Limerick rallies against crime gangs

AN estimated 5,000 people brought Limerick City centre to a standstill last Sunday as a special protest march against the gangland killings in this city took place.
The event, organised by Stephen Collins, the father of murdered businessman Roy Collins, included a rally outside city hall where Mayor John Gilligan called for an end to the violence.
Limerick City Sinn Féin representative Maurice Quinlivan hailed the turn-out:
“Sinn Féin has for a long time argued that we need to see a robust response from government to the increasing level of gun crime in Ireland. We need to face up to the fact that Irish society is facing a growing crisis, particularly when we realise that even young teenagers have access to guns.
“Many innocent people have been caught up in this violence here in Limerick and in less than a six-month period two innocent people with no gangland connections whatsoever were brutally murdered in our city.”
Sinn Féin European election candidate for Ireland South Toireasa Ferris joined with most of the local party candidates in the rally against the crime gangs.

ACT NOW
Maurice Quinlivan concluded:
“The people have today marched to express their solidarity with the Collins family and against the city’s drugs gangs and the misery, shame, despair and havoc they bring to our city.
“The Government must now act. It is time to show that crime does not pay. The Criminal Assets Bureau must act decisively against these gangs and seize their assets. Monies seized must be poured into the city’s communities that have suffered the most from this drug and gang crime. The Government have thus far failed to defeat these gangs; they now need to turn their words into deeds.”