Crime in Limerick

denismoy

I live in New York and heard that crime in Limerick is bad.I am thinking about doing an investigative journalism piece about it.Are there a lot of gangs?Are people concerened with crime and would they like to see some thing done about it?Are people afraid to talk about it?Is the media giving crime fair and accurate coverage?Are there other places to discuss this topic in Ireland,like websites and discussion groups ect.

krudler

well its not exactly like the bloods vs the crips over here,its mainly two familys who have a gripe who control all the drugs n such,it doesnt really affect movst everyday people though its not like theres gang fights in the streets (there was one once outside supermacs but that was ages ago) main problem in this city and country is that the police,or "guards" are a joke,they mostly all from the arse end of the country and think that pulling over a few motorists a week for minor offences is what being a cop is all about,not stopping real crime,god no what would they want to do that for?

limerick_man

neh, i've never really seen any crime in Limerick, although i was in Dublin on holidays once and saw a guy come over a hit another guy over the head with a glass bottle and just walk off.
I'm sure crime happens though, you'll just have to research to find some crimes and stuff, contact the guardaí.. they'll have loads of files i'm not sure if they let people look at them though.
Limerick is has the second lowest crime rate in Ireland of the cities, but I'm sure you could find something of interest, although nothing like the happenings in New York. Oh, there was a few shootings a few weeks back, but i dont think anyone was injured.. just gun shots fired in Moyross i think!
Thats a big deal here because guns are illegal, so any shot heard makes national news, especially if someone gets hit!
All that said, the family feuds are serious! They all seem to have guns and they do attack each others families, but they dont harm anyone of the public, just other crinimals. the limerick blogger has all the news as it happens (including criminial activites) www.limerickblogger.org

Crea

Denismoy,
In answer to your question the crime in Limerick isn't any worse than the other major cities in Ireland, in fact it is less per head of population to Dublin, Cork and Galway. The media have tended to focus on crime in Limerick as it was bad in the 80's and they haven't let up on highlighting it above the crime in other cities.
The fued referred to in the other posts is between two families over drug contol in the city and any incidents have been between them and haven't affected the general public. The possession of a gun is illegal in Ireland so any crime where guns are involved tend to be treated alot more seriously but again Limerick is alot better than Dublin in relation to this.
Limerick people are not afraid to discuss crime but we are sick of the aspect of the city being highlighted. The city was fairly poor and run down in the 70's and 80's but it has become alot more prosperous and more developed since then but no-one seems to be too interested in looking at that side.

irishguy

There have been number of books/television reports/newpaper articles about this so finding information will not be hard to find. Have a look at: www.ireland.com
www.unison.ie/irish_independent/
www.limerickpost.ie/
www.limerick-leader.ie/

books by paul williams (investigative reporter with the Sunday world) might also help

there is also a book written solely about this called Family Feud by Anthony Galvin.
Limerick has crime like any other city but it has been blown totally out of proportion by the media and anything that happens here will get national coverage. I have been living in the city all my life and I am in the city centre regularly late at night and have seen noting that serious.

ricey

What happened in Limerick is the so called gangs went on a rampage of
killing for revenge lots of people got killed in a short space of time and that
is why it looks so bad, but been honest its ok now there aint much goin on
around the city.

bullets

I have been to nearly all other cities in Ireland and the one thing
I noticed is that Limerick has without any doubt in my mind
the Largest number of Knackers and Scumbags visable about the place
than anyplace else.

Most other cities although they have scumbags etc they are not as noticable
as in Limerick. Because the city centre is so small you notice "the heads" a lot
more than in places like Cork/Galway or Dublin.

When I walk down the streets in Limerick above all other places I am more
aware of keeping an eye out for trouble. I never get that feeling in ANY other
city I goto and I have been living in Limerick all mylife with very few run in's.

I am a type of person that likes to observe and take as much in as I can
when passing by on foot/by bus or by car I have witnessed a hell of a lot of crime.

When I tell friends/co-workers/family stories of what I have seen they
all tend to think I am exagerating or its not half as bad as I make it sound.
They tend to walk about the place with their heads in the clouds and not
take a blind bit of notice about the crime that is happening around them.


Thugs bashing open public telephone boxes in the middle of a busy street
trying to get the change out of them and people walk on by and pretending
not to notice.

Tourist getting the crap beat out of them and poeple doing nothing to stop them.
There was one case in Cruises street where there was a couple assaulted and
they asked for a mobile phone to ring the police and someone pointed to a
public phone and said use that. They would not even make a call for them.

Seen loads of gangs of youths pick on poeple and assult them in the middle
of the day in Limerick.

