Gardaí have spent over €400,000 on overtime over the past two months in an effort to keep the peace between four feuding families from the travelling community in Waterford city.
Superintendent Chris Delaney told a meeting of the City Joint Policing Committee earlier this week that gardai have worked more than 12,000 hours overtime to deal with the feud, which began in July.
Supt Delaney did not disclose the cost of the policing operation at the meeting and declined to reveal the cost when contacted today. However,
The Irish Timeshas learned from informed sources the cost was around €400,000.
Officers have been drafted in from Kilkenny, Wexford and Tipperary to assist in patrolling the city.
The operation involved armed detectives patrolling the city by day and night as the feud between the Burkes and the Delaneys on the one side and the Mongans and the Stokes on the other threatened to spill into serious violence in a number of locations around the city.
Supt Delaney told the Joint Policing Committee that there had been more than 100 recorded incidents including public order offences, assaults, arson attacks and gun attacks related to the feud.