GoCar to reduce number of vehicles available in Limerick due to 'antisocial behaviour'
GoCar, one of Ireland's leading vehicle-sharing services, has announced it will reduce the number of vehicles available in Limerick due to 'anti-social behaviour'.
The car rental service released a statement after a string of incidents that have caused 'significant damage' to its vehicles.
'Unfortunately, months of persistent incidents of antisocial behaviour have caused constant significant damage to our vehicles and placed an unsustainable strain on our operations," the company said.
"As a result, we've had to make the very difficult decision to temporarily reduce the number of GoCars available in Limerick.
We know this will cause disruption to those that use our cars correctly, and for that, we're genuinely sorry. Please rest assured that this is not a decision we've taken lightly.
'We're working closely with local authorities and An Garda Síochána to address the issues and are doing everything we can to restore full service as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding and for being a valued part of the GoCar community.'
Earlier this month, Limerick's metropolitan district unanimously agreed to write to justice minister Jim O'Callaghan, calling on him to brief the council on the future resourcing of policing in the city.
The motion was brought forward by Labour's Pádraigh Reale, who said out of 120 gardaí who passed out from Templemore, 11 have been assigned to the southern region — with 'only four' being assigned to the Limerick division.
The ongoing feud in the southside of the city was also brought up during the meeting.
This comes as three men were hospitalised following incidents of violent disorder and criminal damage on June 22 on Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston.
In recent months, several incidents have occurred on the southside of the city as a result of the ongoing feud.
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Limerick residents alarmed over 'prevalence' of open drug use in city
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Irish Independent
18 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Missing Icelandic poker player Jon Jonsson lost €4,000 within hours of his arrival in Dublin, gardaí say
Mr Jonsson, a taxi driver, went missing on February 9, 2019, while attending the Dublin Poker Festival at the Regency Hotel (now renamed the Bonnington Hotel) on the northside of the city. Detective Superintendent Alan Brady led a delegation of five members of An Garda Síochána to the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, last week to interview 46 people who knew the father of four. Among those interviewed were convicted criminals, as well as the missing man's family, friends and associates in the poker world. Gambling is illegal in Iceland, and Mr Jonsson was heavily involved in the scene in his homeland. Det Supt Brady, who is attached to Ballymun garda station, said: 'We formally interviewed 46 people. We will now go home and assess all the information we received, which was worthwhile for the investigation. 'We interviewed Jon's friends, family members and poker players. We interviewed some convicted criminals who knew him. There has been a lot of rumour about what happened to Jon in Dublin — that his death was linked to the poker community here. Even rumours of a hitman. Gardaí say they haven't ruled anything out 'We believe that whatever happened to Jon, happened in Ireland. But we also think that the answers to what happened to him lie among the Icelandic community.' The senior officer said the investigation remains open and has not been upgraded to homicide. 'We haven't ruled anything out. We're still looking at everything from murder, to suicide or an accident of some kind,' he added. Mr Jonsson's fiancee Kristjana Gudjonsdottir had arrived in Dublin just a few hours before he disappeared, having missed the first day of the poker tournament. He left the hotel on foot at about 11am and was seen on camera by CCTV 200 metres away. Beyond that image, no trace of him has ever been uncovered, despite several intensive searches and gardaí following up more than 350 lines of enquiry. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more The 41-year-old did lose some money while playing poker in Dublin, but not a significant amount, Det Supt Brady said. 'Jon was playing poker in games where the buy-in was about €500. We believe he lost between €3,000 and €4,000. We've also established that the money he lost was sent over within a few hours from people in the poker scene in Iceland,' he said. 'It has been suggested to us by people that he could have come to some harm by people involved in criminality. We've followed up every avenue and there are lots of theories.' Gardaí also spoke to Mr Jonsson's family in Reykjavik. The family had previously criticised aspects of the garda investigation. 'We had meetings with some members of the family and also interviewed some of them. We built bridges. They have gone through huge heartbreak for the past six years. No family should have to go through that. We are here to try and get answers for them,' Det Supt Brady said. 'It is a joint investigation and the co-operation has been top class' 'Jon was a nice guy. He wouldn't harm a fly. He was a very big man but not an aggressive man. He was not an angry person. It doesn't appear feasible to us that he would have gotten into a fight.' Det Supt Brady praised the assistance gardaí received from the Icelandic police. 'It is a joint investigation and the co-operation has been top class. We sent a list to the Icelandic police investigators of the people we wanted to speak with, and we carried out 46 formal interviews out of the 58 people we identified,' he said. The Sunday Independent previously reported about how an imprisoned criminal in Iceland played an 'instrumental' role in communicating a dramatic version of events to Icelandic police — which, it was claimed, culminated in the murder of the taxi driver. In 2020, police in Iceland were told that Mr Jonsson was killed 'by accident' by a fellow countryman, after a falling out over squandered gambling money. His family, meanwhile, believe he may have been murdered by a paid hitman in a case of mistaken identity. It is being examined whether this potential hitman intended to target a different Icelandic man who was visiting Ireland at the time. In April, gardaí in Dublin carried out four new searches with cadaver dogs. This followed the receipt of new information, after RTÉ aired a podcast series on Mr Jonsson's disappearance. 'I would still appeal to anyone who attended that poker tournament, or with any information, to come forward to gardaí or the Icelandic police,' Det Supt Brady said.
Irish Times
a day ago
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Man (20s) dies after being struck by a car in Ballymun, Dublin
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Sunday World
a day ago
- Sunday World
Gardaí on alert over increase in number of drugs being obtained for use in sexual assaults on partners
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