There was a more than doubling in the number of gunshot injuries recorded in two different Dublin hospitals in the space of only 10 years, illustrating the significantly increasing occurrence of gun-crime in the capital city, fresh and as yet unpublished health research shows.


The study, conducted by Dr Ian Murphy, Specialist Registrar in Radiology at St Vincent’s University Hospital, examined all cases recorded in West Dublin over a decade on a hospital’s database of gunshot presentations and studied their imaging files.

A total of 59 individuals presented with lesions at the emergency department (ED) in Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, between 2001 and 2010. Dr Murphy’s study, presented at the RCSI Faculty of Radiologists Annual Scientific Meeting recently, showed that 26 shootings took place in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, with 19 taking place in Finglas, Dublin 11, according to the hospital record of the individual’s address upon admission.


The increasing rate of gun crime in West Dublin was largely as a result of the illegal drug trade in the area, Dr Murphy noted. “Despite the high-profile nature and severity of the injuries, this is a burden which, as a discipline and radiology departments around the country, we can manage. It’s not an overwhelming burden.”