2022: My Year In Review, Well Sort Of...

On Saturday, 24th December 2022, I published a holiday special year-in-review video on YouTube and Odysee, well sort of.

I had intended to publish it on Halloween (31st October 2022), which marks the end of the Celtic new year, but time got away from me and I didn't get it finished on time to meet that deadline. 

As I explain at the start of the video, between Family, work and community commitments, I just didn't have the spare time to make videos as frequently as I used to during the lockdown.

Truth be told, the video actually begun to be made as a "March update," but as spring as summer sped on into September, I resolved to make it into a Halloween video, so I edited out some of the stuff that went on earlier in the year and focused on the spookier elements for Halloween. 

Basically, the low hanging fruit of Limerick Antifa got the chop and I focused on the more politically significant and my three favourite witches-not-witches became the main stars.

I missed my own deadline and after Halloween I thought that I might be able to edit it into a Christmas special, but as you will see, the content really was more suited to Halloween. I had a few hours to spare on Christmas Eve, so I sat down at 5pm to  finish the video and published it at 8pm that evening.

On Tuesday 27th December I published the video on BitChute and Rumble, where I have considerably less subscribers, but it got a few views nonetheless.

Ever since the Houses of the Oireachtas tried and failed to get my "Together for Lies" video removed from YouTube last March my videos just don't get the views that they used to and this one was no different, getting just over 200 views on YouTube in three days. 

I suspect that I have been shadow banned; this means that most of my subscribers don't get notified and my videos don't show up in searches.

Then on Wednesday 28th December the video started to climb, reaching over 600 views in a few hours. What was going on? 

It would seem that someone was good enough to advertise it for me on Twitter, well sort of..

As if wishing to prove the point that I made in the video about her narcissistic tendencies, the Social Democrat's Councillor. Elisa O'Donovan makes a double-barreled tweet about my video, without actually naming me or the video.

O'Donovan wrongly claims that I published the video on Christmas Day and that it is all about her. 

The video was published on Christmas Eve and it is not about her, it's about me and my perspective, it's about my political views and the evils of abortion, it's about Halloween, it's about my dealings with the state, and it's about my dealings with liars, narcissists and witches-not-witches, one of whom happens to be Cllr. O'Donovan. 

O'Donovan says that I have crossed a line and claims that her friends and people close to her are being abused publicly for entertainment. 

What utter rubbish; the friends that she refers to are Karen Sugrue and Yvie Murphy, both are part of her election team and are the public face of that fraudulent group "Together for Safety" and the other people I mentioned are those that have engaged with her publicly on Twitter.

Nobody is having their personal life invaded and everything featured in the video was already in the public domain; I am merely commenting about the things that they have posted publicly.

I was genuinely surprised that she even mentioned that the video existed and the screenshots that she shared of it were just perfect. 

The first one was from a clip I used from 60' children's TV show, "H.R. Puff'n Stuff", featuring a musical number by one of the main characters, Wilhelmina Whack Witchiepoo; 

I placed the words "A Limerick Social Democrat's Councillor" under Witchiepoo as those were the exact words used by the architectural historian, Emma Gilleece in her 2021 Instagram post, an Instagram post that was deleted after 45 minutes and merely expressed a wish for "a Limerick Social Democrat's Councillor" to leave Emma's sister alone and stop trying to recruit her as the Limerick Social Democrats spokesperson on mental health. 

The post may have been deleted after 45 minutes, but, O’Donovan had taken a screen shot of it and decided to sue Emma, hoping for an out of court settlement of €10,000. 

When this didn’t happen and Emma decided to contest it in court, O’Donovan’s solicitor dropped the case like a hot cauldron and left her with a hefty legal bill. O'Donovan got a new solicitor, but the case has yet to be heard and O’Donovan’s appears to be dragging her heels in presenting it, my guess is that she hoping to drag it out for as long as possible to avoid any negative publicity before the next local election. 

The next screenshot O'Donovan used was even better, because it was guaranteed to really make people want to see the video; what exactly is a "panda juggling thunder gowl?"...well maybe the answer is in the video, better go seek it out!

Even though O'Donovan asks her followers to report my video to YouTube, she doesn't actually provide a link to the video because she really doesn't want any of her followers to watch it, and I don't blame her. 

Of course she's not going to share a link; the video exposes her as a liar and as a completely incompetent Councillor with a very poor record of attending Council meetings, and she didn't tweet about it just to have it reported.

The video had upset her and I'd say she needed a fix of narcissistic supply to make her feel better, and if that was the case then she got bags of it.

The only lines that have been crossed were the ones crossed by O'Donovan when she lied about me and others. As much as I abhor her twisted beliefs I don't want her out of politics, I just want an admission of wrongdoing and a public apology; I want her to be truthful. 

