Minister for Justice Michael McDowell today insisted today that the gardai have put in "record resources" in Limerick to help tackle the spiralling gang violence in the city.
He was speaking in the aftermath of the shooting of five-year-old Jordan Crawford, who is recovering in hospital after being shot in the leg at the weekend.
Minister for Jusctice Michael McDowell
"In relation to that specific case I know that in the last few weeks in Limerick there has been an immense amount of Garda activity and the gardaí have apprehended very serious perpetrators of a very depraved violence which is confined to a tiny, tiny minority of people in Limerick," Mr McDowell said this morning.
"I have made available to the Garda Commissioner and to local management as much resources in terms of overtime and the like as they need. The number of gardaí in Limerick has never been as high as it is now," he added.
Last night Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said that there was only one more garda stationed in the southern region in 2005 compared 2004. Mr Kenny said the Government had failed spectacularly to deal with serious crime. He claimed no major crime bosses have been jailed in the past five years. He said that Ireland had literally 'gone to the dogs' in crime terms under Mr McDowell's watch.
"Rapes, murders, stabbings and beatings are now an everyday part of Irish life, city and country," he added. He said there were 64 violent deaths in the first full year of Mr McDowell's term in office. There was a 40 per cent increase in discharges of weapons and 362 reported rapes from September 2005-2006.
Commenting on the criticisms, Mr McDowell said when Fine Gael was in government there had been a decline in Garda resources. He argued that Mr Kenny knew that numbers had gone up in the southern region, although some had been concentrated in specialised units.
"The truth is that Limerick has never had as many gardaí as it has now. No amount of bluster from Enda Kenny can change that fact"