Question:144. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration if he will report on his engagements in relation to organised crime activities in Limerick; the initiatives being undertaken by his Department to ensure public safety; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6117/26]

Deputy Maurice Quinlivan: The Minister should be aware that criminal feuding in parts of Limerick in recent weeks has seen an escalation in violence. In recent weeks, this violence has escalated in dramatic proportions, particularly in Ballinacurra Weston and surrounding areas. For fear of criminal retaliation, much of this violence has gone unreported. However, among the most recent incidents, there have been gun and arson attacks on homes and cars, assaults on people in the area and threats of violence against and intimidation of others.

I am extremely concerned for the residents of the area. Many will recall the violent criminality that plagued Limerick in the early 2000s. Without robust intervention, I fear we are not far from returning to those very dark days.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (Deputy Niall Collins): Targeting the work of organised crime groups who inflict intimidation and violence on families and communities across Limerick and Ireland is a top priority for our Department and the Government.

Since my appointment, I have met with the gardaí in Limerick and I know they, along with their colleagues in Garda national units, are committed to targeting organised criminal groups and individuals involved in the sale and supply of illegal drugs. They are pursuing charges against people suspected of involvement in organised crime and have successfully secured convictions in the courts against organised criminals.

The Gardaí has advised the Government it is carrying out a range of both high-visibility and covert operations on an ongoing basis to support public safety in Limerick. Garda activities in Limerick include separate ongoing operations targeting money laundering activities by organised criminals involved in the drug trade, burglary, disrupting drug dealing networks and providing a daily proactive policing presence in areas affected by serious criminality in Limerick.

The Garda Commissioner assigned 30 new probationer gardaí to the Limerick division in 2025, the highest annual allocation since 2020. Limerick has also been one of three pilot sites for the deployment of body-worn cameras, which enable gardaí to record incidents and have been found to support deterrence of criminal activity.

We are also taking a range of other measures to tackle organised crime more broadly, including increasing to life in prison the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder to tackle those who direct gangland and drug-related crime. We are enacting new laws that will criminalise the grooming of children into a life of crime. We have new laws to provide for the use of facial recognition technology in the investigation of certain drug offences, and legislation to reduce the time that assets must be confiscated by the Criminal Assets Bureau before disposal.

It is also important to acknowledge that community safety is not just a matter for An Garda Síochána. As the Deputy knows, we are rolling out the community safety partnerships, which are the successor to the joint policing committees. The delay in rolling out the Limerick one is with the local authority.

I also want to mention that, in Limerick, which Deputy Quinlivan is well aware of, there is the work by the CAST team, which is led by Superintendent Andrew Lacey, which is doing fantastic work with vulnerable people and people with mental health challenges. That brings together both the HSE and other agencies to deal with those cases.

Deputy Maurice Quinlivan: I spoke on the CAST teams earlier. I have also been in contact with stakeholders in the community and I assure the Minister of State the concerns I raised with him today are echoed by most people in the community. Frustrations are building and many feel the Garda response has not been adequate enough against these criminals. Having said that, I believe the gardaí in Limerick are doing the job in some of the most challenging of circumstances, and more supports and resources are needed for them.

I recently spoke at length to people with first-hand and direct knowledge of this feud. They are good people who have given so much good to the community. They noted families are sleeping in shifts, whereby some sleep while others guard the front door and monitor CCTV cameras. They do so due to the threat of petrol bombs or worse being fired or lobbed at their homes. This is no way for anybody to live. I have also been contacted confidentially by several local parents who are not letting their children go to school because they are worried they may be injured, beaten up or whatever on the way to school.

The violence, drug dealing and organised crime is not exclusive to this part of the city but we are seeing a pattern in Limerick. It is a pattern that sees gardaí intensifying their efforts in one area, leading to re-emerging criminal elements in other parts of the city. For instance, when we focus on Ballinacurra, Weston, People's Park, St. Mary's Park and Garryowen, they will have zero Garda presence.

Deputy Niall Collins: It is important to put on the record and inform the Deputy's constituents and my own in Limerick that, as of 30 November 2025, the most recent information available is there are 607 gardaí assigned to the Limerick division, which is a net increase of 25 since the beginning of last year and an increase of 53, which is about 10%, since 2015. As the Deputy knows, the Garda Commissioner assigned 30 probationer gardaí to Limerick during 2025, which is the highest annual allocation since 2020. There are 35 gardaí assigned to the Garda roads policing unit, an increase of five since the start of last year, and there are 32 designated community gardaí, an increase of two since the start of last year. Additionally, we have 71 Garda civilian staff assigned to the Limerick division, which is freeing up a huge amount of time and resources of sworn gardaí to be devoted to front-line policing.

Deputy Maurice Quinlivan: I have been asked by the community to specifically ask the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, to visit the area and to talk to the local chief superintendent and community leaders. We are seriously concerned about what is going on in the area and I do not think anybody is grasping the severity of what we are worried about.

The Garda knows exactly who is involved and who is gaining from this misery. I appreciate that the gathering of information and investigations need to be thorough, but the community must see a robust response. Without one, I fear we are seeing escalation and a deep frustration within the community and, unfortunately, we might see the loss of life.

We in Limerick have had some challenges with criminality in a small minority of areas that can be fixed. These are areas with good people and are communities which utterly despise the organised crime gangs and their criminality. They just want to get on with and live their lives. The tentacles of criminality spread to all the communities, from urban to rural and urban centres to suburban towns. As I said earlier, our gardaí do a difficult job and crucial work every day as they serve and protect communities, and they have my full support in doing that.

We have seen from previous operations, such as Operation Copóg, that when the resources and funding are put into Limerick and when the resources are put in to the Garda and it is supported properly, they work well in combating the type of organised activity I have been talking about and, more important, the force has the support of the community. I ask the Minister to visit the area and get involved.

Deputy Jim O'Callaghan: I have been there.

Deputy Niall Collins: As the Minister has just said, he has been to and is no stranger to Limerick. I outline to the Deputy the huge increase in numbers of personnel to Limerick. There will be further allocations around the country next week. There will be a significant allocation of new probationer gardaí which I think the Deputy will welcome, when we have that officially next week.

I want to detail to the Deputy and the people of Limerick - the Deputy's constituents and mine - the number of Garda operations ongoing in Limerick at present, because it is important. First, Operation TARA is a dedicated local drugs unit which continues to detect and investigate drug trafficking offences. Provisional figures for 2025 indicate a 13% increase in detections for possession of controlled drugs for sale. There is also Operation Coronation, which is ongoing in the Limerick division and focuses on the investigation and prosecution of money laundering offences. We have Operation Gealbhan which is on the south side of Limerick city and provides an increased Garda presence through covert and overt patrolling to prevent and detect incidents of serious criminality. We have Operation Silverside, which commenced in January 2023 and focuses on the activities of persons based in the west Limerick area involved in organised criminality on the Continent of Europe and beyond. Finally, we have Operation Thor which is aimed at targeting organised crime gangs and repeat offenders in the Limerick division through co-ordinated crime prevention and enforcement activity. The 2025 figures indicate a 38% reduction in burglaries in Limerick. The Deputy can see there is a lot of positive outcomes happening in policing in Limerick. I thank him for raising all those issues and giving us the opportunity to put it on the record.