Her followers are blind to her antics and willfully believe everything she says without question:

It must be true, as our glorious leader says it is, it's all because of misogyny and nothing else.

It is truly is amazing to see the blind allegiance of her a sycophantic followers; here's a link to the tweet, so you can check it out for yourself:

I am beyond appalled to learn a new video was uploaded on Christmas Day about me. I am very happy to be criticised but a line is crossed when my friends and people close to me are publicly abused for “entertainment”. Nothing is worth my friends being distressed and (1/2) pic.twitter.com/CAbvl3RYCz

— Cllr Elisa O'Donovan (@elisaodonovan) December 28, 2022

O'Donovan makes all these claims and feels so aggrieved by my videos, but unlike Emma Gilleece, I have actually named her loads of times in numerous videos, yet O'Donovan has never even once attempted to take me to court. As I said in the Halloween Holiday Special video: 

"No such proceedings were ever issued, I didn’t even receive a solicitors letter threatening legal action against me. Not once has O’Donovan or her solicitor ever attempted to contact me; she prefers instead to have hit pieces written about me by her newspaper pals." 

So it came as no big surprise when that is exactly what she did after my Halloween Special, well sort of...

ZOMBIE JOURNALISM TO THE RESCUE

Following on from her double-barreled tweet, O'Donovan managed to get the Irish Examiner to report on it. This style of journalism is what I like to call zombie journalism. This is a style of journalism, where a load of tweets are cobbled together to produce a copy-and-paste article and where nothing is investigated or verified, it's just all regurgitated verbatim as if what was said in the tweets were the only facts of the matter.

O'Donovan is given free reign to say whatever she likes without question, none of her statements are challenged and she is portrayed as the helpless victim of racist, transphobic, and homophobic extremists. 

The zombie journalist this time round is an intern at the Irish Examiner named Jack White.

This would-be White knight zombie journalist provides O'Donovan with even more narcissistic supply. O'Donovan claims that my videos are a "bingo card of misogyny" yet a no point does she say where in the videos this misogyny is located or what it even says in the boxes of her imaginary misogyny bingo card.

Indeed, even Sonja Tutty of the British run Sunday Times had to admit that she could find nothing misogynistic about my videos when she contacted me in November 2021 to get my side of the story for an article she was writing about O'Donovan's claims. 

While Tutty's ideological bias was apparent in her article, at least she gave me the opportunity to present my side of the story; the end result was that the majority of Sunday Times subscriber comments were in support of me:

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE:

Tutty had told me that she didn't find my videos to be misogynistic and her article brought over 200 new subscribers to my YouTube channel. The article that was initiated by O'Donovan had backfired and she ended up shooting herself in the foot with the attempted hit piece; neither O'Donovan nor Tutty shared the article on any of their social media accounts.

By contrast, the Irish Examiner's intern zombie, Jack White, does not name my YouTube channel or videos and he made absolutely no effort to contact me for comment. Although it is clear that he took the time to speak with O'Donovan and he quotes directly from their conversation:

"Ms O’Donovan believes that the content creator wishes to “isolate” her as they are now targeting people who are not in the public eye. These people are contacting Ms O'Donovan 'upset and distressed' about the online material, she said. 'Why on earth would anyone want to support or be involved with a politician when your public life could be up for entertainment?'Ms O’Donovan said over the last two years there have been multiple videos, which she has reported. None, however, were taken down, except for one being restricted to viewers in Ireland after she hired a solicitor. "

I'm not trying to isolate O'Donovan, I'm trying to expose her lies and that is the real reason why she wants my videos taken down. 

All those people mentioned in the video are in the public eye by virtue of the very public statements they have made, which are shown in the video. 

The more pertinent question is, why would anyone want to support or be involved with a politician when they are proven to be a narcissistic self-serving liar and an incompetent public representative? Even the most blind ideologue would find it difficult to continue supporting a politician that has been exposed as a liar and a fraud.

There has indeed been "multiple videos" and none of them were taken down because they haven't invaded anyone's privacy, or broken any laws with regarded to "abuse" or "harassment" as O'Donovan has falsely claimed.

O'Donovan did succeed in getting one video on YouTube blocked in Ireland (it can still be viewed if you have a VPN), and that video is called "Elisa Lies: The Hypocrisy & Mendacities of Councillor Elisa O'Donovan."

O'Donovan got a solicitor to make a false defamation claim to YouTube as they would have had to provide the social media giant with proof that they were taking me to court for defamation. They would have had to lie to YouTube because as I stated earlier, I have never had any direct contact from O'Donovan or her solicitor and I would happily defend everything I have said in a court of law. 

