LAST UPDATE | 20 Dec 2022

ARMED GARDAÍ patrolled Rathkeale today ahead of Justice Minister Simon Harris’s visit to see the aftermath of feuding between rival groups which locals said left the town “like a war zone”.

The Minister for Justice walked the streets of Rathkeale tonight in a show of solidarity with locals who called for more gardaí after a number of vehicles were written off in a ramming incident yesterday.

Minister Simon Harris said any additional Garda resources required by Gardai in Rathkeale “would be forthcoming” to tackle feuding factions.

He pledged that those involved in such violence would be pursued by the State: “No part of this country is beyond the reach of the law”.

Harris, who had direct talks with the head of the Limerick Garda Division, Chief Superintendent Derek Smart, said some additional Garda resources had already being provided to local gardai to help them keep a lid on rising tensions between rival factions in the town.

Harris said Monday’s violence was “abhorrent and utterly unacceptable, and will not be tolerated by An Garda Siochana”.

He added that Rathkeale was a “proud town with great people in it”.

I travelled to Rathkeale today to meet with local Gardai & community leaders.

Gardai have been assured of my full support in their efforts. The investigation is active.

I would encourage anyone with information to come forward to assist. pic.twitter.com/KgLpARy1C3

— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) December 20, 2022

Members of the Garda Armed Support Unit (ASU), carried SIG Suer semi-automatic self-loading pistols, and held Heckler & Koch MP7 personal defence weapons as they assisted unarmed uniformed Garda officers at checkpoints today.

The armed unit has been a regular enough visitor in Rathkeale over the past several weeks in response to a number of recent incidents.

Weapons were recovered at a property in the town last month and a mobile home was attacked by men wearing balaclavas and armed with machetes.

Sources said Gardai have also been monitoring members of a group from Limerick City, who are not from the Travelling Community, who it is claimed have been attempting to extort land and property from local Traveller families which is also fuelling tensions locally.

Videos of the aftermath of violent incidents were shared on social media yesterday showing several cars extensively damaged and left abandoned on the street and large groups of people recording the carnage on their mobile phones.

At least three separate groups are involved in a local feud that sources said they fear will result in persons being seriously injured or worse.

Contains reporting by Stephen McDermott.