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“EVERYBODY KNOWS WHO’S involved.”
Philip Jennings of Safer Blanchardstown is frustrated that the community of Corduff is back in the headlines linked to drugs and gang violence.
Local volunteer groups have worked hard, he says, to clean up the area in recent years, planting flowers and painting murals to brighten it up.
It’s very demoralising for the area now, because there’s so much good work going on. We really did think this was something that was behind us.
That good work is overshadowed now by a spate of violent incidents linked to a feud involving three gangs with ties to the Dublin 15 area and Finglas.
In the most recent incident at the weekend, four men smashed in the windows of a house in Corduff, threw a bucket of petrol inside and set it alight. Two men were upstairs at the time and managed to escape but garda sources have said this incident could have been fatal. This arson attack happened at 11.20am on Saturday morning.
It followed a number of petrol bomb attacks and reports of shots fired at homes in west Dublin.
Last week a takeaway driver was caught up in one of these shooting incidents while trying to deliver food to the home of the intended target. There is now growing concern that more innocent people will be put at risk in this feud and locals are afraid to talk to gardaí about what they know.
“There’s huge fear, people don’t want to be seen talking to the guards, to anyone associated with the guards or the local authority. Everybody knows who’s involved but the guards have to work to get evidence,” Jennings said.
Garda sources have also said they are seeing this reluctance to report incidents in the community. There have been a number of recent reports of shots being fired in the these areas, for example, but when gardaí attended the scene they could not find any evidence or anyone to back it up.
Over the bank holiday weekend there was a visible garda presence in Finglas and Corduff, including armed patrols.
“The place is saturated with police but the guards can’t be everywhere and these guys know this,” Jennings said.
In Finglas, people are even keeping quiet about the feud when local election candidates vying for their votes are asking them about it on the doorsteps.
“People know, for want of a better phrase, that ‘loose lips sink ships’,” noted Fine Gael candidate Sean Tyrell.
“They don’t want to be seen to complain even to a local election candidate who might get in touch with the guards. They don’t want to be seen saying a specific person was causing them problems, there’s a fear of doing that,” he said.
I’ve asked people before if they’d be willing to go to the guards and there’s a reluctance to make a formal statement because you have to put your name on it and they’re scared of retaliation.
Drug-related crime
The feud, like others across the country, centres on a struggle for control of the local drugs market.
Research published by Blanchardstown Local Drug and Alcohol Taskforce earlier this year identified high levels of drug intimidation in Dublin 15, with 78% of people saying it was frequent in the area.
Almost half reported violent offences linked to drugs were frequent and 22% said firearms offences were frequent.
Janet Robinson, who conducted this research three years in a row, told TheJournal.ie that it has consistently highlighted “how easy it is to get drugs” in the area. In the second and third years of the research there was also a noticeable increase in the number of people under 18 dealing and running drugs.
According to the research, children as young as 10 years old are dealing drugs while children as young as eight are drug running.
“We came up with the assumption that it could be related to drug debt intimidation. Young people don’t really know what they’re getting themselves into when they buy a bit here and there. Their use spirals and they can’t pay back the debt and that’s how they get involved.”
Daylight violence
“The violence displayed by gang members in this feud is frightening for innocent people in the communities who are trying live day-to-day, working and raising their families,” councillor Paul McAuliffe told TheJournal.ie.
Last month a man fired a gun outside a school in Corduff – the target was waiting outside to collect his little brother.
In another incident in Finglas a man was set upon outside the garda station by a group of men who sliced his neck with a knife. This is being treated by investigators as a case of attempted murder.
Both of these incidents happened in public places during daylight hours.
We’ve had this issue with a lot of gangs and people will say ‘if they want to kill each other that’s fine, that’s the wold they’re in’. But there’s a threat to innocent people, these are the streets they walk down to get their shopping or bring their kids to school. There have been a number of very serious incidents that have made people afraid.
Like the people of Corduff, McAuliffe said communities in Finglas are angry that a disruptive minority have again brought negative attention to neighbourhoods they are proud of.
“Lots of people are sick of it, they really resent it. It’s not only about their safety, they’re annoyed by the association this brings to their area.”
Over the bank holiday weekend, while armed gardaí patrolled the area in an attempt to deter further violence, Finglas residents took part in a number of community events, including a commemoration for Irish musician Séamus Ennis.
“I think people would much rather Finglas be known as the birthplace of Séamus Ennis than for the death of some random gangland criminal.”
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Ukrainian nightmare candidate. Another oligarch. Not what the people of Ukraine want or deserve.
She got the rough end of the stick by the deposed gangster, but that doesn’t mean she can run a country. Especially one that is on the edge now.
Oligarch yes! But I would, would you?
Recently been quoted as saying “going to kill all Russians”.
If her legacy as prime minister is anything to go by (ie. IMF bail-out due to governmental incompetence and corruption) she would make a dreadful president.
