The Garda’s special crime units have prevented numerous murder attempts in the ongoing Hutch-Kinahan gang feud, Garda Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll has said.
Mr O'Driscoll, who heads up the Special Crime Operations unit and is also responsible for Community Engagement and Public Safety told RTÉ's News at One that efforts to tackle organised crime had been "relentless".
Special units had intervened on “many occasions” when people had been targeted, he said.
On some occasions submachine guns and loaded fire arms were confiscated.
He said “in excess of 20” murders had been thwarted because of the actions of the specialised units.
He declined to say which gangs had been targeted in these attempts: “I will avoid going into detail, that would be encouraging them to have a score sheet.”
Structural changes within the force and increased resources had made a difference, and gardaí hoped to keep the number of deaths to a minimum, he added.
The Assistant Commissioner pointed out that, while gardaí send written notification to people whom they thought might be under threat, it was also up to the people in question to “behave in a way” that did not allow others to carry out the threat.