A €200 drug debt means a death sentence in gangland
The murder of Paddy Lyons is a reminder that human life is worthless to the peddlers of misery, writes Larissa Nolan
APETTY criminal gunned down over a €200 drug debt, his body left on the road near his home as a warning to others. Two fatal stabbings in a week on the streets. Open drug-dealing, streams of customers at known dealers’ homes, turf feuds, a sharp rise in aggravated burglaries and gang violence. Threats, intimidation and fear.
This is the reality for those living in Dublin’s north inner city and stretching to the north-west as far as Ballymun, the scene last week of the first gun murder of 2021.
Detectives would never have predicted the victim would be Paddy ‘Pappy’ Lyons, a well-liked local character with a drug addiction and some low-level convictions for possession and shoplifting. He was not a gangland figure. He was found dead on Belclare Terrace on Thursday at 9pm, shot four times in the body and once in the head.
Gardaí believe the motive for his murder was to “put down a marker”.
It was “to make a point about what happens when people owe money, to cause terror among addicts in the community. This unfortunate individual was a victim of organised crime, rather than a participant,” a source said.
A friend of Lyons, Tina Whitley, was the last person to see him before he was shot.
“We were watching true crime on TV and Pappy said he had to go out. I said, ‘Be careful’, and he said, ‘I won’t be a minute’,” she said.
It was a display of dominance — human life has no value when it gets in the way. Lyons’s murder is an allegory for just how out of control parts of the capital’s northside have become, with politicians, activists and residents saying drug gangs act with impunity to the point where people are afraid to leave their homes.
A survey last year found nearly a quarter of those living in the north-east inner city experienced drug-related intimidation, with threats ranging from physical harm to vandalism. The situation causes citizens to feel so unsafe they effectively change their lives.
In many ways, Ballymun and swathes of the north inner city most closely resemble the US city of Baltimore, as portrayed in post-9/11 crime series The Wire.
Like a documentary of the streets, The Wire transcended the television cop show to present an expansive study of how institutional and systemic power structures affect individuals.
It illustrated how the drug scourge in Baltimore was a symptom of deeper, unresolved economic and social issues, as it is in Ballymun and other areas of the north inner city similarly afflicted.
Poor living conditions, high unemployment and low levels of educational attainment contribute to a nihilistic culture of belief that drugs are the way forward in life. The social toll of lockdown is worsening the problem.
Some reports coming from Dublin’s northside last week were darkly reminiscent of scenes from The Wire.
Local Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe said: “Residents tell us sometimes there are certain laneways that are supermarkets for drugs and they don’t understand how that can happen.
“I think that even in these Covid times, sometimes there are more queues outside certain places than there are outside local shops.
“We need to get a grip on what is effectively an industry in our community.”
Others told how gardaí intermittently come along and raid, only for the drug-dealing to openly resume once they are gone.
The loss of control to drug dealers running certain areas is the most alarming parallel to The Wire’s Baltimore. Lyons’s murder put me in mind of the opening scenes of the show’s first episode, in which the cerebral game played between cops and criminals shifts up a gear with the murder of a benign character who has been killed “over some bullshit”.
A witness tells Jimmy McNulty the normal fallout would be a beating, “but ain’t nobody go past that”. Until they did.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin met community activists last week and was told: “There is a real danger the State could lose control of this part of the capital unless drug crime is stopped.”
Sarah Kelleher, the CEO of Lourdes Youth Community Centre in Rutland Street, Dublin, warned: “Drug dealers are effectively running whole parts of the inner city.”
Noel Wardick, the chief executive of Dublin City Community Co-Op, said the mood is of “fear, anxiety and deep sadness” over the string of violent incidents.
“The State faces losing control of a whole section of our capital city if it does not take control of, and end the drug-related violence and intimidation happening daily,” he said.
“We are demanding with dignity that crime, drugs, violence and intimidation end and people can go out on their streets, let their children play and go to work without fear, just as in any other area of the country.”
The Taoiseach said: “People must not be afraid to leave their homes because of a small minority determined to cause harm to others.
“The safety of the community of Dublin’s north inner city is a priority for us all.”
Outlining the policing plan An Garda Síochána has put in place for the area, he added: “It will see high-visibility patrols carried out daily, with particular focus on the areas where public order and related offending has taken place in recent weeks.”
Councillor Keith Connolly noted that residents had worked tirelessly to build a better Ballymun through community groups, sports clubs and social initiatives.
His colleague, councillor Mary Callaghan, said people in the area deserved better and called for a more robust Garda presence.
The northside has come far in the past four decades.
It now runs the risk of returning to the dark days of drugs destroying society, community and generations unless urgent action is taken.
The problem runs deep and will not be solved with one approach, but with policing down 11pc in the north inner city, additional gardaí would be a start.
‘Residents say certain lanes are like drug supermarkets’