Call for ‘turning point’ after reports of child firing gun in north Dublin

An incident in which a child reportedly fired a gun is “deeply concerning” and needs to be “a turning point” for a Dublin community, politicians have said.

There have been reports that an 11-year-old child fired an automatic weapon after it was thrown into bushes in Ballymun in an incident related to a criminal feud.

Tanaiste Simon Harris said he understood the calls for high visibility policing, and said the facts of the case needed to be confirmed.

“What is a fact is that an 11-year-old child found and discharged a gun, and that in and of itself is deeply, deeply, concerning,” he told RTE Radio.

“No doubt, has caused alarm in the community and I think, quite frankly, more broadly, has caused significant concerns.”

Gardai said that two unarmed, uniformed members responded to a firearms incident in Ballymun at around 3pm on Tuesday.

The two gardai chased a man and a teenager on foot, one of whom was on an e-scooter.

The man, in his 20s, and a male teenager were arrested and held at a Garda station in Dublin.

The teenager has been released while the man remains in custody.

Gardai say shortly after the chase, they received reports of shots fired in the area – but no injuries were reported.

Gardai said they are “engaging with the family of another juvenile” following the incident and have launched an investigation.

A senior investigating officer has been appointed to lead the investigation and gardai are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy said local people were “shocked and frightened” by the incident.

He added: “We are extremely lucky that nobody was injured or killed, but there is a growing sense of fear in the community as violence escalates and these feuds continue without resolution.

“Homes have been shot at, there have been arson attacks, extremely violent attacks have happened in broad daylight, and people are terrified as a result.

“You can’t help but feel that if this continues, somebody innocent could be seriously hurt or killed. That is the fear many people are carrying.”

He said: “Ballymun deserves a lot better. This has to be a turning point.”

Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne, who represents the Ballymun area, said the incident happened as drug-related intimidation had been “left unchallenged” by successive governments.

He highlighted low levels of gardai in the area and said high crime rates was “not what Ballymun deserves”.

He added: “I’ve been directly contacted by families affected by the local gang feud, parents and children who are affected in different ways by the scourge of the drug trade and its ongoing intimidation. They feel they have been forgotten about.

“I’m calling on Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan to address the chronic underfunding of policing and safety initiatives in Ballymun to ensure yesterday’s events are no longer an inevitability.”