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A SUSPECTED CRACK cocaine dealing ring was dealt a blow yesterday in a raid which left a garda injured.
The elite member of the garda’s Emergency Response Unit was shot in the arm as officers carried out a raid on a premises as part of an operation targeting drug gangs.
Yesterday morning, gardaí attempted to gain access to a house in Barnwell Drive, Ballymun, when they were fired upon. One member was hit while an 18-year-old man who was inside the house also received gunshot wounds.
Three people have been arrested in relation to the shootings and are being held under Section 30 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Both the injured garda and the man were given first aid and both are expected to make a full recovery. It is believed the young man was not a resident of the house.
The house was also targeted in a drive-by shooting last month. A teenager was injured in that incident which was believed to have been part of a recent outbreak of gang-related violence in the Ballymun area.
In the last 12 months, a number of gangs have been battling to control a large area of the Ballymun drug trade. There have been a number of beatings and shootings in the last year in relation to this feud, one which gardaí fear could result in deaths.
Gardaí have been working to quell the feud over the last six months. In this period, they have made significant drug and cash seizures as well as a number of arrests.
Yesterday morning, officers were attempting to knock down a reinforced door when they were first fired upon. The house had extra security, including the installation of bullet proof glass, in place following last month’s shooting which left a young man injured with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
When gardaí gained entry to the premises, a number of shots were fired. The initial shots missed the officers, however shortly afterwards a garda received a gunshot wound to the arm. The young man was also injured at this point.
It is understood that the people inside the house had initially thought the house was being targeted by local criminals and did not know they were gardaí.
Crack cocaine dealing has become more prevalent in the area in recent months and gardaí have been attempting to respond to it by carrying out raids on premises where they believe drugs are being stashed.
A gun was recovered from the scene and is being tested by garda ballistic officers.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) tweeted: “Let there be no doubt about the threat to life that is faced down by frontline members every day. Speedy recovery to the injured ERU garda.”
GRA spokesperson John O’Keeffe told TheJournal.ie: “The shooting incident in Ballymun this morning is a clear example of the real danger to life that is faced by all our members on a daily basis.
Whether armed or unarmed, frontline gardaí know that then they say goodbye to their loved ones each day, they cannot guarantee their own safe return at the end of every shift. Yet they protect and serve without fear or favour, on all our behalf.
“The thoughts and prayers of the GRA are with the injured ERU officer and his family today as we wish him a speedy recovery.”
Minister for Justice Charles Flanagan said that “incidents like this highlight the danger that can face members of An Garda Síochána in carrying out their duties”.
“The work of uniformed gardaí and the special units is critical in keeping people safe and tackling serious criminals whose activities can destroy communities.”
An investigation has been launched and GSOC has been notified of the incident.
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I’m still waiting for refunds from aer lingus from March.
@Motherofthree: correct. It’s not just Ryanair
@Motherofthree: same here
@Motherofthree: Waiting since the beginning of April for my Ryanair refund but Aer Lingus seem to be getting a free pass for a similar offence against their customers.
@Football in the Groin: ya I’m the same, been waiting since the beginning of April, and all I’m wanting is the voucher as I know I have to travel with them again. Good to know I’m not the only one waiting. Has anyone actually heard anything from aerlingus since original contact made?.
@Motherofthree: Ian still waiting since April €1300 rang them a number of time on hold for 27 mins to be told its be locked into. Not never told when iam getting it.its tomevto drive out to the head office in dublin airport.
@Motherofthree: and KLM have been worse than useless
@Motherofthree: http://www.flightrights.ie
If you can, open a transaction dispute with your bank. I highlighted how I never received the goods I paid for and how Ryanair failed to refund multiple times in the times they quoted. It took just under 3 weeks, but much faster than waiting for Ryanair.
@Richard: Was this with a credit card? I paid by debit card. Thanks
@Aoife: same here. Might try with my bank and see what they say. Great idea Richard!
@Aoife: I paid via debt card and chargeback was successful
@Siobhan Rosemary: thanks Siobhan! I’ll try that.
@Richard: just pray that you dont use the same bank as Ryanair. You can already see the conversion, “you start this charge back stuff and I will move my billions”.
@Aoife: always use a credit card if you have one. Covers you for lots of things.
@Richard: I’ve done this asked for a charge back on my card, as Ryanair are in Breach of the contract we had, by failing to deliver on their part, I asked for a charge back and got it within 2 weeks, and just so people are aware, this is not fraud as previously stated by a Ryanair employee, you are entitled to your refund and it’s faster with your credit card company or bank, and you can’t get black listed by Ryanair either.
@Richard: I received chargeback from BOI for 6 flights. I paid by credit card. Took about 2 weeks to get the refund.
@Richard: I rang the Credit Card company and after 30 mins of being fobbed off, they agreed to open a dispute against Ryan air.
