Second person contacts councillor over ‘credible threat’ to safety

A second person has contacted Dublin city councillor Nial Ring over a garda letter warning of a 'credible threat' to their safety following Tuesday's gangland murder of Gareth Hutch.

This is the second person to have contacted the Independent councillor after a member of the Hutch family contacted him on Tuesday night, saying they had been warned of a threat to their life.

On Tuesday, a man presented himself to the garda because he feared he would be shot dead when people saw detectives searching his house after the killing.

"There is a huge amount of fear and helplessness in the area, it doesn't help that people in Leinster House going off for another 90 days," Mr Ring said.

Mr Ring said Gareth Hutch had called to see him the day before he was killed as he was concerned about his son and thought there was a black spot in the complex where there was no CCTV coverage.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Ring said there is a "conveyor belt of criminals" in Dublin's north inner city, and that if the garda manage to stop those involved in the current spate of killings, another group will immediately step in.

“You are talking about a small number of people. If the gardaí go in and they take out the 10 to 20 involved, then there will be someone to replace them immediately. There’s a load of young guys waiting to take their place.

“They’re either on drugs, or they’re involved in criminality, they are addicted to the buzz and the money.”

He said that most people in the area know who is behind the crimes which he described as “macro-terrorism”.

Mr Ring said the most frightening aspect of the killings was that they are being orchestrated in Europe, but being carried out on the streets of the north inner city.

“When you get into trans-national crime it is a whole new game. The vast majority of the Hutch family are not involved in crime. The Hutch family is like a small corner shop and the Kinahan gang are like a multi-national coming in to wipe them out and take over.

Speaking about Enda Kenny’s promise to visit to the area, Mr Ring said,

"Enda visiting the area is all optics, you'd think we were living on the moon. It's less than a mile from Dáil Éireann, Enda Kenny can pop around at any time.

“I don’t care if he comes around or not. What I care about is that a community living in fear is given some sort of hope and help.”

Mr Ring commended Chief Supt Pat Leahy, who he said has developed a level of trust in the area that was not there for a long time.

“But he has no resources to protect these people. The gardaí are as vulnerable as the people in the area. He does a great job but the force is down 150 gardaí in the last few years.”

Mr Ring said that the community in the north inner city is resilient, but that it is are looking for leadership and are afraid that something else will happen.