LIMERICK'S reputation as a violent city was highlighted again at the weekend following the riot in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Saturday night and Sunday morning brings a 2 a.m. rush hour in the handful of fast food outlets serving the centre city area after the discos are over. As Limerick is an extremely compact city, hundreds of young people spill into the city centre in swarms from the half dozen discos and clubs concentrated around O'Connell Street.
For late night fast food operations it's big business, but it's also a big crush. And very occasionally, big trouble.
The flash points in the city centre have traditionally been taxi ranks and take away food outlets, where rows erupt over queue jumping. It was at a taxi stand in the early 1980s that a Libyan studying at Shannon Airport was fatally wounded with a screwdriver during a Christmas Eve row over a taxi.
One taxi driver explained. Young men who have been drinking and dancing can find themselves at a loose end at the end of a disco. If they have no girlfriend to leave home they head for the take aways and if someone makes the wrong move, a row develops."
But civic leaders and gardai stress that Limerick does not have a major problem with civil unrest and this was an isolated incident.
A Garda spokesman said. This is the first major disturbance in the city. Like any other urban area, there can be isolated incidents. The Garda does not regard the city as having a major problem.
A senior Garda source said this was "a once of~f", and it appeared terrible in the media with so many arrests, which creates its own image.
"Remember, there were no serious injuries and the fact that there were so many people around can lead to them getting excited and scared and running in all directions. It was a small row that took off and drink was obviously involved and possibly drugs," said the Garda source.
Gardai say their resources in Limerick are reasonable 15 officers tried to quell the riot but when an extraordinary situation arises, back up from other stations can be called on, as happened at the weekend, with reinforcements coming from outlying stations.
The Lord Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Kieran O'Hanlon, is to ask the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, if cutbacks on overtime led to an inadequate number of gardai on duty at the weekends. He also called for a drink ban in the city centre at weekends. Coincidentally, the Lord Mayor used a sports conference at the University of Limerick earlier on Saturday night to call for increased Lottery funding for sport as a way of diverting young people from crime and violence.
Judge Michael O'Reilly signalled that he will review disco licences when 17 young men appeared before him on Sunday morning at a special court sitting.
The chairman of the Labour Party, Mr Jim Kemmy TD, said it was not unexpected because, travelling through the city as Lord Mayor last year, he saw hundreds of young people congregating at the take aways after discos.
"There is a need for gardai patrolling the city centre at weekends. Young men and women are coming intoxicated out of discos. I am not surprised at what happened and I'm looking for a Garda presence," said Deputy Kemmy.