Poeple in general tend to be afraid to stand up to people as Limerick is so small
the likly hood of bumping into the same thug in the future is high and its also
so easy to find out where peeps live.

The courts are a total joke. Someone will nearly kill somebody and all the witnesses
are intimadated to become absent minded "oh that night am.....I forgot"
Someone caught without any lights on their bicycle at night would probably
get a harsher sentence to some of these criminals in Limerick.

Sunn

why didn't you help... maybe you seeing all this crime is a sign.. to become batman or something..

GO FORTH AND FIGHT EVIL MY FRIEND:D

limerick_man

Yeah, I'm not saying that I havent noticed troublemakers around, but on the whole they are trying to keep themselves amused rather then anything else!

I've been on the bus 3 or 4 times with those kids/teenagers throwing stuff down from the back, or talking abusively about someone. And i have withnessed a few security guards chasing kids or whoever away a few times alright .. but i honestly think if there was more to do in this city, crime and that negitivity would drop, and if parents took responsibility for their kids (especially in the rougher neighbourhoods) the problem could be more than halved!

billy the squid

Does the Augustinians church still have bouncers on the door?

bullets

Sunn wrote:

why didn't you help... maybe you seeing all this crime is a sign.. to become batman or something..
GO FORTH AND FIGHT EVIL MY FRIEND:D

Have Rang the Garda a few times
but if Theres a thug with an iron bar bashing something or someone I am
not gonna risk my own hide.
Cos I am proably of the same mind of the rest of the people that did not stop.
Dont want to get my Head kicked in for a total stranger.

There is very little Garda presence in the City. I saw a couple try break into
a car a few weeks back and went looking for a cop but could not see any at
all on the streets. I would like to see more foot patrols night/day from the Law.
The couple were standing next to a car pretending to embrace and kiss each other
every so often the bloke would try a bunch of keys in the car lock
(he had a huge bunch of keys) I was a passanger in a car at the time stuck in
heavy traffic and the bloke could see me staring at him and he did not
seem to care.

I remember a burgler calling to my house one day when I took a day off work.
I answered the door and he looked suspicious and he asked if a bloke
called dave was living there and left. When I shut the door I kept an eye on him
out my window and saw that he kept going up houses and going around the
sides of houses pulling at windows. I rang the Guards at around 15:00
and rang them 3 other times when I saw the bloke had broke into a neighbours
house. The guards arrived out to the house at 20:00 at night only when the
owners had returned. Their excuse was they could not find the address
and did not know the estate. When I mentioned I rang them 4 times in
total they did not seem to care very much.
I had to goto the owners and tell them what happned. I had taken photos
of the burgler and gave the film to the guards (which I never saw back)
I looked at mug shots but yer man was not in their books.

Another time the tinkers in a big white van came calling. They went round
to all the houses that looked like nobody was home.
(they avoided the ones with cars in the drives) they sent kids round the backs
of houses and put up ladders in the front of houses and attempted to
tamper with the Alarms. They had a big tinker fella in a Day-Glow vest
and a clipboard pretend to be some sort of pretend worker in case anyone
wondered what they were doing he would have a cover story. He was the lookout.
GARDA were rang and they sent out detectives. They nabbed the van and inpected it.
The tinkers said they were cleaning out peoples gutters for people. Guards let
them go as they had no proof they were up to no good. I asked the neibours
later did they hire anyone and they said nope. The fec*ers had the balls to
come back in the van as soon as the guards were gone.

Gotta agree with Limerick Man regarding the nothing to do thing.
If there was more to do in Limerick there would not be half the amount
of crime from teenagers that get up to no good.

~B

billy the squid

bullets.ie, If i see you use the word "tinker" again it will be a week long ban.

bullets

Great I get a threat of being banned over the use of a single word
that was not aimed at insulting or causing offense to anyone.

I dont mean to be rude or offensive
what other word can I use to describe the type of person I
mean. can you suggest an alternative word.

How come there is no objection to using the words
Knacker and Thug which seem perfectly acceptable
describing the type of person a knacker or thug is.
but not the other word that I used on my previous post.

The word I used that you will ban me for using was a word used
for a certain type of people that used to years ago and in some parts still
do odd jobs and mend things traveling repairman who mends broken things
who in the case of my story were what I described
who were also up to no good.

My own family used to hire such people
and feed them and offer them a roof over their heads when I was
growing up in exchange for them to do odd-jobs and they were always
described as the word in question and they took no offense to it.

I dont see anything offensive about the word just like you would describe
a metaler/a raver/a skateboarder based on what they do
or look like.