Heard a recording of a phone conversation she had recently where she said she would go nuclear on 8 million ethnic Russians living in the east and annihilate them. Lovely woman..
Yeah but the Americans and EU love her, not that there’s anything new about the USA supporting tyrants
The EU and the USA don’t love her as they know she’s divisive and inflammatory.
Apologies for introducing a fact into a discussion about Ukraine!
I get the point but how could she go nuclear. Ukraine gave up the bomb
They gave up their weapons but they still have the capacity to make them again, simple.
What was the point of the protests that toppled Yanukovych if he’s just going to be replaced by yet another corrupt oligarch?
She has to be elected first.
She does look good, but she is one evil heartless cow.
She is on record saying that if she ever became president of Ukraine, she would wipe out all Russian-Ukraians.
She wants to ban the Russian language and i am not sure what her plans are for ‘the wipeout’ entail.
Really, she is a lovely lady ….
Article headline: In latest wiretapping leak, Yulia Tymoshenko appears to say ‘nuclear weapons’ should be used to kill Russians
Cal she’s only with you for the money!
Cal Mooney
Tymoshenko is one of the group of NATO/EU/US supporters who said they would gladly break ever treaty with Russia. And I thought the so-called democracy parties wanted law and treaties respected. It seems only some laws and treaties, namely those that bring the IMF/EU and US into her country. She is a Quisling and we have our share in this country.
CMac, if the Russians won’t respect their treaties with the Ukraine then why should they bother honouring anything the Russians signed?
Jason Culligan
Russia reacted to the crisis created by Kiev. Only then did it react. The US is active in destabilizing the democratically elected leader, as it has in so many places around the world.
The US regime change is all about subverting law and order so their candidates can be imposed with the covert aid and assistance of the US and its allies like Europe who give a veneer of respectability to the proceedings.
I don’t see Russia subverting regimes like the US and Europe. Russia since 1001 has done what the West demanded and it has got it nowhere. Putin as a man and Russian rights should not be confused.
For “1001″ read “1991″.
“Russia reacted to the crisis created by Kiev. Only then did it react.”
And who gave them that right? The Ukraine is a sovereign state, Russia has no place to get involved in internal political disputes.
“The US is active in destabilizing the democratically elected leader, as it has in so many places around the world.”
Proof?
“Russia since 1001 has done what the West demanded and it has got it nowhere.”
So i’m guessing how Russia has behaved towards Moldova, Georgia and Chechnya and now the Ukraine has just not happened at all in your eyes?
Jason,
when upi have Coup leaders talking about exterminating Ukranian Russians, i don’t think the Russians had any choice but to go in and deal with the crises … God knows the US/EU couldn’t give a damn about the citiznes of Ukraine, they just want to pillage the country’s resources
Russia has done what it wanted in this region since the days of Catherine the Great
The Americans have financed “color revolutions” in Georgia and Ukraine and hope to do so in the Russian Federation itself. The Americans support the terrorists in Chechnya. The Americans trained and equipped the Georgian military and gave it the green light to attack Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. The Americans have financed the overthrow of the elected government in Ukraine and blame Russia for the anxiety this caused among Crimeans who on their own volition fled Ukraine and returned to Russia from whence they came. Even Gorbachev said that Khrushchev should never have put Crimea into Ukraine. Solzhenitsyn said that Lenin should not have put Russian provinces into eastern and southern Ukraine.
American media elites awash in an orgy of feel-good condemnation in particular love to mock Russian media, especially the government-funded English-language outlet RT, as being a source of shameless pro-Putin propaganda, where free expression is strictly barred (in contrast to the Free American Media). That that network has a strong pro-Russian bias is unquestionably true. But one of its leading hosts, Abby Martin, remarkably demonstrated last night what “journalistic independence” means by ending her Breaking the Set program with a clear and unapologetic denunciation of the Russian action in Ukraine.
For all the self-celebrating American journalists and political commentators: was there even a single US television host who said anything comparable to this in the lead-up to, or the early stages of, the US invasion of Iraq?
Source: http://zcomm.org/znetarticle/rt-host-abby-martin-condemns-russian-incursion-into-crimea-on-rt/
Link to info
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles5/DVNS_Iraq-WMD-Lies.htm
List of major print media outlets during the timeframe requested
Transcript of Newsnight interview Jeremy Paxman interviews Blair . Not an opinion piece a la RT , but a politician being grilled on the legitimacy of the Iraq war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/2732979.stmI admire Abbey Martin would that interview Putin in the same manner .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/2732979.stm
Meanwhile
On the eve of the Olympics, Mr Kiselev’s masters launched a campaign against Dozhd, a private cable and internet TV channel. The brainchild of Natalia Sindeeva, a 42-year-old media entrepreneur, it is financed by her husband, Alexander Vinokurov. “I wanted to create a channel for people like us,” says Ms Sindeeva. Its young journalists rejected everything Mr Kiselev stands for. It came on air in 2010, during the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev (now prime minister), who endorsed it by his own appearances. Marginal in size, it captured the spirit of the young, creative Moscow types who protested against the Kremlin in December 2011. But its reach grew fast to 18m homes, including many outside Moscow.