Bizarrely, according to my YouTube Studio, there are no restrictions on the video, yet it remains blocked in Ireland:

That video was the exposé on Cllr. O'Donovan and her antics which was starting to go viral. Some say it was the best video on O'Donovan that they've ever seen (and thankfully it was not totally suppressed as it's still available to view without any restriction on Bitchute, Odysee and Rumble). 

It is sad to see how low the legacy media has sunk; this zombie journalism will only serve to destroy what little credibility they have left in reporting the news. There might some political gain to be had in the short term, but in the long term the truth will out, it always does in the end.

You can read Jack White's fake news article here:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41038571.html

White's article doesn't mention me, but it does provide a link to another piece of zombie journalism in which I am identified through O'Donovan's tweet, which they embedded in the article, so I think I'll see if this time the Irish Examiner will give me a right to reply, but I won't be holding my breath for it.

SWEET INNOCENT ELISA

O'Donovan claims that she is a "good person" and likes to act as if she has done nothing wrong; she is upset that I am exposing her and in a tweet from last year that I referred to in my Halloween Special, O'Donovan wonders "when does it end," 

Well, it all started when she lied about me, claiming that I harassed and intimidated her, and then she got her far-left extremist pals in Limerick Antifa to start an online hate campaign against me and my children, who they claimed I was raising to be white supremacists, a hate campaign that was publicly endorsed by O’Donovan...and it'll end when she stops lying and issues a public apology to me and the other people she has lied about; 

As I clearly explain in the video, Councillor O’Donovan is more than aware of this as I emailed her and the other Councillors in 2021. asking that she issue a public apology through her various social media accounts, the wording to be as follows:

"In 2021, I made several false claims on social media that I was harassed and intimidated by a cameraman and by the congregants of the Sacred Heart Church as they prayed the Rosary on Palm Sunday. I later revealed the cameraman to be a local community activist in my electoral area of Limerick City West, Cathal McCarthy. I also shamefully endorsed an online hate campaign organised by far-left extremists against Mr. McCarthy and his children; I acknowledge that this was wrong and I unreservedly apologise to Mr. McCarthy for any hurt that I have caused to him and to his family. I was not doing my job as a Councillor when I disrupted the Holy Rosary and shouted at the congregants; I did not have the authority of Limerick City & County Councils to behave in this appalling manner and I unreservedly apologise to the congregants of the Sacred Heart Church for my outrageous behaviour"

This is the unedited footage of O'Donovan's unhinged antics outside the Sacred Heart Church; afterwards she claimed that I had intimidated and harassed her, so I uploaded the footage to show that she lied.

O'Donovan tried to get that video taken down by claiming that it was an invasion of privacy, even though she was public representative in a public place making a public spectacle of herself while claiming to be doing her job as a Councillor. Needless to say the video wasn't removed because there was no validity to her complaint. 

The complete set of the Elisa O'Donovan Chronicles videos,(8 videos, not 9 as O'Donovan claims) unblocked and uncensored, can be found here:
https://www.bitchute.com/playlist/5yx8Fm7wg3mY/ 

Throughout 2022 O'Donovan has doubled-down on her lies and as long as she continues to so, I will continue to respond with videos; you can expect plenty more in 2023.

2022: OVERALL I HAD A GREAT YEAR

With all the hate been sent my way in 2022, one would be forgiven for believing that i had a miserable year. The reality is quite the opposite, overall I had a great year. I started a new job, which I really enjoy. I got a lot done around the house early in the year and I had a fantastic summer with my family and did a lot of snorkeling and wild swimming around the country. This is one of my favourite and most frequented spots:

I took an extended break from social media during the summer, not that I was ever on it much to begin with, but it was good not to be even looking at the toxic bile of my detractors. In September I took a look at all the links and screenshots that were sent to me by supporters and started to compile my Halloween Special video, I was very lax when it came to working on it, hence the lateness of its release.

My priorities for 2022 were Family, Work and Community and those will continue to be my priorities for 2023. However, I may decide to become more involved in community politics through the Public Participation Network, I'll see how the mood takes me.

2023: THE CHALLENGES AHEAD

On a personal level I will continue to strive to improve the quality of life for my family and community to the best of my ability.

It's hard to know what surprises that the Irish state has in store for the Irish nation, but given the ideological state of the political establishment we can expect more of our freedoms to be eroded.

All of the mainstream political parties support the introduction of "hate speech" legislation, no doubt this is because they all want to silence all voices that are concerned with illegal immigration and question the sanity of current government policy.

The neo-liberal coalition government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party are virtually indistinguishable from the pseudo opposition parties of Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats, Solidarity and People Before Profit. 

They are all pro abortion, pro open borders, pro carbon taxes, pro lockdowns, anti Irish nationalism and anti free speech. They only difference between the current neo-liberal  government and the far left so-called opposition is that those government-in-waiting parties think that the current shower don't go far enough.

