Limerick regeneration schemes pay protection racketeers, claims TD

PAYMENT for protection rackets at local authority sites in Limerick is ‘rife’ and, the criminals have also targeted construction sites associated with the State-funded multimillion euro regeneration of Limerick’s local authority housing estates, Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins has claimed.

Deputy Collins said reliable sources in Limerick City and County Council, as well as sources in the construction industry, informed him that the ‘racketeering operation’ has been going on ‘for years’.

Mr Collins has asked Garda management to ‘canvass the construction industry’ to investigate the extent of the alleged cash-for-protection operations.

Chief Superintendent Gerry Roche, the head of the Limerick Garda Division, said gardaí are aware of individuals suspected of being involved and gardaí are liaising with the Limerick Council to weed it out.

Mr Collins said: ‘I’ve been talking to people involved in the construction industry and they’re telling me this is happening and that it’s wellknown, and it includes the regeneration sites.’

Claims from the construction sources have been backed up a source close to Limerick City and County Council, who spoke only on condition they would not be identified. They explained that ‘two families involved in the (Limerick gangland) feud’ have been fleecing contractors and sub-contracting firms ‘for well over a decade’, some of whom have been operating projects funded by the State.

Criminal elements have been targeting construction companies who were hired to carry out work associated with the regeneration of Limerick’s local authority housing estates, which was launched in 2006, the source confirmed.

‘It’s going on for years. There was one family in the Southill area that were at it for a long time.’

The source said the State was effectively paying criminal elements ‘cash in hand’ to provide security on these construction sites, even though they had already paid construction firms to perform official security at the sites.

Mr Collins raised his concerns at a meeting of Limerick’s Joint Policing Committee.

He said: ‘We need to take this issue seriously, as it’s now being taken seriously in Dublin.’ Limerick City and County Council could not be reached for comment.