A huge surge in violence has prompted gardaí to launch Operation Anvil in an attempt to defeat the gangsters, writes Conor Lally
Less than six months ago, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell was telling anybody who would listen that Dublin's gangland sub-culture had been largely broken up by gardaí.
Most of the main players were under pressure thanks to the efforts of gardaí and were firmly on the back foot.
"I don't believe there is new energy in crime in Dublin, I believe that it is to some extent the sting of the dying wasp," the Minister said after the murder of Dublin criminal Paul Cunningham in Mulhuddart, west Dublin, last November.
Since uttering those words, underworld figures have gone into overdrive. Dublin has witnessed one of its bloodiest periods in recent history, with six murders in the last seven weeks.
Ten people being questioned by gardaí in relation to one of those killings, that of Joseph Rafferty in Ongar, west Dublin, last month, were yesterday released without charge. Two of the biggest armed robberies in the history of the State have also been carried out in Dublin in recent months.
Almost €2.4 million was stolen by an armed gang in April after a Securicor worker, Paul Richardson, and his family were held at gunpoint at their home in Raheny. Two weeks later €2.2 million was robbed by an armed gang who hijacked a Brinks Allied van at a petrol station in Artane when the crew had gone to buy coffee.
The Garda's new Operation Anvil, unveiled yesterday, has been established in response to this significant surge in gun crime. Some €6.5 million in funding has been set aside for the operation. About 15,000 hours in overtime will be worked each week for at least four months.
Additional high-visibility mobile and foot patrols will operate along with random checkpoints where gangs are operating.
The operation will involve local uniformed gardaí and detectives.
A number of specialist units will also be involved, including the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Emergency Response Unit, the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation.
The entire operation will be headed by Assistant Commissioner Al McHugh, who is in charge of the Dublin Metropolitan Region.
Senior officers say detectives are satisfied they know the identity of most of the perpetrators of recent murders and other serious crimes in Dublin. Operation Anvil is designed to put as much heat on these people as possible and to disrupt their criminal enterprises to the maximum.
Mr McDowell yesterday told the Dáil that there were 15 to 30 such gangs in the State, depending on how one defined a gang. Cab lists 17 for-profit gangs on its dossier of targets.
These gangs are sourcing guns when buying drugs from other jurisdictions, mainly Britain and Spain. Some weapons which had been used in the Northern Ireland conflict are also finding their way into the hands of Dublin criminals. In the last three years almost 1,400 legally held firearms, mainly shotguns, have been stolen.
This arsenal is now being used to devastating effect.
There have been seven gun killings in the last seven weeks; six in Dublin and one in Sligo. Most of the recent murders have arisen because low-level criminal figures have fallen out over relatively minor matters. Some of the victims were not involved in crime.
Guns are being used to settle scores like never before and firearms are in plentiful supply. The fact that personal disputes are being addressed with fatal gun attacks is evidence that a gun culture has arrived in Dublin. Mr McDowell conceded as much yesterday.
"A feature of the gun culture which has emerged is the apparent belief on the part of some criminals that they are not bound by or subject to the laws of the land," he said.
The fact that Mr McDowell took the highly unusual step of announcing in the Dáil details of a major Garda operation is a clear indication that he feels politically pressurised by the recent burst of activity by armed criminals.
Ominously, he said many of the criminals who had been put out of business in west Dublin last year had already been replaced by a new faces, part of an up-and-coming generation. How this cycle is to be broken across the city remains to be seen.