Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

The scene of a shooting in Ballymun on Wednesday. Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

'Amazing things happen in this community. Ballymun is about the people not the crime'

Locals are fighting back against a negative reputation which they say is unfair.

LOCALS IN BALLYMUN have expressed concerns that Wednesday’s double murder may tarnish the area’s improving reputation, but insisted that the community is too strong to let that happen.

At the scene of the crime on Balbutcher Drive, where mother of six Antoinette Corbally and Clinton Shannon were shot dead, members of the community gathered around the crime scene tape. They saw Antoinette’s pregnant niece Andrea covered in blood. She managed to escape physically unharmed by the machine gun attack.

Garda armed support units had been tracking the intended target of the murder – convicted criminal Derek Devoy, who had recently been told his life was at risk. Devoy managed to escape the gunmen – his sister, Corbally, died from gunshot injuries she sustained.

For all the garda armed units patrolling the area, however, locals said there were only so many attempted murders the officers were able to stop.

Community gardaí, described by local representatives as the “eyes and ears” of the streets in Ballymun, have had their resources cut by over half.

In 2011, there were 15 community gardaí – compared to just six in 2016.

Councillor Noeleen Reilly said that tensions in the area had heightened in recent months, and an incident of this nature was expected. However, she said the extent of the violence could not have been anticipated.

“Nobody is talking about the community policing levels,” the Sinn Féin councillor said.

“I can’t remember the last time I saw a garda walking around Ballymun. I’m not here to slag off the gardaí. They’re up to their eyes and they do the best with the resources they have.

But we could sense things escalating. There was a tension.

Like Reilly, locals fear that the double murder on Balbutcher Drive will destroy the ever-improving reputation the area has been fostering since the Ballymun regeneration project began over a decade ago.

June 5 ballymun 20050004 One of the Ballymun towers before demolition. Flickr / Darren Hall Flickr / Darren Hall / Darren Hall

Mark O’Brien is the CEO of the Axis arts centre in Ballymun. He has been working with the community for over 12 years and says he hopes the terrible events of Wednesday do not lead to locals being tarred with the same brush as the killers.

“Before you rang, there was a Nigerian festival happening with four different drum troupes going by. If you juxtapose that with what we’re talking about you can see that there is so much more to a community than the bad things that happen in it,” he said.

Ballymun has long been trying to shake off the reputation of a an area destroyed by drug addiction. The seven tower blocks in the area became synonymous with heroin addiction and deprivation in the 80s before the final one was torn down in 2015.

Many people from outside Ballymun believe that when negative or violent events occur in the area, it’s par for the course, O’Brien said.

When something happens in Ballymun, it has a louder resonance and that is not necessarily deserved. I think to be honest that reputation is foisted on the community rather than earned.
So many amazing things happen in this community. Ballymun is all about the people not the crime. That’s the way I look at it.

But for now, the worry for the area is of a retaliation for the murder of two people on Wednesday. Locals don’t want to see an emulation of the Hutch-Kinahan feud which has turned the north inner city into a warzone, according to Reilly.

The councillor said there is a real concern that Ballymun is going to be dragged back two decades.

“There is so much positive stuff happening here but people are worried they are being dragged back. The road next to the road where the shooting happened had been nominated for a Pride of Place award – a national award.

There is a fear that this is not the last of this, that there’s more to come and that this won’t stop. People are frightened, for sure. We’re crying out for more resources.

Read: Intended target of Ballymun shooting had been warned of threat to his life >

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
33 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jams O' Donnell
    Favourite Jams O' Donnell
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 5:09 PM

    I always thought with communism when the shop’s were empty, nothing but Soviet B.S. on the state run telly, There was nothing to do but screw.! ( At least it was free).!

    84
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Del Teeling
    Favourite Del Teeling
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 5:14 PM

    @Jams O’ Donnell: How crass

    50
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gav Brosnan
    Favourite Gav Brosnan
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 5:38 PM

    @Del Teeling: back to Russia with you.

    62
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Donoghue
    Favourite Tony Donoghue
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 6:07 PM

    @Jams O’ Donnell: nothing but babe station u say, there’s a lot to be said for communism perhaps

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Red Pirate 71
    Favourite Red Pirate 71
    Report
    May 13th 2019, 1:39 AM

    @Jams O’ Donnell: wage equality, abortion. Divorce. Free access to education. Free housing. Free healthcare. Free holidays. Sounds space age? No. That’s the Soviet Union. Certainly not modern Ireland.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pamela K Sztyblewski
    Favourite Pamela K Sztyblewski
    Report
    Jul 28th 2019, 10:49 AM

    @Jams O’ Donnell: Well that would account for a higher birth rate than they have. Then again, no place has a birth rate like the Irish. (My father had 15 brothers and sisters….)

