We do, however, only burn out the best of cars …. only Mercedes are good enough to burn out in Cork!

I must change the Fiat Punto into a Mercedes!

Seems like Cork is always in the middle of it with Bombs, stabbings and shootings!

A man has been wounded in a gun attack in Cork.

Shots were fired through the window of a house in the Knocknaheeny area of the city at around 9pm last night.

The man, who is in his 30s and from Togher, was wounded in the shoulder and stomach and is in a critical but stable condition at Cork University Hospital.

AdvertisementHis girlfriend and two children, aged six and three, witnessed the attack.

Gardaí believe that the gunman was armed with a handgun and that he made his getaway in a waiting car driven by another man.

A Mercedes found burned out near Monard midway between Cork city and Blarney may have been used by the gunman and his accomplice.

Garda technical experts will today carry out a forensic examination of the vehicle.

Gardaí also cordoned off the house at Kilmore Road and technical experts began a forensic examination of the scene late last night.

They have begun door to door inquiries in the area to see if anyone saw anything suspicious near the scene.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Gurranabraher Garda Station on 021-4946200.

I don’t have a personal vendetta against Limerick. Limerick may not deserve the above title and Limerick may or may not be any better or worse than any of our other cities including Cork and Dublin … it’s just the way Limerick gets portrayed and then to cap it all …. it’s the way Limerick reacts to that portrayal.

We have more of that portrayal today (and I quote):

A 12-year-old girl is due in court in Limerick this morning charged in connection with the theft of a van.

It is alleged the girl stole the van in the Garryowen area of the city at around 3am on Monday morning and drove it to Henry Street Garda Station where she beeped the horn.

It is claimed she then rammed a Garda car which had pursued her through the city.

The 12-year-old was arrested and later released into the custody of a parent.

She is expected to face multiple charges when she appears in Limerick District Court later.

I’m sure the same happens in Cork, Dublin etc. ……. but it seems that Limerick is always the one to be seen to be in the midst of trouble.

Again, I reiterate, I spent three happy years in Limerick, loved the city, worked in some of the ‘nmore difficult’ areas in the city and loved every minute of my time there.

Had I got a job there …. I would have stayed there.

My personal experience of the Press is that all they report should be taken with a large dose of salt.

The Press are self-satisfying ….. bad news/gripping news sells. The bottom line is what counts.

And don’t we all love bad news …. as long as the other guy is faring out worse than us we can say that we’re doing ok.

The headline claims that Limerick is the murder capital of Europe. The article says no such thing. It claims, on the basis of a very flawed statistical analysis (see below), that Limerick has overtaken Glasgow as the murder capital of “Western” Europe. Of course it doesn’t bother to say what exactly constitutes “Western” Europe.

The fact is that even on the basis of these flawed statistics neither Limerick nor Glasgow has the highest murder rate in Europe. That dubious honour used to belong to Corleone and has now been taken by Naples, with Moscow not far behind. The cities such as Talinn, Riga and Constantia would complete a top 5 that does not include a single Irish or Scottish city.

Why are the statistics flawed – the clue is in the article. The CSO do not record the number of people murdered each year (there is no – “were you murdered since the last census?” box to tick on the form). The Gardai do that. The CSO records where people live. What the Sunday Independent has done is taken the crime figures for the Limerick Garda division and divided them by the CSO figures for the population of Limerick city. Nothing wrong with that you might think. Except that the city of Limerick is split between three local authorities. According to the CSO Limerick has a population of just 52,000 people. The real population of the city ans its suburbs is 110,000. The Gardai sensibly disregarded these boundaries and established a Garda division that includes the entire city and suburbs as well as parts of county Limerick and County Clare. The population of the Garda division of Limerick is more than twice the census figure for Limerick city. in other words the Sunday Independent just doubled Limerick’s crime rate – thanks guys.

Crime is a serious problem and needs to be tackled, but this sort of ridiculous over the top journalism just serves to glorify the petty little thugs responsbile. They should be cowering in fear of the gardai and the agents of the state, not thinking they’ve replaced the Sicilian and Russian mafias as the real hard men of Europe – what a load of rubbish