Where Gardai fear to thread..
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news report 
Sunday September 17, 2006 13:55
by John McDermott - removefiannafail
Abandon hope all ye who enter here.
It is not an easy task selling your house in some parts of Limerick.Perhaps the mcDowell reserves can be mobilized.?
IF the mood on the doorsteps in the sprawling Limerick housing estate of Southill is a microcosm of nationwide anti-Government sentiment, then Fianna Fail and the PDs can expect a real hammering-here at least- at the polls next June
Working-class estates such as Southill, where there is an inevitable distrust of the political system, were never going to be happy hunting grounds for a Government half way through its second term.
But in this mammoth local authority housing sprawl of some 1,200 homes, Government parties are not likely to get just frustration and disaffection on the doorsteps, they can expect outrage and spleen.
Essentially in an area where anti-social behaviour has become an all too prevalent problem for the many decent folk that live here, Southill is a no-go area for Government parties.
"I'd tell them where to go if they came to my door. They did nothing for us here, nothing," said local Theresa Clohessy. "They never come around here - only at election time when they want your vote."
Theresa's response is typical in Keys Park - along with O'Malley Park and Carew Park, it's one of three estates that make up the greater Southill area.
Property in these estates is unsaleable due to the level of crime violence and intimidation.If you have S.A.S. training or happen to be an asylum seeker cum retired mercenary from Angola,or maybe Liberia you may consider snapping up a bargain.A nice two bedroomed house here sells for 25-30 thousand euros.!
No dark complexioned african folk have yet sought refuge here however..nor is it likely they ever will.
If they were fleeing from civil wars in distant Africa it is likely they would feel that they had not travelled too far.Neither Noel Conroy or Michael McDowells writ runs in these estates.
Stick wielding ten year olds assault postmen, busdrivers and the fire crews who attempt to douse the numerous burning cars which brighten the night skies here weekly.The buses no longer enter these estates. it is doubtful if car insurance companies still cover fire and thieft.If you enter it on foot be prepared for the worst
In June 20004 a GP treated eight seperate incidents of gang rape,including a pregnant woman in her twenties,a girl aged 12 and an eighty year old.
Gardai received one formal complaint.!
Three key issues dominate on the doorsteps: economic exclusion with high unemployment, anti-social behaviour and the absence of a bus service. The service was for a time cancelled due to vandalism and intimidation of drivers.Southill is in ward three, a mostly working-class area of the city where Fianna Fail polled just 19.1pc of votes last time out. Some forecasters are predicting that this time their vote could drop to the mid-teens.
Labour in 1999 grabbed 23.5pc of the vote but committed political suicide by running five candidates and ended up with no seat.Labour's main challenger to a seat in the local elections in 2004 was Independent candidate Michael Kelly, who was shot in the head a month prior to theelections.
In O'Malley Park,, there is not so much anti-Government but an anti-politician sentiment. Local,Mary O'Connor, with moderate and well-reasoned views on local issues, says for the first time ever she has decided not to vote.
"I always voted but at the moment we are treated like second-class citizens."
One very optomistic property from Moyross estate is on the De courcy web site at an asking price of 60,000€ but the owner may be doing well to get 40,000@ for the lovely 3 bed house in the city which Fianna Fail have long abandoned to the merciless feuding wolf packs that dwell within its sprawling working class estates.
To Hell or to some parts of Connaught. Abandon hope in both places. The only celtic tigers roaming free here are mobsters and their offspring.