Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea, TD for Limerick East, has said most of the violent gun crime affecting Limerick is down to what he described as "a barbaric rivalry" between two gangs - the so-called McCarthy-Dundon faction and the Keane-Collopy gang.
Speaking on RTÉ radio this evening, Mr O'Dea said families known to be involved in the criminal underworld will not be rehoused when several troubled estates, including entire streets in Moyross and Southill, are razed and rebuilt over the coming years.
"Certain families in certain estates will not be rehoused in the regeneration because their activities have put them beyond the pale of ordinary society," he said.
"They are just not going to be housed, that decision has been taken by the regeneration people with the full support of the government."
Mr O'Dea said Limerick was probably the most heavily policed part of the country but a splintering of the city's most violent gangs was causing difficulties in the Garda crackdown.
Minister O'Dea said the presence of the Garda's Emergency Response Unit had thwarted a number of crimes and added that unit "would stay as long as necessary".
"In the last couple of years, since some of the principals of those gangs were put away, a new leadership has emerged.
"But in addition to that — and this is a feature that is often overlooked — there is a whole lot of splinter groups loosely associated with one or the other.
"But basically it is down to a basic rivalry between those two gangs," he added.
Mr O'Dea's comments came after a body was found in what is believed to be a shallow grave on waste ground in the city.
The discovery was made by officers carrying out searches following two shootings in the city on Saturday, one of which left a 40-year-old man dead. The officers also found two guns and ammunition during today's searches.