All of them want to delimit private property and there is every possibility that we might see a referendum on "the right to housing" to trick people into voting away their property rights and giving the government the power to control all property. Some of the current neo-liberal gang have already floated the idea that older people living in big houses could hand their family homes over to the state in exchange for smaller accommodation. If a "right to housing" referendum were to pass they wouldn't be anything voluntary about it. 

If such a referendum is held then hopefully enough of the electorate can be convinced to vote against it, but with the legacy media totally in thrall to the ideological aims of the establishment it will be an uphill struggle.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I do hope that everyone had a peaceful and merry Christmas; I was fortunate enough to have spent mine surrounded by family and good friends #BestChristmasEver  

I wish you all a happy new year, even my detractors; such hate-filled people need to find happiness the most.... the truth will set you free lads

Until the next time....be seeing you.

The Rise of Zombie Journalism

Politician's outrageous and slanderous lies published by legacy media!

On Friday, 8th October 2021, a Councillor (Cllr.) for my local electoral area of Limerick City West, tweeted the following 

As part of @NWCI #StopOnlineAbuse I will start with my experience of @YouTube. A series of videos has been made about me this yr. This is a compilation of some of those videos. YouTube tells me these are not in violation of guidelines and to deal directly with the content creator pic.twitter.com/kW7tCrkhst

— Cllr Elisa O'Donovan (@elisaodonovan) October 8, 2021

As part of Cllr. O'Donovan's tweet to advertise her participation in an upcoming National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) webinar about online abuse, O'Donovan uploaded an out-of-context video compilation of clips from my videos, which identified me as the content creator and prompted her flying monkeys to go on a reporting spree trying to get my YouTube channel taken down. 

Less than eleven hours later and the Irish Examiner got in on the act, publishing an article based entirely on the tweet and some of the replies and describing my videos as "misogynistic."

The Irish Examiner article

This style of journalism, where a load of tweets are cobbled together to produce a copy-and-paste article and where nothing is investigated or verified, is what I like to call zombie journalism.

"The Reporting Dead" is what they would call it if it was a TV show.

Such brain-dead articles have become more and more commonplace in recent years and it is sad to see Irish journalism plumb such depraved depths; I have featured in articles they published in the past, when the journalists took the time to cover every aspect of the story and present all sides. Now, however, it's such a pity to see the bar being lowered so low that you could trip over it.

With zombie journalism there is a complete lack of impartiality and they can't be bothered to even pretend to investigate the story properly.

On Thursday, 14th October 2021, the NWCI held their webinar and it was the turn of the Irish Times to get in on the act with an article that simply quoted verbatim what the various participants had to say and presented it all as if it were fact.

It was interesting to listen to the explanation given by Cllr. O'Donovan about how she got my "Elisa Lies" video on YouTube blocked in Ireland. That video was the exposé on Cllr. O'Donovan and her antics which was starting to go viral. Some say it was the best video on O'Donovan that they've ever seen (and thankfully it was not totally suppressed as it's still available on Bitchute, Odysee and Rumble). 

"I've spoken about my experience of trying to get videos taken down: very misogynistic, really disgusting videos about me on YouTube. I couldn’t get them taken down. First of all, I put in a breach of privacy complaint and I was told to deal directly with the content creator, so they wanted me to deal directly with the person who was abusing me which I obviously did not feel safe to do. The second thing I did then was put in a copyright because they were manipulating my own videos to make me out looking like a witch, and that was also refused. So I had to result in getting a solicitor to put in very specific defamation claims and all that resulted in was some of the videos being blocked in Ireland but they could be viewed in the rest of the world." said Cllr. O'Donovan in the NWCI Zoom call

Nothing that Cllr. O'Donovan said is actually true.

My videos are neither misogynistic nor disgusting and many have described them as informative and witty. 

Cllr. O'Donovan put in a privacy complaint for a 3 minute section in a video of her unhinged antics outside the Sacred Heart Church in Limerick on Palm Sunday this year, it was for the 3 minute exchange that took place between us after she crossed the road to confront me. Her complaint was rejected by YouTube because she was a public representative that was filmed in a public place while claiming to be carrying out her duty as a Councillor; there was no invasion of privacy. 

The only time that YouTube requires the complainant to contact the content creator directly is in the case of a defamation claim and that contact can take the form of an email or letter from the complainant (or their solicitor) to the content creator. I have had absolutely no correspondence from either O'Donovan or her solicitor.

There is absolutely no requirement to call to see the content creator in person, as the mendacious Councillor suggested during the NWCI Zoom call and even if that were the case, why would she fear for her safety? She knows full well that I have never behaved menacingly or threateningly towards her. 

