Gardaí in Kerry believe a spate of vigilante attacks are part of a politically motivated campaign. Previous vigilante episodes have also tended to coincide with elections, Dick Hogan reports
Is it a coincidence that in Kerry North, a constituency in which Sinn Féin could be on the verge of taking a seat for the first time, vigilantism seems to have worked its way insidiously into the political campaign? The party denies adamantly that it has any involvement.
No other party involved in the forthcoming election has marched on the homes of known drug dealers and named them publicly. No other party has tapped into the unease which people in the constituency feel about the growing drugs menace in the way Sinn Féin has, and none of the main political parties has felt moved to organise large gatherings with the sole purpose of naming, shaming and removing alleged drug dealers from the community.
Sinn Féin has done so with pride and proudly points to its record. The party claims it provided a public service whenever it held such meetings outside the homes of alleged dealers and that once their names were brought into the public domain, it was then a matter for the Garda authorities.
The party also claims, however, that being tough on drug dealers does not mean that its members have gone the extra mile, resorting to sordid and sometimes brutal physical tactics by anonymous callers in the dead of night who wear balaclavas, wreck homes and property and leave people in fear for their lives. For some years now, vigilantism has stalked the Kerry North constituency.
In practical terms, this has meant the arrival of foul-mouthed bullies armed with anything from guns and sledgehammers to baseball bats, at homes, usually when darkness has fallen, who come to administer their brand of quick-fix justice.
An ultimatum is issued, giving the alleged offender a specified time in which to leave his home and the county; he and his family are normally roughed up in the encounter, and in most cases, innocent people, including wives and children, are terrorised by it.
Sinn Féin says it doesn't condone this type of action and has no idea who is responsible for it. Asked by The Irish Times if he knew anything about a shady organisation which calls itself Concerned Parents Against Drugs (CPAD), the party's candidate in Kerry North, Mr Martin Ferris, denied any connection with or knowledge of the organisation. CPAD has claimed responsibility for the attack on a man in Castleisland last December - in front of his six-year-old daughter - during he was abducted from his home and beaten. His car was burned.
CPAD, whose members are unseen and make contact with newspapers by telephone only, later alerted gardaí to the whereabouts of €15,000-worth of cannabis which they claimed to have seized from their victim, another alleged drugs dealer.
Over the past number of days, Mr Ferris and other members of Sinn Féin in Kerry North, including Mr James Sheehan, director of elections in the constituency, and Mr Donal Cusack, PRO, were arrested and questioned in connection with the attack. They were later released without charge.
Mr Ferris claimed that while in custody, he was assaulted by gardaí. The claim has been strenuously denied by highly placed Garda sources who say Sinn Féin were preying cynically on people's fears for the purpose of bolstering their vote.
Garda sources are convinced the phenomenon of vigilantism in Kerry is directly linked to political activity in the county, especially at election time. Publicity is guaranteed in the case of the Martin family of Ardfert, five years ago, when young children were terrorised as their father, Terence, was severely beaten, his boat burned out and their house almost demolished.
When he spoke subsequently to Kerry's Eye editor Padraig Kennelly, Mr Martin described being tarred by the gang after he had been beaten senseless.
As the main group left the house, allegedly having taken £1,300 in cash belonging to various members of the family, he asked the lookout guarding their escape if it had occurred to them that he might not be a drugs dealer but an innocent man."He replied: 'I'm only obeying orders.' "
"It's easy to target these people and claim results for rough justice, but we have to gather evidence and present it in court in accordance with the law," a Garda source said.
Is Sinn Féin gaining from the publicity surrounding vigilantism? "I suppose there's no such thing as bad publicity," Sinn Féin PRO, Mr Donal Cusack, said.
Mr Ferris says one of his priorities after his release from prison in 1994 for his role in the Marita Ann gun running affair, was to raise public consciousness about the drugs issue.
Sinn Féin makes no apology for this, and Mr Ferris insists he cannot be held responsible for any coincidences that may exist between vigilantism and election campaigns.
The evidence, according to gardaí, is plain. Between 1995 and 1996, prior to the general election of 1997, there were at least a dozen incidents. On October 12th, 1995, up to seven men wearing balaclavas arrived at the home of a Cork man living near Banna, beat him severely, robbed £400 and gave him one week to get out of Kerry. Earlier in the year, he had been threatened by another group of men.
On October 18th, 1995, a man who had already been threatened, found his car burned out in a Tralee cinema car-park. On October 22nd, 1995, a mobile home and its contents were set on fire and destroyed at Sandy Lane, Ardfert. On October 29th, 1995, a Ford transit van was burned out at Staughton's Row, Tralee. Mr Ferris was questioned about the incident but not charged.
On November 11th, 1995, a gang arrived at a house in Moyderwell, Tralee, forcibly removed a motorcycle and set fire to it. Mr Martin's home was attacked on December 21st, 1996.
The same month, a woman with a young child was stopped near Farranfore by three men who forced them out of the car at gunpoint.
The woman was questioned about her partner. She and the young child were left at the side of the road as the car was driven off. It was later found burned out.
On May 1st 1997, a man was tarred and feathered in Listowel and his car burned out.
There appears to have been a lull in activity for some time before the local and European elections loomed in 1999. On May 29th, 1998, at Bolloonach Estate, Tralee, a man who brandished a firearm announced that he was looking for drugs. On the same date, in a nearby area, six men visited the home of a man and told him to get out of Kerry immediately.
Later in 1999, a man who had joined his girlfriend and her three-year-old daughter in their car, was followed and assaulted. He refused to make a statement to gardaí. The latest attack was on the night of December 7th last year, when a man was bundled into his car at Castleisland. He was badly beaten and the car was burned out.
In the three-seater Kerry North constituency, Mr Ferris undoubtedly poses a threat to the more established parties. In the 1997 election, he failed to get elected simply because transfers didn't work for him. However, his first preference tally of 5,691 votes was better than that of Fianna Fáil's Mr Denis Foley (5,376) or Mr Tom McEllistrim, also Fianna Fáil (4,036). This time, the party hopes for much slicker vote management.
Mr Ferris says he doesn't care about polls or whose seat he takes and believes his day has come. Gardaí believe they know who is behind the attacks.
Mr Ferris says the finger should not be pointed at him or his colleagues.