Recently Kremlin propagandists have unleashed a hate-campaign against Dozhd. Cable-TV operators have been instructed to drop it from their packages, depriving the channel of advertising revenues. The trigger for the crackdown was probably Dozhd’s reports of a luxury country estate belonging to Vyacheslav Volodin, deputy head of the Kremlin administration, as well as of protests in Ukraine. But, as Ms Sindeeva says, what irritated the Kremlin most was Dozhd’s independence.
To conclude above
Although the state formally controls only two main broadcasters, many private ones come directly or indirectly under a media empire of Yury Kovalchuk, a friend of Mr Putin. Besides National Media Group, which has stakes in three TV channels, including 25% of Channel One, Mr Kovalchuk also has a large indirect stake in Gazprom Media, Russia’s largest media group, which owns five television channels, several radio stations and a publishing company. Gazprom Media’s structure is complex: it is 100%-owned by Gazprom bank, almost half of which belongs to Gazprom’s pension fund. Most of this is managed by a firm linked to Mr Kovalchuk.
RT should fire Abbey Martin. Her show is cheesy and she is a liberal liability. She does not fit in with the other high standard shows like crosstalk and worlds apart.
@ Cmac well said !
Western puppet
She doesn’t look 53.she’d have my vote
So you wouldn’t vote for Lucinda Creighton then!
She’s 34 going on 57.
This woman is corrupt and part of the problem in Ukraine not part of the solution
If Lucinda looked like that yeah id vote for her
I’d give her one..
On the the voting card
will she even get the chance before russian invade on way to moldovia. Big statement from russians coming they see signs in belarus so they will try to crush it all very soon. Is europe and states willing to go to war if they attack them?? no but if they move to romanias doorstep we will see sparks fly
What a load of crap … Russia has zero intentions of touching Belarus.
Tom you sound like Jim Corr!
I agree tom. Belarus is in the sphere of influence with a dictator propped up by Russia. They risk losing Belarus to Europe if they don’t attack Ukraine.
Russia will invade eastern Ukraine they will land in Moldova. Unless strong messages are sent that way. Hurt their economy the only thing keeping Vlad in power.
Also of Ukraine requests military hardware then it should and will be supplied. Russians still have nightmares about Afghanistan. Make sure they get reminded. They don’t have the ability to fight insurgents
eye_c_u …
You are advocating terrorism … i will remind you of that on other threads.
Cal. Would you have called the resistance groups across Nazi occupied Europe and the former Soviet Union and those that were under Japanese control Terrorists?
Btw Cal when you said “Russia has zero intentions of touching Belarus” I noticed you never mentioned Moldova. Was that just a slip on your part?
So you are saying a Russian invasion would be a good thing?
Nice from afar….
As expected. Not good for Ukraine
“Washington’s intervention in Ukraine has unleashed dark forces. Yulia Tymoshenko, the criminal Ukrainian oligarch, who braids her hair or hair piece over her head like a crown, was released from prison by Washington’s stooges and has not stopped putting her foot, or both feet, in her mouth.
Her latest in her intercepted and leaked telephone conversation is her declaration that “it’s about time we grab our guns and go kill those damn Russians together with their leader.” She declared that not even scorched earth should be left where Russia stands. ”
Source: http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/26/how-much-war-does-washington-want/
“Tymoshenko was sentenced to prison by Ukrainians, not by Russians.
Contrast her extreme language and Russophobia with the calm measured tones of Putin, who reaffirms Russia’s interest to continue good relations with Ukraine.”
Source: http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/26/how-much-war-does-washington-want/
“calm measured tones of Putin, who reaffirms Russia’s interest to continue good relations with Ukraine.”
You forgot to add the part about invading a sovereign nation and annexing part of it while making it illegal for anyone in Russia to criticise said annexation.
The Finna Gael of Ukraine takes over from Fianna Fail. A lesson from the film “a fist full of dynamite” about poor people dying for revolutions: http://youtu.be/9ebftIo_qu4
If she was voted in she would have the Ukraine engulfed in war.
What Ukraine needs is NEW leadership, not what has failed before
cmac59go out once in a while and get a life you spend your life waffling on the journal.go for a pint and mix with people.
She’s gonna win it, 13 out of every 10 ukranians will vote for her..
Ha! Not if the Eurasian Komitee for demokratik reform have anything to do with it :-)
Not sure there will be an election for her to win given the intelligence coming out of this region over the last 24 hours. An invasion by Russia seems imminent with estimated troops between 35-80 thousand.
Can ye link to that please?
As the piece above stated she only commands 8.3% of the vote. Where as Petro Poroshenko is so far the clear favorite with nearly 25%. So I wouldn’t be getting to over excited about her winning anything.
have your say