A High Court judge said yesterday he had no doubt from Garda evidence there was "a most serious feud" in Limerick which had directly claimed the lives of four people and involved well over 100 incidents of a criminal nature.
Mr Justice McKechnie said the feud had been utterly disruptive to both the personal and business lives of many people. He noted a Garda Inspector had told the court it took 10 armed gardaí on a 24-hour basis to sustain some degree of peace in a particular area of the city.
The judge made the comments after hearing and refusing bail applications on behalf of five Limerick men. He later refused bail to a further two men, said to be involved in another faction.
The five were Edward McCarthy (23), O'Callaghan Avenue, Kileely, Limerick; Patrick McCarthy (31), College Avenue, Moyross, Limerick; David McCarthy (26), O'Callaghan Avenue, Kileely, Limerick; David Sheehan (19), Cliona Park, Moyross, Limerick; and Kieran Ryan (19), Pineview Gardens, Moyross, Limerick.
Inspector John Scanlan earlier told the judge he believed the five men were involved in a feud-related incident in a car park at Ennis Road, Limerick, on May 27th last. The inspector said they had met another group who, gardaí would say, were on another side. Insp Scanlan said a fracas broke out when others arrived and pool cues, chairs, golf clubs and sticks were used. The incident was captured on closed circuit TV. When the incident was beginning to reach its height, a Garda sub aqua unit which was training in the area arrived.
The two men who were refused bail at a subsequent hearing before the same judge yesterday were Raymond Collopy (34), Oliver Plunkett Street, St Mary's Park, Limerick, who is similarly charged to the five; and Anthony Keane (41), of St Mary's Park, Limerick, who is charged with having a golf club intended unlawfully to cause injury.