Limerick feud

The Limerick feud is a feud between rival criminal gangs in Limerick City, Ireland. The feud which started between two criminals in 2000 spread to involve several criminal families, mainly the Keane-Collopy gang from St. Mary's Park and the McCarthy-Dundon gang from Ballinacurra Weston, and their associates. While control of the drug trade is a factor in the feud, according to Garda Superintendent Gerry Mahon, the primary driving force is "absolute hatred by each side for the other". Up to twenty murders and hundreds of shootings, stabbings and pipe bomb attacks have been attributed to the feud since it began.

Throughout the latter part of the twentieth century, Limerick has grappled with a crime problem, with numerous high-profile crime incidents occurring in city. In this period the city gained notoriety being dubbed Stab City by various media outlets, while nationally the city gained a popular image and reputation for criminality, violent disorder and toughness. While there are a number of various and complex reasons for feuding and crime in the city, part of the problems arise from the sheer deprivation experienced in some of the suburban local authority housing estates built by Limerick Corporation from the mid- to late 20th century. By end of the 20th century, endemic unemployment and deprivation in these estates were amongst the highest in Ireland, fostering major antisocial behaviour in the estates as well as high levels of organised crime amongst rival gangs within the city in order to control the city's drug trade. While feuding in parts of the city goes back decades, the present feud can be traced back to a dispute between gang boss Christy Keane and close associate, Eddie Ryan, in 2000. Keane, a major drug dealer and leader of the Keane-Collopy gang, and Ryan, the gang's main enforcer, had a bitter falling-out after a series of violent incidents involving relatives of the men. On the afternoon of Friday, 10 November 2000, an attempt was made on the life of Christy Keane as he was collecting his son from school at Ignatious Rice College on Shelbourne Avenue. A gunman, believed to be Eddie Ryan, approached him as he sat in his car and he tried to shoot Keane, but the gun jammed and Keane escaped with his life. Two nights later as forty-year-old Ryan was drinking in the Moose Bar in Cathedral Place, two gunmen entered and shot him dead. Ryan's son Keiran, who almost certainly would have been killed as well, survived as he had gone to the toilet seconds before the killers arrived at the bar. The gunmen were believed to be Keiran Keane, a brother of Christy, and Philip Collopy. As well as dozens of other serious incidents over the following year, there were at least 30 petrol bomb and gun attacks on the home of Eddie Ryan's brother, John.

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