Mags Gargan
“Gardaí on the ground are at their wits end to stem the tide.”
With 13 violent deaths in the country so far this year – quadruple the number of killings this time last year – a Donegal priest has expressed concern at the “breakdown of law and order” evident in Irish society.
Speaking at the funeral of Dean Lafferty in St Mary’s Church, Stranorlar last Friday, Fr Kieran McAteer said “most conversations” these days in Ireland show a concern with violence.
Local airwaves
Fr McAteer said that at a time when the Minister for Justice has “hardly been out of the news” and local airwaves have been “inundated” with angry callers highlighting “elderly people being robbed in their own homes and living in fear” that it is no wonder that “questions are going around in our heads” and the “breakdown of law and order comes into most conversations”.
“Gardaí on the ground are at their wits end to stem the tide. It is in the middle of this scenario that the tragic news of Dean Lafferty’s death came out,” Fr McAteer said
Eighteen-year-old Dean Lafferty died suddenly in his home last week and gardaí are investigating the circumstances surrounding his death with local reports suggesting he received blows to the head following an incident on a night out.
