Gang murders raised in Dáil by Mary Lou McDonald TD

MARY LOU McDONALD tried to have the 'spiral' of crime gang murders in Dublin debated by TDs in the Dáil on Wednesday morning but her motion was ruled out of order by the Ceann Comhairle.

The Dublin Central TD made an application to discuss the matter of “national importance” under Standing Order 33 in a motion that spoke of “the spiralling murder rate in the capital which claimed its two most recent victims in the north inner city and Clondalkin this week and the inability of An Garda Síochána to respond to such incidents because of the punitive cutbacks in personnel and resources”.

When it was declared out of order due to the existing order of business, Mary Lou took to her feet to emphasise how this was a real-life daily issue affecting the lives and causing fear among not just her constituents but communities across the state.

The Ceann Comhairle asked that party whips meet to try and make time in the Dáil schedule for this important issue to be debated by parliament.

● Mary Lou McDonald – gangland killings spree should be debated by parliament

◼︎ Michael Barr was shot dead at the Sunset House pub in Summerhill in Dublin's north inner city on Monday night.

It is speculated that his murder is connected to a gangland feud that crashed into the news headlines in February when two men armed with assault rifles and posing as members of a Garda firearms unit attacked a boxing match weigh-in at the Regency Hotel in Dublin attended by members of a major drugs gang based in Spain operating in Ireland. One man was shot dead and two others were seriously injured.

A relative of a man being blamed by the media for being behind the Regency Hotel attack was shot dead in the north inner city in an apparent reprisal and yet another man lost his life in a similar revenge gun attack in Sheriff Street in a clear case of mistaken identity.

The killings are among six since last September stretching from Spain to Ireland.

In an apparently unconnected killing also on Monday night, a man was shot five times in his home in Clondalkin.