As my video, "Cllr. Elisa O'Donovan calls the Guards (unedited)" (the video that she complained about to YouTube for 'invasion of privacy') shows, she had no problem shouting at me (unprovoked) from across the road, she had no fear whatsoever in walking up to me and recording me up close and in my face, she had no problem walking across the road to me to insult me and make snide remarks about my attempt to help the people in my electoral area. At no time did I approach her, but she saw nothing wrong broadcasting lies about me online and in the local media, saying that I had intimidated and harassed her.

It was her lies to the media and getting her far-left associates in Antifa Limeick to launch an online hate campaign targeting me and my children that prompted me to make the videos in the first place. If Cllr. O'Donovan hadn't lied, there would have been no need for my videos.

Contrary to what Cllr. O'Donovan stated, there is no need to contact the content creator for a YouTube copyright claim, but for copyright claims to be successful they must either go unchallenged (I challenged her claims against my comedy videos under 'fair use') or the complainant must show YouTube that they are taking a court action against the content creator.

Cllr. O'Donovan claims that she had to get a solicitor to make a "specific" defamation claim to YouTube.

YouTube's policy on defamation specifically requires the complainant to contact the content creator directly via email or letter and as I previously stated, I have had absolutely no correspondence whatsoever from either O'Donovan or her solicitor regarding my videos or any other issues for that matter. which means that she got a solicitor to lie to YouTube and claimed that they had attempted to contact me or were issuing court proceedings against me for defamation.

Cllr. O'Donovan is no stranger to taking a defamation case against a private citizen when she feels slighted and offended by what they said about her online. So why hasn't she taken a case against me? 

Could it be that I don't come across as the kind of mark that you could shake down for €10,000 in an out-of-court settlement? Could it be the fact that I would actually relish the opportunity to defend my videos in court? 

I didn't defame O'Donovan at all, she did that all by herself when she made a holy show of herself by harassing Catholics as they prayed the Rosary outside the Sacred Heart Church in Limerick on Palm Sunday.

I did not initiate calling Cllr. O'Donovan a witch, she called herself a witch in a series of tweets; I merely picked up on the fact and portrayed her as a witch simply for comedic effect in light of her own self-identification. She also wore a top calling herself a "gowl," which like the censored 'C' word (c*%#) that she claimed to have caused her so much upset, is a derogatory word for female genitalia. 

"Gowl" is also used as a slang word to describe an annoying person, an idiot and a dishonest person.

G + Owl = Gowl

Unlike the defamation case against a private citizen that Cllr. O'Donovan currently has before Limerick Circuit Court, I have actually named O'Donovan and it is very obvious to all that watch the videos who it is that I'm speaking about. 

In O'Donovan's current defamation case she wasn't actually named at all in the online post that she alleges has defamed her, she simply claims that the post was about her and promptly issued court proceedings. The case has no merit and if it isn't dropped before it is heard then the Judge will undoubtedly throw it out and award costs against O'Donovan. Her defamation case is little more than an abuse of law; a contemptible attempt by a politician to publicly blacken the good name of a private citizen. 

It is absolutely scandalous that media have published this politicians lies about me without question; I am clearly identified in Cllr. O'Donovan's video tweet, which was then embedded unquestionably into the Irish Examiner article. Maybe I should consider taking a defamation case myself?

In the meantime, I will keep making video exposés as they are needed.

Here's my response video to Councillor O'Donovan's latest Twitter hate fest (another one for her and her flying monkeys to complain about):

ANTIFA CALLING: Councillor Elisa O'Donovan and her Far-Left Associates

Here's  a playlist of all my videos featuring Councillor O'Donovan:

The Councillor Elisa O'Donovan Chronicles (6 videos)

And there will be plenty more videos to come. I may not be able to stop the rise of zombie journalism, but when it tries to bite me I can do my best to counter it with my own fringe journalism.

Next up is "Fatal Detraction: The Untold Story of Deputy Brian Leddin and Councillor Elisa O'Donovan" in which i will be taking a closer look at that defamation case of O'Donovan's as well as her fantasy mindset and modus operandi, so be sure to head on over to my YouTube channel to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications, you won't want to miss it.

COMING SOON

A satirical representation of Councillor O'Donovan's Twilight Zone fantasy mindset

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

On Monday, 13 July 2015, at approximately 10:20pm I witnessed a vicious assault on my street.

 A 15-year-old boy was cornered and beaten around the head and chest by two other youths; one brandishing a hurley and the other what looked like an iron bar.

They struck the boy at least 4-times each about the head and chest, as he fell to the ground unconscious they fled into Ballinacurra Weston via the right-of-way at the top of my street.

I was upstairs when it happened; I was first alerted that something was going on by the sound of girls shouting “leave him alone”.

I looked out the window and saw a youth wearing a hoodie standing at the top of my street and brandishing a hurley.

The youth started to run down my street and that’s when I saw the other two youths standing in the middle of the road outside my neighbour’s house. Both of them had their back to me and one youth had a hold of the other by his arm.

