GARDAÍ IN south Mayo are following a “number of lines of inquiry” in relation to the stabbing of four men in two attacks in Ballinrobe over the weekend.
One of the four was in a critical condition yesterday in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.
Two were being treated in Mayo General Hospital, while the fourth man has been discharged.
The incidents are the latest in a spate of violent assaults within a week in south Mayo.
Father-of-three Frankie Heneghan (24), from Castlebar, was stabbed to death in Kiltimagh on August 12th and Garda Daryl Mullen (31), a member of the Garda Drugs Unit, sustained serious injuries in a separate stabbing incident in Westport on August 9th.
Mr Heneghan’s funeral is to take place today. Garda Mullen is making a recovery but is expected to be in hospital for some time. Two people have been charged in relation to these cases.
The series of assaults has prompted a call by Fine Gael TD Michael Ring for a review of licensing laws, and the availability of alcohol and drugs.
“We have to look at the underlying causes at a time when the job of the Garda is getting more difficult and dangerous,” Mr Ring said.
“If this type of violence is happening at this level in a county like Mayo, which has been relatively crime-free, we have a serious problem in this country,” Mr Ring said.
“It is not enough to look at more Garda resources, or extra legislation, when we have closed our eyes to the obvious. There is a tolerance of drink that does not apply to anything else in this State. We are going to have to change our attitude to alcohol,” he said yesterday.
Political and community leaders in Ballinrobe expressed shock yesterday at the weekend violence in a town which is known for its horse racing and its angling on Lough Mask.
Only a couple of weeks ago, the town was celebrating the success of a 95-year-old Mayo angler, Tom Ketterick, who made the final of an international trout angling contest on Lough Mask.
Fr Conal Eustace, parish priest in Ballinrobe, said everybody found it “bizarre” that a series of violent assaults could occur in such a short period in south Mayo.
Ballinrobe’s population, now at about 2,700, has expanded in the past decade with about 30 relatively new housing estates, quite a sizeable Lithuanian and Polish community, and residents commuting to work in Galway and Castlebar.
A youth cafe planned for Bowgate Street is about to go to tender, partly funded by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, with a target completion date of next year.
Several residents recalled that Ballinrobe’s last serious incident was the deaths of three young men, two of them cousins, in a road crash near the racecourse in November 2006.
The town has one night club, the Valkenburg, and it is believed that the two stabbing incidents in New Street and on Neale Road between 2am and 3am on Sunday involved people who may have been in the club earlier on.
Supt Pádraig O’Toole, who is heading the investigation by a special unit, said there was no definitive evidence that the two attacks were related, but this was being examined as a possibility.
One of the two assaulted in New Street, a 27-year-old man, sustained serious head injuries and is critically ill in Beaumont Hospital.
A 32-year-old man who was with him was discharged. Both are said to have been set upon by a “number” of men.
The Neale Road assault occurred about 20 minutes later, with a 20-year-old and a 31-year-old man sustaining stab wounds in the neck. They have been described as “stable” in Mayo General Hospital.
Fine Gael councillor Michael Burke, who has run a business in Ballinrobe for 35 years, said he never remembered an incident like it. He said he knew two of the families of the injured men.
Mr Burke added: “I believe we do need more gardaí on patrol here on Saturday nights.”
“The laws are there but the problem is implementation,” he said.
Fianna Fáil councillor Damien Ryan said drugs were “definitely an issue” in the town and he called for the installation of publicly funded CCTV cameras.