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pamela K Sztyblewski
    Favourite Pamela K Sztyblewski
    Report
    Jul 28th 2019, 10:54 AM

    @Red Pirate 71: Irish people get that stuff in England.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Donoghue
    Favourite Tony Donoghue
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 6:04 PM

    Russian ladies, the sweetest taboo

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Mulligan
    Favourite John Mulligan
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 6:27 PM

    Take that story with a grain of siberian salt.
    A Russian colleague once summed up her country’s attitude to sex as follows: ‘in Russia we have no God, no hell or heaven and no concept of sin. If we have an itch, we scratch it.’

    80
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
    Favourite Fiona Fitzgerald
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 9:56 PM

    There again, anyone who hoped to escape probably wouldn’t want to risk leaving hostages behind. I’m fairly sure that no one was allowed to travel abroad in the past, unless their husband, wife or children stayed behind.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Red Pirate 71
    Favourite Red Pirate 71
    Report
    May 13th 2019, 1:40 AM

    @Fiona Fitzgerald: totally incorrect. Along with most American generated propaganda about Russia.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maggie O'Connor
    Favourite Maggie O'Connor
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 7:22 PM

    I don’t think its too far removed from the old Irish Catholic view about sex.. it was deemed inappropriate and shameful even to talk about it. Thankfully that has changed but, i still won’t covet my neighbour’s wife.

    45
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Shawn O'Ceallaghan
    Favourite Shawn O'Ceallaghan
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 7:32 PM

    @Maggie O’Connor: unless for

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute rusty
    Favourite rusty
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 9:29 PM

    @Maggie O’Connor: why not ?

    7
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jumperoo
    Favourite Jumperoo
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 11:05 PM

    @rusty: I don’t covet my neighbour’s wife either. She’s puck ugly, and painful to listen to.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aine O Connor
    Favourite Aine O Connor
    Report
    May 13th 2019, 8:04 AM

    @Jumperoo: who says she would be bothered with you either.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aine O Connor
    Favourite Aine O Connor
    Report
    May 13th 2019, 8:11 AM

    @Maggie O’Connor:
    The Irish did not talk much about sex but had plenty of it judging by the numbers of unmarried Mothers, Shotgun marraiges and very large families. Follow the evidence.Sex is like most activities, the more you practice the more you learn and the more you learn the better it gets.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joey Roche
    Favourite Joey Roche
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 5:48 PM

    Russian man found with three testicles, Whodyanickthebollockoff.

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Me_a_monkey
    Favourite Me_a_monkey
    Report
    May 13th 2019, 7:13 PM

    @Joey Roche: in soviet Russia, sex has you….

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jonny
    Favourite Jonny
    Report
    May 12th 2019, 6:40 PM

    We like beans, we like sauce, we like sexual intercourse

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute anthony o cathain
    Favourite anthony o cathain
    Report
    May 13th 2019, 12:07 AM

    @Jonny: haha hahaha hahaha. Spastic

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute anthony o cathain
    Favourite anthony o cathain
    Report
    May 13th 2019, 12:08 AM

    A scary society

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The decline of Manchester United
    Favourite The decline of Manchester United
    Report
    May 13th 2019, 6:20 AM

    Horrible small minded Government, even today Putin would have a new Soviet Empire all the way across Europe but he knows the Americans would wipe them off the map if he tried

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pamela K Sztyblewski
    Favourite Pamela K Sztyblewski
    Report
    Jul 28th 2019, 10:55 AM

    @The decline of Manchester United: How, Russians aren’t allowed outside Russia without Visas even in Europe, while Americans are allowed everywhere visa-free “for 90 days”

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Guilherme Taffarel Bergamin
    Favourite Guilherme Taffarel Bergamin
    Report
    May 14th 2019, 2:20 PM

    Might be true for older people (40+), but I’m pretty sure that’s not the case with the young. I know a few Russians and I’d say they are pretty open about the subject. Homossexuality though I think it is still a taboo like it was in my country (Brazil) 20 – 15 years ago

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds