Mayor lashes out at feud family meetings

The Mayor of Limerick has scathingly criticised reports that a series of secret meetings between feuding criminal families were being conducted.

John Gilligan described the attempt of Limerick feuding criminal gangs to hold a secret meeting at a top Limerick hotel this week in an effort to, in his words “regulate their trade” as “fucking unacceptable”.

The harsh comments came on the heels of a national newspaper report stating that representatives from The McCarthy Dundon and the Keane Collopy gangs were due to meet at the lavish Clarion hotel on Wednesday night, a meeting which was cancelled quiet hastily just two hours before it was due to begin.

Gardai became aware that the meeting would be taking place Wednesday evening and top Garda officials took the precaution of deploying members of the Emergency Response Unit and the new armed Regional Support Unit to the hotel for ‘surveillance’.

Reports say however the meeting was cancelled by the gangs after they became aware that journalists form local and national media had become aware of the gathering.

The Irish examiner article also reported that a figure linked to the Limerick regeneration agency has been mediating between the gangs in an effort to establish a meeting between them. This report has been strongly denied by Regeneration official Brendan Kenny.