There’s one very simple problem here that people seem to be missing : No enforcement of the Law by Authorities and the Airline Regulators! Simples
@Nigel o’Neill: exactly Nigel! And the other thing I was thinking when reading this article. Why is there nothing like Which? in Ireland to conduct research on the Irish consumer base. Why are there no experts on IrelandAM every week guiding Irish consumers on what to do? Where is the outrage over this? So frustrating!
@Vikki Brennan: definitely Vikki. Bottom line is the law should be doing its job for you though
I wonder will it take Ryanair 3 to 6 months to process flight bookings and take the money from your credit card….
@Martin Smith:
Think it’s time the EU instigated a form of escrow service for transactions like this.
Your money is held by a third party and only paid once you got the service.
Aer Lingus aren’t any better. I’ve been waiting t 10 weeks for my refund. Emails go unanswered.
Michael is waiting for the pound to drop in value before he does any refunds .Cute lad.
I’m still waiting on my voucher from Aer Lingus as I believe are many others.
O Leary the hypocrite, all about speeding up the opening up of the country but won’t pay people the money he owes them. Greedy out.
Ah comon, they’ve only 4,000,000,000+ in cash reserves give poor auld Ryanair a break (note: sarcasm, in case not noticed)
Backlog could be largely wiped out by one stroke of Ryanair Mick’s very sharp pencil by offering a voucher for already cancelled flight plus a 50%-off voucher for a second flight at a future date of his firm’s choosing.
With its excellent yield management business model, this shouldn’t be too taxing to plan for the nation’s largest airline.
To get a refund download chargeback form from your bank website,follow instructions and sit back and wait approx 2-3weeks for money to arrive back in your account. It worked for me!! Happy out. Works for debit card also.
You can raise a chargeback with your bank/card provider if the airline is dragging thier feet when it comes to processing a refund , gather all the emails pertaining to your booking and contact your bank requesting a charge-back for the transaction.
its a simple process , the merchant has a number of days to revert back to the bank/card provder in most cases you will get your money back .
In fairness it’s a huge increase in refund transactions to process on a team that could possibly be smaller at present.
@Podge: stop talking real around here!
well there’s a suprize wake up people you are using this kip of an air line and expect to be treated better , the man is a loon and expects to start flying in july not a cold day in hell would I fly with them you get what you pay for
Liz
@Elizabeth Eccles: Aer Lingus no better on refunds
@Elizabeth Eccles: It’s all airlines. The travel industry is short on cash if they refund everyone at the same time they will go bust so it will take months to refund everyone.
@Elizabeth Eccles: actually it’s not a kip of an airline. Its cheap n cheerful. I have to travel frequently to England and I couldn’t do it as often with any other airline. I’m damn grateful for it.
Refunds please.
They gave people the option to change flights. I couldn’t change mine as I had checked in. Spent 4 days trying to get through to them over the home, social, email. I’d better get my money back. Absolute disgrace
I’m shocked that Michael O Leary never mentioned this yesterday when he was huffing and puffing about quarantine measures etc… it’s not like him to ignore the elephant in the room and launch into a tirade in order to distract the nation…. not one bit like him at all….maybe he has jet lag or something! ahem!
I’m still waiting a refund from ryanair after flight was cancelled. Then received an email saying that I can get a voucher. Have not put in for a voucher yet. Also i cancelled an aer lingus flight. And am still waiting for a refund.
If affected you should submit a complaint to http://www.Flightrights.ie the Aviation Regulator. I did 2 weeks ago waiting since March 15th for reply to refund request for flight not cancelled to USA but we could not travel due to travel ban. Simple process. Refund received within 3 days of Regulator contacting Aer Lingus on our behalf. Complaint made under denied boarding heading. Don’t wait submit a complaint.
Air lingus are the same.waiting refund of €1300 since april, ring them and be put on hold for 30mins .Not even send a email to say the flight was cancelled, but a load of emails up to the day before the cancellation of the flight saying we could take a voucher.
You mean … people did get refunds ???
@pomerleau: I did but only after contacting the regulator
I’d have preferred a voucher but strangely there was no such option .
@Isabel Oliveira: when you apply for the refund you’ll get another email offering a voucher.
I’m still waiting on Refund from Aer Lingus, they will not even reply to about 10 emails I sent them.
For Irish consumers where is the Irish Airline Authority, why aren’t they enforcing the law, why inst it too news on RTE, TG4 and others. Total silence from the Irish government to boot.
Seriously, can everyone just cop on. The airlines will all fail and go out of business if they are forced to pay out straight away on cancelled flights. Then you will lose everything. For God’s sake be patient, you will get it back when they get back to normal. And sure most of you will fly again anyway, so vouchers will do. This insistance on immediate refunds is childish and only causing you stress.
@Patricia O’Reilly: I wonder if you where waiting 3 months for a refund, for a service you payed €1300 and never got would you be so flippant.
@Patricia O’Reilly: ok Patricia you think waiting 3 months for a €2k refund for flights to the USA is reasonable during a time when household incomes have drastically reduced. Never mind the fact that consumer law dictates the refunds are due.
Got my March refunds from Ryanair in bank today
Got my March refunds from Ryanair in bank today
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