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THE ASSISTANT GARDA Commissioner has said that the force has foiled up to 11 assassination attempts over the past number of months.
Speaking this morning on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Michael O’Sullivan said that the gardaí were doing everything in their power to disrupt the feud between two Irish crime gangs.
The feud between the Hutch and Kinahan crime gangs has resulted in at least eight deaths since it started almost a year ago with the shooting of Gary Hutch in Spain.
O’Sullivan said this morning that Garda operations to tackle the shootings were “very labour intensive” and that the force was grateful for the extra funding that has been given to it recently by government.
“The money has been used in a very proactive policing manner,” said O’Sullivan.
“In the last number of months we have certainly foiled… probably as high as 10 or 11 assassination attempts.
Only in the last two weeks we’ve seized a car with false number plates and firearms in it ready to be used to shoot a particular individual.
O’Sullivan also mentioned the recent seizing of a submachine gun by gardaí.
“Definitely lives are being saved,” he said.
“The only thing that criminals understand is police pro-active enforcement. We’ve a very strong enforcement strategy, it has yielded huge results.
We have 10, 11 murder investigations going at the moment, we’ve several other shooting investigations as well as other serious offences among a broad range of areas.
Enforcement
Gardaí have come under increased pressure to respond to the spate of shootings that kicked off with the murder of Gary Hutch last year.
That shooting was followed by the killing of David Byrne in the Regency Hotel in north Dublin in February of this year.
Since then there have been a number of killings of Hutch family members and associates, particularly in the north inner city of Dublin.
Most recently, Dublin City Council worker Trevor O’Neill was shot dead last week as he was holidaying in Spain with his family, in what is believed to have been a case of mistaken identity.
A figure affiliated with the Hutch family is believed to have been the intended target.
O’Sullivan said that gardaí were “operating from a very low base” in terms of what funding was available to them, but that he felt they were having success in the way they were tackling the gangs.
“Every so often An Garda Síochána are faced with serious challenges,” he said.
He said that the forces had been given sufficient funding to carry out the operations needed to tackle crime.
“There’s no shortage of funding, there’s certainly no shortage of resources, and there’s no shortage of effort on behalf of An Garda Síochána,” he said.
We’re making very good progress.
He said that criminal gangs based abroad (as in the case of the Kinahan crime gang) made it more difficult for gardaí, but that the force was getting results.
When criminals are based abroad it makes it more complex… It’s certainly not impossible,” he said.
Any assistance or intelligence that [the Spanish police] need, we’re available.
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All well and good, but seeing as many of the insurance companies and developers are either refusing to cover, or have no many to cover houses affected by pyrite, what use is this bill going to be other than an empty gesture.
Agree 100 %. Am I not correct in thinking that the Staute of Limitation only starts running from the time you are AWARE of the problem ?
Its a grey area, some solicitors will say that it begins from when your keys are handed over and some will say that its from when the problem arose. Neither has been tested yet.
the fact that a government official has the b*lls to bring this to the dail ready for presentation in the form of a bill is a major leap forward for people affected by homes built with pyrite. it will mean when people go to seek remedial works with companies, they are protected by law to request remedial works and may not face lengthy and costly legal battles with corporates until the statute of limitations comes into effect! in other words it will stop the people, who knew what they were doing when buying or selling concrete, wrangling out of their wrong doings and getting away with ensuring remedial works are done because of a lack of legal protection for the home owners concerned!
Our house had a pyrite problem and has just been fixed after 5 years of wrangling with the insurer. Good luck to anyone trying to get this solved. It is a major headache. Like everything in this country, it’ll take one of these houses falling down on someone for the Govt. to do something about it.
Many homeowners held off having their homes repaired because they thought the good times were rolling with the likelihood of huge legal damages being awarded in their favour by the Courts and then the builders went bang! Householders in that position would be unable to claim against anyone once the six years have passed never mind an extension.
“Many homeowners”? Really? I can only speak for myself and the people in our estate, but as soon as we found out about the problem everyone wanted it fixed as soon as possible. No-one gave a toss about pursuing for personal loss. The Premier Home Insurance policy that we had was for 10 years from the point of sale (in 2004). Why would people drag it out on the off chance that they might get some compo, when the by far greater and more real risk was that the policy would lapse and you’d have to get it fixed yourself? If you don’t get your house fixed, you can’t sell it (a bank will most probably not give someone a mortgage to buy a house with pyrite as a surveyor can’t say for certain that the problem has stopped). Therefore, why would anyone take this silly gamble that you suggest?
My house has Pyrite and I tell you if I could get it fixed I would but we can’t. Our builder and quarry are gone and Homebond want nothing to do wit us (whole other can of worms). The stress that we have gone through over the past six years is unbelievable. I can’t walk into my house without seeing the cracks getting worse every day. We bought this house in good faith and it has failed as a home. I cannot even read the word Pyrite without having palpitations. The stress involved is phenomenal. If it was anything else we would be entitled to compensation but no, we can’t even get our house fixed, which at the end of the day is all we want.
I really feel for you. We were just lucky that the house we bought had Premier Home Insurance. I wouldn’t have known the difference between the two when we bought the house: we bloody do know though! Like you, we didn’t give a toss about compo, we just wanted our house fixed and happened to have bought one that had an insurance policy. Home Bond is a total joke in this regard: it’s not insurance as it’s not an underwritten policy that you can claim against. And it’s not a guarantee or a warranty either. Just words on a page that are worthless.
Considering a lot of developers have hit the wall, who is going to stump up and pay compensation?
This is exactly why the Pyrite panel has been set up. Pyrite action have proposed a Levy on the construction industry to ensure that all involved (quarries, developers, builders etc.) contribute to sorting out this mess.
Is that really you Michael j fox? Wow.
Edit: that is to say that neither of them had insurance. The only insurance was the Premier Home Insurance policy that we had. So, if Premier refused to pay us we would have had to pursue the builder and quarry on the basis of litigation not claiming against another policy that they had.
Your Builder and Quarry both had insurance of some sort that can still be pursued within the six year limit?
Both gone bust and are totally potless now. Claim all you want, but where are they going to get the cash to fix 100+ houses at €100k a house?
have your say