Limerick has highest level of killings and gun crime

Liam Byrne

Hardy-har-har......jayz lads ye'r fair funny.

At what stage did I *EVER* say that the papers shouldn't report what DOES happen ?

The only exaggeration in one of those reports is by Brian Lenihan ("the city is a tinderbox" :rolleyes: - was in there yesterday and saw nothing out of the ordinary!! ), but it would probably be illegal if the paper corrected an actual quote from him.

The TV3 website is pure tabloid "the latest round of an epic criminal feud".

Oddly, both reports say "at least eight lives", which is lazy reporting.....we couldn't be arsed finding out exactly how many, so we'll say "at least" so that we're not wrong, and feck it if that makes it look worse.

But that's probably down to how news agencies trade stories; it's not, like talkingclock suggests, a "bribe", but more likely that RTE or some other agency "passes on" the news - look at how the MSN article starts with "DUBLIN, Ireland" - that's the source.

Of course, if someone can tell me that MSN and TV3 New Zealand have their own correspondents and reporters based in Limerick to investigate the truth, then I'll stand corrected.

But 8 lives in 9 years, while sad (although not particularly sad if they are drug-dealing criminal scum) isn't exactly massive.....so again, I'll ask, where do the headlines - even the thread title: "highest level of killings" - come from ?

rebs23

Sinn fein's take on the situation.
http://www.sinnfein.ie/gaelic/news/detail/26064

Liam Byrne

rebs23 wrote: »

Sinn fein's take on the situation.
http://www.sinnfein.ie/gaelic/news/detail/26064

Ya gotta love 'em, don't ya!!!

"Increasing gun crime in Limerick must be tackled head on with all available resources."

Kettle, pot : http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2006/0607/breaking39.htm

"The Government must expedite a robust process ..... in order to free-up fully trained Gardaí to fight serious drug and gun crime. The present situation must not be allowed to continue"

rebs23

I thought you'd like that one.:)

betty_swollox

ah yes another one to add to the limerick shooting club list, Hyde avenue drive-by, JC in the legs.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Driving home and noticed all the commotion, Gardaí have a section of Hyde Rd. sealed off.

Been in Limerick since 2001 and must say things are well and truly gone to the dogs lately. There is no use in kidding ourselves.

It's not as if the problem is impossible to solve in my opinion, it's just that we have one of the weakest Dáils ever (government parties and opposition).

If all this happened 70 or 80 years ago, it would have been put down in a matter of months, not drag on for the best part of a decade.

roadruner

Too true.

I still reckon its down to brown envelopes!

rebs23

CSO Garda Recorded Crime stats here: http://www.cso.ie/
Doesn't make for good reading.

BarryCreed

Round them all up and put em breaking rocks out in Connemara. that would sort it. But that wouldn't be PC. Or ship em off to the blaskets

Stab*City

this has been blown way out of proportion.. anyway i dont think all this bad press is having much of an effect anymore.. the city seems to be doing really well..

Stab*City

i love the fact that the city of limerick has created a new sub genre in organised crime (family feud related)!! lol lol...

zig

Stab*City wrote: »

this has been blown way out of proportion.. anyway i dont think all this bad press is having much of an effect anymore.. the city seems to be doing really well..

true, limerick just happens to be the venue for a few families that like shooting each other, it could have been anywhere

Stab*City

zig wrote: »

true, limerick just happens to be the venue for a few families that like shooting each other, it could have been anywhere

and im sure it is happening a lot more places than here..

RonMexico

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/gardai-investigate-driveby-shooting-near-limerick-1358231.html

Liam Byrne

RonMexico wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/gardai-investigate-driveby-shooting-near-limerick-1358231.html

Ardnacrusha is in Co. Clare......you gotta love the "near Limerick" angle!!! :rolleyes:

If a shooting happened in Limerick, would the Indo report it as "near Clare" ?

utick

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Ardnacrusha is in Co. Clare......you gotta love the "near Limerick" angle!!! :rolleyes:

If a shooting happened in Limerick, would the Indo report it as "near Clare" ?

well the article didnt quite say the shooting occured in Ardnacrusha, it said....


''Gardai in Limerick are investigating a drive-by shooting on the OUTSKIRTS OF THE CITY.

A motorcyclist is understood to have pulled up alongside a car travelling towards Ardnacrusha before firing a number of shots. Both vehicles subsequently fled the area and there are no reports of any injuries following the shooting.''



and also we have heard very little about this shooting

grenache

zig wrote: »

true, limerick just happens to be the venue for a few families that like shooting each other, it could have been anywhere

The feuding families are only the tip of the iceberg, what about the multitude of scumbags (they're everywhere in limerick, even the affluent areas), the hassle you get in the city centre on a weekend night, the numeous burglaries and muggings, etc. The city has major problems, and has had for some time.

betty_swollox

grenache wrote: »

The feuding families are only the tip of the iceberg, what about the multitude of scumbags (they're everywhere in limerick, even the affluent areas), the hassle you get in the city centre on a weekend night, the numeous burglaries and muggings, etc. The city has major problems, and has had for some time.

That may be true, but look at any of the main cities in Ireland and the same can be said.

grenache

betty_swollox wrote: »

That may be true, but look at any of the main cities in Ireland and the same can be said.

I wouldn't agree. I would say only Dublin has as many problems with crime as Limerick does. Galway or Kilkenny don't have seem to have anywhere near as much socially disadvantaged areas as Limerick. Cork has its problems but again, its not as tough a city as Limerick.

Amazotheamazing

grenache wrote: »

I wouldn't agree. I would say only Dublin has as many problems with crime as Limerick does. Galway or Kilkenny don't have seem to have anywhere near as much socially disadvantaged areas as Limerick. Cork has its problems but again, its not as tough a city as Limerick.

Kilkenny is hardly a fair comparison, it's tiny.

Don't know what Cork you've been to, but the one roughly 90k south of Limerick is easily as tough as Limerick. If you don't believe me, visit A&E in UCC hospital on a weekend night. Some areas of Cork are every bit as dismal as Southill or the Island field.

Galway is an odd one, roughly the same size as Limerick, a poorer city according to the census, but without the large social problems of Limerick, Cork or Dublin. I wonder is it due to a culture of emigration from the west, or what reason is there for the lack of council estates in Galway?

RINO87

grenache wrote: »

The feuding families are only the tip of the iceberg, what about the multitude of scumbags (they're everywhere in limerick, even the affluent areas), the hassle you get in the city centre on a weekend night, the numeous burglaries and muggings, etc. The city has major problems, and has had for some time.

agreed. everyone seems to be trying to hide the fact that there is a MUCH higher ratio of scumbags in limerick. Its like brushing it under the carpet.

Stab*City

RINO87 wrote: »

agreed. everyone seems to be trying to hide the fact that there is a MUCH higher ratio of scumbags in limerick. Its like brushing it under the carpet.

agreed but hey lets stop whinging about it.. i mean if you have grown up in limerick your skin should be a little tougher than that!

Liam Byrne

RINO87 wrote: »

agreed. everyone seems to be trying to hide the fact that there is a MUCH higher ratio of scumbags in limerick. Its like brushing it under the carpet.

OOOOOhhh.....you put it in capitals and told us it was a "fact", so it must be true ????? :rolleyes:

Show us some facts / figures and we might believe you.

I could name two small county towns that I would simply not go out in, and they're not even in Limerick. I won't name them, coz I also met some decent people in them too, but the number of scumbags (even one guy openly and proudly discussing that he'd been arrested the week before!! ) was unbelieveable!

Everyplace has scumbags, everyplace has decent folk.

But quote some facts & figures and I'm open to believing you......

RINO87

Liam Byrne wrote: »

OOOOOhhh.....you put it in capitals and told us it was a "fact", so it must be true ????? :rolleyes:

Show us some facts / figures and we might believe you.

I could name two small county towns that I would simply not go out in, and they're not even in Limerick. I won't name them, coz I also met some decent people in them too, but the number of scumbags (even one guy openly and proudly discussing that he'd been arrested the week before!! ) was unbelieveable!

Everyplace has scumbags, everyplace has decent folk.

But quote some facts & figures and I'm open to believing you......

this is exactly what im talinkg about. Limerick people always seem to be in denial about the fact that there is a huge number of scum in this city.

I have lived in limerick for nearly four years now. I love the place, dont want to leave.
I have also lived in other towns/cities and have not seen the same amount of scumbags. (granted this could be due to the general rise in anti-social behaviour over the last four years also)

as for the one guy openly discussing about getting arrested; you hear that conversation everytime you step onto a bus in limerick.

Im not trying to put limerick down, but these scumbags are choking the city, and its time that people opened there eyes and stopped accepting it.

shawnee

Interesting comment " people should stop accepting this" What is it you suggest the people do ?

Stab*City

RINO87 wrote: »

as for the one guy openly discussing about getting arrested; you hear that conversation everytime you step onto a bus in limerick.

well if you go to other cities you might find the same thing.. i was in dublin for a month and saw junkies shooting up heroin, people fighting and a man get robbed all on public transport.. so to say that limerick is as bad as any capital city would be a joke..

Ainekav

im from sligo and for a while there it seemed like it was following in limericks footsteps - we had axes through the head, daytime shootings in town, all sorts o stuff, and all family and drug (i think) related too.

roadruner

Ainekav wrote: »

im from sligo and for a while there it seemed like it was following in limericks footsteps - we had axes through the head, daytime shootings in town, all sorts o stuff, and all family and drug (i think) related too.

Ah jaysus come on will you I just came back from Monaco and there were a fair few bad crimes there.
Does that mean Limerick & Monaco are gonna be twinned as bad places to go?

I think not.

Mr Cork Man

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Kilkenny is hardly a fair comparison, it's tiny.

Don't know what Cork you've been to, but the one roughly 90k south of Limerick is easily as tough as Limerick. If you don't believe me, visit A&E in UCC hospital on a weekend night. Some areas of Cork are every bit as dismal as Southill or the Island field.

Galway is an odd one, roughly the same size as Limerick, a poorer city according to the census, but without the large social problems of Limerick, Cork or Dublin. I wonder is it due to a culture of emigration from the west, or what reason is there for the lack of council estates in Galway?

Galway no councill estates.What about castle park and westside.I do think limerick has a problem but its not as bad as made out.

rebs23

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Don't know what Cork you've been to, but the one roughly 90k south of Limerick is easily as tough as Limerick. If you don't believe me, visit A&E in UCC hospital on a weekend night. Some areas of Cork are every bit as dismal as Southill or the Island field.

I'd agree with a lot of what you say about the reporting of crime in Limerick but the CSO stats show that outside of Dublin, Limerick has the highest level of crime per pop across most of the main catagories. Put simply Limerick is a hell of a lot rougher than Cork.

Furthermore when comparing with Cork it must be remembered that the only urban Garda divisions are those in Dublin and the one for Cork City.

The comparisons below would look a lot worse only for the fact that 83,000 people living in County Limerick are included with the 100,000 living in the city and it's environs for the purposes of the statistics. Have a read of them, Limerick Citys crime problems are therefore watered down statistically due to the inclusion of the country area of Limerick in the stats. I know they don't make for pleasant reading and I'm not slagging.
eg Rates for 2006 (the latest available on a regional comparison basis)
Murder 3.18 per 100,000 in Limerick City and County, Galway West 1.11, Cork City 1.38, Waterford/Kilkenny 2.16
Firearms Limerick City and County per 1,000 .69, Galway West .04, Cork City .10 and Waterford/Kilkenny .11
Aggravated Burglary again Lim .08, Galway .04, Cork .03
Criminal damage Lim 14.9, Galway 7.24, Cork City 12.13
Theft from person Lim 1.37, Galway .29, Cork City .79
Unauthorised taking of vehicle Lim 4.99, Galway 2.05, cork 2.7
Burglary (not aggravated) Lim 6.37, Galway 4.9 Cork 4.11
Robbery of an estb or inst Lim .21, Galway .17 Cork .18
Remember all the above stats compare Limerick City and County with Galway West and Cork City.
The stats are available from the CSO. I like Limerick and all that stuff but I will always argue that part of the problem in Limerick is the refusal to accept that crime in Limerick is a lot worse than it should be for a city of its size, no matter what way you make your comparisons.