~B

Sunn

bullets what part of limerick are you from?


tbh i do agree with you in some ways.. whenever i am in town you do notice the "heads" alot more than when i was in dublin.. not to say that dublin was any safer mind you

bullets

Am living out Dooradoyle side of town now but its got a little
bit too crowded for my liking would love to move out to the sticks.

Growing up as a Kid I was brought up both in Town and the Country.
Garryown and Patrickswell & Listowel.
one side of the Family came from the City
and the other side of the family were like the farmer mafia .
The county side of the family with farms used to have all sorts of
gatehouses etc where often some colourful characters used to stop by
for a time to help round the place. (This goes back a good few years)

Must be more careful
with my posts as A lot of phrases and words used
to describe people and things may mean slightly different things
depending on what area of Limerick ya may be from.


~B

Crea

The reason why the "heads" are so visible is because Limerick has a very small city centre. In Dublin when you go to the northside of the city the heads are very much in evidence. Also, in Limerick the large rough housing estates are within walking distance of the city so the centre is accessable. What's for them to do in their own areas?
Saying that, I have never seen anyone assaulted in the middle of the day, neither have I seen anyone vandalise something. This doesn't mean that I go around with my head in the air and frankly I resent the implication.
Bullets - if you're moving to the sticks can you give us plenty of warning as trouble seems to follow you around

wingnut

I have seen more trouble on nights out in smaller towns then I ever have in Limerick. I have gone out a few times in Clonmel, Ennis, Tralee, Tramore etc, and have seen street violence, men hitting girls etc almost every time. I feel a lot safter in Limerick then other towns, though I live on the Clare side of the border.

I hate going to Dublin. Went to a Munster match for a couple of hours the car got broken into and stuff stolen out of the boot.

The gards pretty much said "ah ya theres always a few hit on match days. I know whos done it but he'll have the stuff moved by now so theres no point". I don't blame the garda because thats the reality he has to operate in but it is disappointing that they "expect" a few cars to bit hit like that it has become routine. That dosn't happen at Thomond Park, which boarders one of the worst estates in Limerick.

limerick_man

ahem, yeah it does! Its routine there too!

bullets

Have never had trouble in Dublin/Galway/Cork after niteclubs
but one surprising place that I thought was roughish was Kinmare.
Went down their a few times and by heck they were almost fightin for the
fun of it.

~B

Karmafaerie

Bullets, one of these days your gonna stop open your eyes about Limerick (no scratch that. Everything!).
This isn't any kind of personal attack, or any thing of the sort.
I just think that to say that there are a disproportinate amount of "knackers" in Limerick, is a very naive statement, and these kind of blanket denounciations on everything are a detriment to all of your arguements.
For you it seems the grass is always greener.

7mountpleasant

Moved to Limerick in November having lived in Cork for years and also in Dublin for a while. I can definitely say that limerick is by far the roughest city in the Republic. The Knacks are far more visible and there is definitely much more visible illegality in the City.

electron

what are knacks?

Turner

People who get arrested 3 times a week.

ninty9er

Limerick is great. It might not be the metropolis that is the great city of Cork (sarc), the pubs and clubs mightn't be great, but the people are. Limerick is the only City in the Republic that has not had a reported murder year, in fact limeirck has not had a murder since 2004. There may seem to be lots of scumbags roaming the streets but these are merely people with a different fashion sense. Come on its hardly as if you would be afraid of a 10yr old and thats all they are!

Karmafaerie

ninty9er wrote:

Limerick is great. It might not be the metropolis that is the great city of Cork (sarc), the pubs and clubs mightn't be great, but the people are. Limerick is the only City in the Republic that has not had a reported murder year, in fact limeirck has not had a murder since 2004. There may seem to be lots of scumbags roaming the streets but these are merely people with a different fashion sense. Come on its hardly as if you would be afraid of a 10yr old and thats all they are!

Exactly!
Lowest crime rate per-capita in the country, and one of the lowest in Europe!
'nuff said!!!

iguana

I wonder if the OP has decided to continue with the article?

greg678

Wow i really could give info on this but my job restricts that

Karmafaerie

greg678 wrote:

Wow i really could give info on this but my job restricts that

Spy?:D

IrishMike

Criminal overlord ??? ;P

sioda

Census collector?? we all missed the page about how much crime you commit a week and what type.

Twinkle-star15

I don't think there's any more crime in Limerick than in any other part of Ireland. Except those tiny places in the back arse of nowhere. But Limerick basically had a few bad years with loads of crime about 15 years ago, or something, and no-one's forgotten it. I've never experienced any crime or abuse when in Limerick city. Nor do I think that there are more scumbags here than anywhere else.

Meh, I like Limerick.