When the youth with the hurley reached the other two he stood still looking at them for a few seconds. Then his pal released his grip on the other youth and they began to beat him to the ground; the girls watching from the top of my street starting screaming in terror.

The assault lasted less than 30 seconds and by the time I reached the victim his attackers had run off. The girls were making their way towards the unconscious youth, one of them sobbing “oh my God, oh my God” repeatedly with another asking “is he dead?”, but when they saw me coming out my front gate they panicked and ran off.

The youth was laying still, his blood pouring from his head onto the road.

He was barefoot.

I could see that he was breathing. Mindful of his head, I put him into the recovery position and he opened his eyes.

He tried to stand, but fell to his knees and crawled to the footpath and sat there with his head in his hands, blood streaming down his face.

I asked him his name, I asked him if he knew where he was, but he wouldn’t answer. I got my phone out and told him I was calling an ambulance, at that he got up and began to stagger in a slow zig-zag up my street. I followed him and called the Gardaí.

The Gardaí told me that my wife had already been on to them and that a car had been dispatched, I said that I was heading up our Boreen to the main road and I would get back to them with directions if we didn’t meet the car on the way.

At the top of our Boreen he paused, holding himself up against a garden wall before throwing himself left and nearly getting hit by a car only I caught a hold of him in time, I kept a hold of his shoulder keeping him in off the road as we walked.

 As I was getting back on to the Gardaí we passed a group of girls; they stopped in shock and called him by name

“Oh my God what have they done to you” says one of them, with her hands over her face in horror.

“Where does he live?” I ask. She tells me and I ask “who did this?”, she doesn’t answer.

I let the Gardaí know where we are headed.

We passed two small boys sitting at the entrance to his street; one of them was holding the victims leather slip-on shoes; they followed after us. 

A few minutes later and we’re at his front door. His mother lets him in, he brushes passed her and collapses on to the couch. His father comes out to me and I tell him what has happened and that the Gardaí are on the way; he asks me to wait for them while he tends to his son.

The Gardaí arrive and an ambulance is called; the boy is unconscious and they are concerned that there might be a bleed on his brain as his head is starting to swell.

The commotion causes a neighbour to come out. I told him what was going on and he told me that for the past 6-months a gang of youths had been coming into his area and causing trouble; several residents had had their windows broken, himself included.

He told me that the victim and his family were from Afghanistan, they had only moved in the week before and that within days they had become the focus of attention for the gang.  He told me that 3-days earlier the victim’s younger brothers (aged 6 and 8) were outside their home playing ball when the gang started throwing stones at them.

He said that he went out and confronted them saying that the Gardaí had been called and told the boys to go in home; the gang numbered up to 20, ranging in age from 6 to 16 and the older boys were encouraging the younger ones to throw the stones. He got dogs abuse and a few stones, but they did eventually clear off.

I told him that I was familiar with this gang and agreed that “yes”, they are a problem.

I was asked to wait for the Gardaí to take me home so that I could show them the crime scene; the area was taped off from my neighbours gate to the boundary fence (he got some land when he arrived home later that night) and a squad car with two Gardaí stayed guard until forensics were carried out the next day.

The Gardaí said that because it was a head injury involving blunt force trauma that there was the possibility that it could turn into a murder investigation by the morning.

Thankfully it didn’t.

I made a full statement to the Gardaí. Unfortunately I couldn’t properly identify the assailants because I didn’t actually see their faces, so they weren’t named in my statement. I did name the girls we passed, as they were known to me and I thought they might know who the culprits were.

In the end two youths were arrested, CCTV from the ESB and our Boreen placed them at the scene and showed them running into their homes immediately after the attack. They admitted their guilt to the Gardaí when questioned; they were charged and pleaded guilty in separate trials.

One youth (iron-bar boy) was sentenced to 2-years in jail on 30^th October 2016 for the assault and 34 other charges (yes, it took nearly a year-and-a-half) and the other (hurley boy) got off with Community service and the Probation Act on 28^th December 2016.

Now, this brings me to one of the reasons for posting about this publically.

DADDY’S LITTLE ANGEL

For some reason the judge saw fit to name me and my wife in court during the October trial. Even though our statements didn’t identify anybody and we weren’t called or needed as witnesses (because they both pleaded guilty) the judge decided that we needed to be named and commended for merely doing our civic duty.

The judge also saw fit to remind the guilty party that it was just as well he had pleaded guilty because the evidence was damning and would have resulted in a longer sentence if he had contested the charges.

The judge also asked the media not to name the guilty party as he was underage and still legally a child. Apparently, his mammy hardly looked up from her phone while all this was going on.

