Munchin's Street, St Mary's Park sentenced to four years in prison for possession of a double barrel sawn off shotgun after his co-accused (aged 14) shot at a house twice.

April 2008:

13-year old boy arrested by Gardai at Henry Street Garda Station for allegedly driving a car, wearing a bullet-proof vest, and having an implement believed to have been a knife.

October 2007:

Three teenagers jailed for 13-years combined sentences after a petrol bomb attack on a car in Moyross in September 2007 left Gavin (aged 5) and seven-year-old Millie Murray McNamara with serious burns.

Following a trial at Limerick Circuit in October 2007 Jonathan O'Donoghue, aged 18, of Pineview Gardens, Moyross, was sentenced to eight years imprisonment with two years suspended. Talented soccer player, John Mitchell, aged 18, of Delmege Park, Moyross, was given a seven-year sentence with two years suspended.

Both teenagers pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to the two children.

A third youth, Robert Sheehan, aged 17, also of Delmege Park, pleaded guilty to two counts of endangerment and was sentenced to two years detention in St Patrick's Institution and bound to the peace for four years.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment