Significant numbers of secondary school students in north and west Dublin are being recruited into gangs and have regular access to guns, according to new research.
A study involving 158 secondary school students aged between 16 and 18 in Clondalkin, Blanchardstown and Ballyfermot found that 12 per cent of boys and 8 per cent of girls were gang members.
Of those who said they were gang members, some 45 per cent said they had access to an illegal weapon or gun in the previous six months. They were also much more likely to be involved in car theft, joyriding, selling drugs or threatening others.
The research was conducted by Deirdre Cleary and Dr David Shewan, director of the centre for research in violence at Glasgow's Caledonian University.
The findings are due to be published this week at a conference organised by the Psychological Society of Ireland.
The researchers call for greater resources and early intervention in at-risk neighbourhoods in these areas.
They also say that further intervention with at-risk adolescents and at-risk neighbourhoods could result in a reduction in future serious crime and gang activities.
"This research shows that young people are getting involved in gang behaviour from an early age," Ms Cleary said.
"They are behaving very differently to other young people of the same age, in terms of alcohol and drug use, threats to others and fighting.
"We can't say that they will go on to become involved in gangland activity as adults, but this does show there is potential that they will continue in this area."
The research was based on similar types of studies completed in Europe and the US which have used standard definitions for terms such as gang membership.
In this case, for example, a gang was defined as a group involved in illegal activity which is street-oriented and where members spend significant amounts of time outside home on the street.
Ms Cleary said gang membership and involvement with illegal weapons peaked among 16-year-olds.
She accepted there was always a possibility that young people involved in the research could be exaggerating the results.
However, she said a number of steps were taken to try to reduce this possibility - such as separating students in the classroom and asking them to complete the results in silence.
The Psychological Society of Ireland's conference begins tomorrow and will hear details of more than 200 research papers and symposiums.
The society is the professional body for psychologists in Ireland and represents over 2,300 members.