Unlike his Mammy, his Daddy didn’t attend any of his son’s trial, but ever since I was named in court Daddy has been telling anyone that cares to listen to him that I got his son jailed and this is something that really needs to be addressed, especially now that his little angel is free to roam the streets again (yes, he barely served 2-months).

This is how one news report described Daddy’s little angel:

“The youth was refused bail at Limerick Children’s Court after being charged with the assault on the boy, as well as 34 other offences, including 17 counts of criminal damage; nine counts of theft; six counts of burglary; and two counts of stealing cars. Despite Garda objections, the defendant was granted High Court bail on 7 December 2015. Three days later while on bail, he attacked and seriously injured a 24-year old man in Debenhams, in the centre of Limerick. The man had to undergo surgery for a fractured cheekbone.”

It was also reported that the man he assaulted while out on bail “had to undergo reconstructive surgery and have a metal plate inserted in his cheek”.

My statement only accounts for one of those 35 charges and it didn’t even identify him. I think it’s safe to say that he was jailed because his actions showed him to be a danger to the public. More importantly, and this is the crux of the matter, I did not raise this boy and he is not my responsibility.

I have my own son’s to raise I and I can tell you this without any doubt in my mind that  if any one of them did what I witnessed those youths doing to another human being , I would be thoroughly ashamed of myself as a father.

No, I am not responsible for this boy getting jail, nor I am responsible for any of his sibling’s getting incarcerated when they were caught for various crimes.  I think Daddy needs to look a little closer to home if he wants to apportion blame.

HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO - IRON-BAR BOY RETURNS

Now, the other reason I decided to post this.  The little angel is free and for the past two Saturdays he has organised drinking sessions at the top of our street, but worse than that he has been giving my wife menacing looks as she drives past.

  

Last Saturday I called the Gardaí, they arrived promptly and the gang (pictured above) ran off into Weston as they drove down our Boreen.

I made a point of going out and talking loudly to the Gardaí as iron-bar boy and pals looked on, hoping that the message would sink in – we are not going to put up with this shit starting again.

Then last night my wife comes home and tells me he’s up there again with two girls drinking and making menacing faces as she drove past. 

As she called the Gardaí I said I’d stroll up and have a look to confirm his identity, by the time I got there their number had increased by 4 (3 of them aged 10 or under).

Words were exchanged, I informed them that they were loitering at a right-of-way, drinking in public and that the Gardaí were on the way.

Iron-bar boy told me that he was doing nothing and could hang around wherever he wanted to.

It was his ‘dindu nuffin’ attitude that prompted me to ask him how he managed to get released after what he had done.

“What I done?” he says “he had a knife and was going to rape a girl”

Wow!

Turns out I was wrong; iron-bar boy was actually a hero defending a damsel in distress.  Not really, this is just the tale he tells to justify his savagery to others.  Funny how he didn’t try and mount a defence of his actions based on his heroic motivations, or do his utmost to ensure that his victim, (a sexual predator according to him) was charged and taken out of circulation.

Oh what a hero. I can only wonder what his true motivations were for breaking my elderly neighbour’s windows in March 2015; perhaps she is really an evil witch that eats children like Hansel and Gretel.  What were his motivations for assaulting an breaking the jaw of a 24-year old man in the city centre (3 days after been released on bail for the assault he committed on my street), maybe his victim was a terrorist about to explode a bomb and but for our hero we’d all be dead.

I’m not saying that there have been no incidences of sexual assault committed by immigrants in Limerick, only last week it was reported by the Limerick Leader that a 19-year old Afghani was charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old schoolgirl, such stories help our hero to add a grain of truth to his big lie.

TRUE MOTIVATIONS

Some commentators have claimed that the motivations for the attack on my street were “racial” or “islamophobic” and that the attackers were “fascists” – this is just utter nonsense spouted by identity politics ideologues.  Let me assure that these youths are completely devoid of any ideological beliefs.

There is a commonality shared by all the victims of such gangs roaming around Limerick city. Whether it’s the youth that was beaten on my street, my elderly neighbour getting her windows smashed or a first time visitor to Limerick waking up in Hospital after a savage beating last week. They all have one thing in common, they were vulnerable.

Vulnerability is something that these cowards look for and nothing screams it more than a foreign family or elderly person with absolutely no extended family in the area.  Their only motivation is their own entertainment.

They have absolutely no sense of personal responsibility because their parents never gave it to them. How could they when most of the parents don’t have it themselves?

MAKING A STATEMENT

As usual, I will be making a complaint to the Council Tenants’ Enforcement Office and to the Gardaí, but I am sick of having to make statements all the time.

The Gardaí,  our public representatives (TD’s and Councillors) and Council Officials are more than aware of these youths engaging in anti-social and criminal behaviour; they are privy to the highly detailed anti-social and criminal behaviour logs kept by the Weston Gardens Residents’ Association (WGRA) and have watched the numerous unlisted You Tube videos highlighting the problems.

