|
|
 A major inter-agency operation linked to a national initiative, “Operation Fiacla,” and targeting the illegal storing and distribution of scrap metal, was carried out at a number of locations yesterday, along the Tipperary/Limerick border.
A large force of Gardaí, including members of the Armed Regional Response Unit, Customs and Revenue officers, together with officials from Limerick County Council, took part in the operation. The operation also included a number of highly-visible checkpoints, set up as part of yesterday’s day-long operation in this area.
It is understood that a considerable amount of scrap metal, motor vehicles and tyres were seized from halting sites on the Limerick /Tipperary Road & from a scrap metal yard at Spitland, Old Cork Road, outside Limerick city, using a convoy of recovery trucks which worked throughout the day.
Gardaí have also confirmed that a quantity of drugs were also found during this well planned operation & latter have now been sent for forensic analysis.
While these drugs located remain unidentified, this latter information comes on the back of a new report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). This report indicates that Ireland remains among the biggest users of Cocaine in Europe and also names and shames Ireland as a ‘hot-bed,’ for Vietnamese and Chinese organised crime gangs, who cultivate home-grown cannabis. Ireland also tops the poll for the use of newer drugs called “Legal Highs.”
The strength of the Garda National Drugs Unit, which targets gangs importing drugs into the country and distributing them, has fallen from 59 to 56, with this cut in manpower directly connected to the reduction in Garda numbers in recent years.
 Members of the Garda Representative Association (GRA ) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) are to be balloted in the coming weeks on new proposals regarding pay and conditions.
It is understood that both these Garda representative bodies are cautiously welcoming the Labour Relations Commission’s new deal on premium payments and allowances, which are to remain untouched. Instead Gardaí will in return undertake 30 hours of free overtime.
This required GRA ballot could take up to six weeks to finalize, which immediately raises the question of whether the July1st deadline set down by the government for achieving necessary savings, can be now met.
The GRA’s Central Executive Committee have stated that these savings will now have a direct benefit to the State and will minimise the impact on an already stretched police service.
In April last Justice Minister Alan Shatter announced he would delay hiring more Gardaí, following the then rejection by unions of Crokepark 2, stating that without an agreement on the public-service pay deal, he would have no funds to pay for new recruitment.
The Minister had hinted earlier that he was to begin a new enrolment campaign towards the end of this year and whether this extra recruitment and funding will now emerge will be of much interest to the economy of Templemore, Thurles, which is home to the Garda Training College.
Earlier this year the General Secretary of the Association of Garda Superintendents had warned that the strength of the Garda force was at a critically low level. Superintendent Pat McCabe used the AGSI annual conference to call for Garda recruitment to begin again as soon as physically & financially possible.
Will these extra hours, if agreed, remove the need for new recruitment?
 Gardaí here in Tipperary are continuing their investigation into the violent death of 52 year old Mr Bobby Ryan, Boherlahan, Tipperary, latter who had been missing since the Friday morning of the June bank holiday weekend, back in 2011.
The remains of Mr Ryan’s body were discovery on Tuesday afternoon last in a 10ft deep, sealed, disused slurry tank on a farm at Fawnagown, Co Tipperary.
Following the completion of a post-mortem examination at Waterford Regional Hospital by the Deputy State Pathologist Dr Khalid Jabbar, Gardaí officially upgraded their inquiry into Mr Ryan’s death, to that of a murder investigation. It is understood that Mr Ryan suffered a horrific beating which led to his death, and because of the condition of the located remains, identification was necessary using the dental records and DNA comparisons from family members.
The separated father of two had left his partner, Ms Mary Lowry, latter a widow with three young sons, at her home in Fawnagown, Co Tipperary, just after 6.00am on the Friday morning, June 3rd in 2011 & was due to continue to his place of work at Killough Quarry here near Thurles. His family were alerted when he failed to arrive and Mr Ryan’s abandoned Citroen van was found some hours later abandoned in Bansha Wood on the outskirts of Tipperary town. Numerous subsequent searches of the region by Gardaí & volunteers, together with emotional appeals to the public for assistance had proven fruitless.
Ms Lowry’s husband, Martin, had died of cancer in 2007 and the farm was later leased out to a farmer, Mr Pat Quirke. Gardaí were alerted after Mr Quirke discovered decomposed remains in a sealed underground slurry tank, hidden by undergrowth at the rear of Mary Lowry’s home.
Mr Ryan during his lifetime had worked as a part-time Disc Jockey at weekends and was well known across South Tipperary by the stage-name, “Mr Moonlight.”
One male suspect, who was stated to have been obsessed with Ms Lowry, is seen as possibly central to continuing Garda investigations into Mr Ryan’s disappearance. As part of ongoing investigations, Gardaí are examining CCTV footage from a secretly installed security system, which Ms Lowry had introduced at her home following a recent robbery. Gardaí will also mount an operation next week in a bid to jog the memories of people who may have been in the area on the morning of Mr Ryan disappearance.
 Christopher Doyle, aged 39, from Fatima Mansions, Dublin, a prisoner who was serving a six year sentence for dangerous driving at Roscrea, Co Tipperary, numerous robberies and who was also serving a 12 year prison sentence for the manslaughter of 81 year old Meath pensioner Patrick Logan in June 2000, has been recaptured.
Mr Doyle is understood to have climbed out through a bathroom window at St James’s Hospital Dublin, after getting compassionate escorted release to visit his sick father on Wednesday morning last.
Habitual criminal Doyle was currently serving an eight-year sentence for dangerous driving, causing serious bodily harm, having driven a stolen car into a family in Roscrea in 2010
Doyle, who was serving his sentence in the Training Unit at Mountjoy Prison, was arrested by Gardaí in Mullingar, Co Westmeath yesterday, on suspicion of shoplifting. Doyle has also some 21 previous convictions for manslaughter, robbery, public order offences and failing to turn up at court appearances. Doyle also holds strong links with the UK and has numerous convictions there also for other violent robberies.
Considered one of Ireland’s most dangerous prisoners, Gardaí had launched a massive nationwide manhunt following his escape.
A total of 453 prisoners have absconded from prison between the years 2008 to 2011, with a further 33 in the first three months of 2012, according to requested Dáil questions and the answers received.
 Gardaí, investigating a shotgun attack at a house in Littleton in Co Tipperary, have now arrested a male suspect in connection with the incident.
A mother and her daughter who were in the house at the time, luckily escaped injury.
The incident happened in the early hours of Wednesday morning last, when three blasts, fired from a shotgun, shattered a window and the front door of the residence of Mrs Mary Jo Ivers, aged 40, and her daughter, aged 11.
The house is situated in Derrynaflan Drive, in the quiet village of Littleton, near Thurles, Co Tipperary.
Thurles Gardaí continue to investigate the incident and can be contacted at Tel: 0504- 25100, or on their confidential line, 1800 666111. They are anxious to hear from any witnesses who may have been in the area at the time of the attack.
|
Support Us Help keep Thurles.info online by donating below. Thank you.
Total Donated 2026: €290.00
Thank You!
Daily Thurles Mass Livestream
|
Recent Comments