Priest to mediate in Sixmilebridge dispute

PARISH priest, Fr Harry Bohan has assumed the role of mediator in an effort to bring peace to a housing estate in Sixmilebridge, after a dispute between two families escalated over the weekend requiring a near round-the-clock garda presence. Tensions heightened in the Cappa Lodge estate, resulting in windows being smashed in a couple of houses, shots being discharged and a young woman, who was visiting one of the houses, receiving minor injuries.
One resident told The Clare Champion that he wasn’t surprised with the events of last weekend as “it was a time bomb waiting to happen”. He admitted that people were literally prisoners in their homes because they “were afraid to go outside the front door”.
Things got so bad, he said, that some families decided to move out and stay temporarily with friends and relatives until hostilities died down.
Gardaí deployed resources to patrol the estate and the surveillance included members of the specially trained and armed Emergency Response Unit based in Limerick.
A garda spokesman urged residents in the council estate to “stay calm”, adding that developments would be constantly monitored by the gardaí in Shannon.
He revealed that a dispute erupted between two people living in the estate but escalated as other family members became involved. Criminal damage had been allegedly caused to two houses, while several shots were reportedly fired at about 6.30am in the estate on Monday morning.
He confirmed that a crowd gathered and gardaí from Shannon attended the scene, supported by additional gardaí from Ennis and members of the ERU. A number of people were interviewed by gardaí in relation to the incidents.
The garda spokesman emphasised that while some people had decided to stay temporarily with friends or relatives, they did so of their own volition and hadn’t been moved out of the estate by gardaí.
“The situation will continue to be monitored from Shannon. There will be a garda presence in the area over the short term. There are very few people involved in this dispute. It puts fear into a lot of people and people begin to think it is bigger than is,” he stated.
“There is definitely no need for anyone to panic or move out. Any incidents will be dealt with immediately by gardaí,” he added.
“We are not expecting it to escalate. We are hoping that things will get back to normal fairly shortly,” the garda continued.