The WGRA is excluded from participating on the local regeneration committee and attempts to have us included met with a brick wall; seemingly the rules governing the committee are set in stone and cannot be changed to include us at the table. Nevertheless our Councillors were instrumental in arranging for a series of scheduled meetings in 2015 involving the Gardaí and the Council’s Office of Regeneration.

These resulted in the installation of extra street lighting for our Boreen, an extra CCTV camera and the Boreen was painted – all positive developments aimed at improving public safety and security.

The Gardaí have been very supportive, however they have limited resources and their response time ranges from prompt to no-show. We never got the dedicated Garda service promised in the 2007 Fitzgerald Report and today Garda numbers are lower than ever.

The WGRA has no control over Garda numbers, but we did propose to the Council physical works that would greatly enhance the safety and security of our area. Our common sense proposal, “Less Prison….More Park” proposed that the Council could carry out works on public land on a smaller scale than the works they had carried out elsewhere in the Southside Regeneration Area on private land in 2015 - the Council replaced fencing on private property with a more appropriate wall and railings.

The proposal seemed to send every one running for cover, especially our Councillors.

The Gardaí and the Council’s Tenants Enforcement Office continued to work with us and by August 2016 it looked like we might be seeing an end to our troubles – the gangs had been moved on and residents could use the right-of-way and our Boreen without fear of harassment and intimidation.

Now iron-bar boy is back on the streets and it looks like it’s all going to kick off again. During his trial Gardaí had described him as the “ringleader” of the group, and said that he showed “little remorse for any of his victims”.

Are residents going to have to go back to checking our Boreen to make that the coast is clear whenever we are expecting guests or a loved one returning home from school or work? I don’t have to tell the Council officials and our public representatives how bad it was for us, they are well informed. The question is what are they going to do about?

The Council seem intent on ignoring any suggestions or proposals that would improve the safety and security of residents. Their poor interpretation of the phrase “passive security” has led to a ridiculous “open spaces” policy that actually encourages and facilitates anti-social behaviour. The Clarina Park site for example:

Of course there may be a conflict of interest for the Council when it comes to making the areas safer. Their 2014 Limerick Framework Implementation Plan has red-lined many occupied homes for demolition and there is little incentive for homeowners to part with their property for a pittance if they feel safe and secure in their homes.

I don’t know what can be done about these youths and their carry on. Maybe an outreach programme aimed at teaching them personal responsibility rather than blaming others for their situation and after a few years they might be transformed into something resembling a decent human being. I really don’t care about that to be honest because what’s really needed is some law and order; intensive policing in the immediate to challenge and prevent their behaviour.

Finally, just a note about making an actual statement to the Gardaí; It is not enough to simply give the names and address of your tormentors to the Garda and have it written down in a Garda note book. The Garda has to take a formal statement from you, which both of you sign. This obliges the Garda to take appropriate action based on your statement, whereas the contents of the notebook may never be pursued. And remember, you have no more than 6-months from the time an incident occurs to make a statement.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Note: some of the articles below report that the victim of the attack on my street “was initially hit with a stone, which knocked him to the ground…” this not what I saw and I don’t know why it was reported. Some of the article try to imply that the family were refugees; they are not, they immigrated here legally, they have their own means and are not dependent on the state

Teenage immigrant beaten with hurleys in Limerick city (Limerick Leader - 8 Oct 2016): http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/218914/teenage-refugee-beaten-with-hurleys-in-limerick-city.html

Teenager beaten unconscious with hurleys two weeks after coming to Ireland (thejournal.ie – 7 Oct 2016): http://www.thejournal.ie/limerick-attack-2-3016007-Oct2016/

Savage hurley attack on young son made immigrant family want to return to war-torn home (Irish Examiner – 7 Oct 2016): http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/savage-hurley-attack-on-young-son-made-immigrant-family-want-to-return-to-war-torn-home-758296.html

Teen who attacked Middle Eastern boy with hurley sentenced to 18 months detention (thejournal.ie – 30 Oct 2016): http://www.thejournal.ie/limerick-judgement-3054789-Oct2016/

Student, 19, in 'unprovoked' attack on first visit to Limerick (Limerick Leader - 10 Feb 2017): http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/234653/student-19-in-unprovoked-attack-in-first-visit-to-limerick.html

Afghan national charged with a sexual assault on a teenage girl in Limerick (Live 95fm - 06 Feb 2017): https://www.live95fm.ie/news/afghan-national-charged-with-a-sexual-assault-on-t/

WGRA Proposal “Less Prison…More Park”:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9z5COB-ZuR2b3RzS0JEbzJEeENhTEd6QUxOZ052TnU3cHNr/view?usp=sharing